The Usage of Social Media Platforms by Iranian Medical Journals

Abstract

Currently, medical journals are utilizing social media to attract an audience and publish their articles in various ways, which has been significantly enhanced. The present study aimed to investigate the status of Iranian medical journals in social networks. This research is a cross-sectional study. The statistical population included all Iranian medical journals indexed in the Web of Science (WoS) or Scopus databases (182 titles). The website of scientific journals was checked regarding the possibility of sharing articles. LinkedIn, Academia, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram were investigated concerning the journals’ profiles and their features. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive statistics in Excel software. On the websites of medical journals, the most likely platforms to share articles are provided for Twitter and Facebook social media in 144 journals (79.12%) and LinkedIn in 142 journals (78.02%). Among the 182 medical journals, 38 journals have an active account on LinkedIn (20.78%), 31 journals are on Academia (17.03%), 19 are on Twitter (10.43%), 15 are on Facebook (8.24%), and only five are on Instagram (2.74 %). No journal had an active account on all the mentioned social networks, and only two journals had an active account on four of the social networks. Iranian medical journals do not have significant activity in social networks. Therefore, medical journals should pay more attention to using, creating accounts, sharing, posting, and attracting followers in these networks. The removal of filtering on some social networks by the Iranian government can lead to increased use of these networks in scientific environments, such as the offices of journals and universities.

Keywords

• social media platforms
• medical journals
• social networks
• twitter
• facebook
• instagram
• academia
• linkedin
• iran