Further Insights on the Correlation between Reader Engagement and Article Citations in Neurosurgery Journals

Sir, In the insightful article by Madhugiri and Venkatesan,[1] the two authors ask the important question “Does reader engagement with neurosurgery journal websites correlate with the number of citations received by articles?” They take into account the number of citations and downloads, as well as impact factor and H-index. In this letter, we present key information regarding the importance of social media in the dissemination of scientific information in the present modern era and the importance of access to articles online. Madhugiri and Venkatesan’s article only targets MEDLINE indexed neurosurgical journals from 2010 to 2011 and metrics regarding the number of times articles were viewed, downloaded, and printed, as well as impact factors and number of citations were included in their final analysis. Although the authors’ robust and rigorous statistical analysis is commendable, reliance on these metrics and establishment of a mathematical correlational relationship between them may not necessarily capture the depth of reader engagement and the contexts behind them. Their results revealed that article views, full-text views, and number of article downloads were all positively correlated with impact factors. In addition, citations of papers were higher for those in multidisciplinary journals as opposed to exclusively neurosurgical journals. However, it is important to highlight how these metrics could be affected by whether a journal is Open Access or not; as naturally, researchers will go for those that give them institutional access. Therefore, implications of these findings are far-reaching because they do not establish causation which leaves room for further exploration into underlying factors that could be driving reader engagement, views, and downloads. Moreover, even though Madhugiri and Venkatsan do mention that active social media presence is a modern way of disseminating knowledge, they do not include assessment of articles shared on social media sites for comparison. Despite consistent presence on social media does not necessarily result in more grants, higher citation rates, or better research,[2] these sites ensure connectivity of researchers globally. Long gone are the days of relentlessly going through various journals to find the latest articles, and we as academics should adapt to modernity. Therefore, Madhugiri and Venkatsan’s conclusions would be more robust if they had included analyses from social media sites. Financial support and sponsorship Nil. Conflicts of interest There are no conflicts of interest.