Analyzing the scholarly visibility of blockchain technology research output on social media platforms using altmetrics

B. R. Chandrakala () and H. Rajendra Babu ()
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B. R. Chandrakala: Tumkur University
H. Rajendra Babu: Tumkur University

Scientometrics, 2025, vol. 130, issue 7, No 16, 3707-3723

Abstract: Abstract This study measures the scholarly visibility of blockchain research output on social media platforms by using impact factor and h-index based on citations. It also gauges scientific impact using non-traditional metrics for readers such as educators, clinicians, and students through Altmetrics. The study aims to find: the top-cited blockchain articles tweeted on altmetric.com with the highest Mendeley reader counts; top journal sources with the highest blockchain article mentions; Open access (OA) influence on Altmetric Attention Score (AAS); correlation between citations and AAS; and predict future citations for blockchain articles based on AAS. The data for the study was sourced from Altmetric Explorer using the keywords ‘Blockchain technology’, ‘Distributed Ledger Technology’, and ‘smart contracts’. A total of 145,162 mentions, 12,516 outputs with attention, and 23,206 outputs were tracked. 53.9% of the validated mentions were found across 13 social media platforms. The results indicate that OA articles receive significantly higher altmetric attention compared to non-OA articles. The Mann–Whitney U test found a significant difference with p-value of 0.000 in AAS with OA articles having a higher mean rank of 14,773.86 suggesting greater visibility. The Spearman’s Correlation test results indicated statistically significant but low degree of positive correlation (rho = 0.246 p-value = 0.000) between AAS with Dimensions Citations. Linear regression test results show a weak but measurable predictive ability of AAS on Dimension citations (Standardized coefficient Beta = 0.084, p-value

Keywords: Scholarly visibility; Altmetrics; Altmetric attention; Distributed ledger technology; Smart contracts; Cryptocurrencies; Blockchain technology; Research output; Social media; Open access (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1007/s11192-025-05354-7

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