Investigating and comparing citation indicators and altmetrics of articles in the field of addiction to opioids by using the PlumX tool

One of the methods for evaluating scientific productions that has long received attention is citation analysis. Considering the limitations of citation analysis and the proliferation of social media and its importance in the dissemination of research results, there seems to be a need for new indicators, called altmetrics, in addition to the traditional indicators for research evaluation. Therefore, the aim of the current study is to investigate the status of articles in the field of opioid addiction using bibliometric  indicators and altmetrics, as well as to determine the relationship between the citation performance and the altmetrics performance of articles in this field.

This study is a descriptive-analytical study of an applied type, which was carried out using bibliometric and altmetrics methods. The research population includes 16,803 titles of articles in the field of opioid addiction indexed by the Scopus database from the beginning to 2022. The Scopus database and PlumX tool were used for data collection, and Excel and SPSS were used for data analysis.

80.6% of the studied publications were cited. 95% of these publications were mentioned at least once in one of the social media. The results of the research show that statistically, there is a significant and positive relationship between the number of citations and all the altmetrics.

Considering the positive correlation between citation and altmetrics in this study, it can be said that social media can have a positive impact on the number of citation of scientific articles. Therefore, researchers in the field of opioid addiction can use social media and share their works in various social media to get citations for their scientific activities.