A bibliometric and altmetric analysis of the top 100 most cited articles in social psychology (2000–2024)

Abstract In this study, we conducted a bibliometric analysis of the top 100 most cited articles in social psychology and examined the correlations between citation metrics and Altmetric indicators. Data for the bibliometric analysis were obtained from the Scopus database, and data visualization was performed using VOSviewer (version 1.6.20). Altmetric indicators were collected using the Altmetric Bookmarklet. Microsoft Excel (version 2021) was employed to analyze annual publication trends, prolific authors, country and institutional contributions, and leading journals. For statistical analyses, including normality testing, data standardization, and correlation analysis, SPSS (version 25.0) was utilized. The bibliometric analysis reveals that 276 researchers from 160 institutions across 36 countries contributed to the top 100 most cited social psychology articles. The United States emerged as the most significant contributor, while Stanford University was the leading institution. The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology demonstrated remarkable influence in the research of social psychology. The altmetric analysis revealed a disparity between academic and social media attention in the field of social psychology. Highly cited papers did not necessarily receive high social media attention, while articles with significant social media impact were not always highly cited academically.