Exploring the Impact of Social Networking Sites on Scholarly Communication

Through an altmetric analysis of publications from the top ten LIS journals, this study examines publicationpatterns, mentions across various SNSs, the geographical distribution of user engagement, and the distribution ofAAS for open-access versus closed-access articles. Data were sourced from Altmetric.com through Altmetric Exploreras indexed between January 1, 2014, and December 31, 2023, and analysed using MS Excel and SPSS. The studyfound a significant increase in research output and engagement until 2017, followed by a fluctuation and decline insubsequent years. The study also reveals that X (formerly Twitter) is the primary channel for research informationdissemination, with notable contributions from X handles of respective publishers and editors. The study also foundthat the most mentions are associated with the United States (30,791) and the United Kingdom (16,318) among194 countries. Additionally, the analysis shows that open-access and closed-access AAS do not follow a normaldistribution according to the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk tests. Overall findings highlight the importanceof SNSs in shaping academic communication and provide valuable information for researchers and stakeholders toenhance scholarly engagement and dissemination.