Use and Impact of Social Networks on Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Scientific Journals

Objectives: Our research seeks to examine the correlation between the presence of physical medicine and rehabilitation journals in social networks and the SJR impact factor. Methods: We carried out a correlation study. For the research, we took into account all physical medicine and rehabilitation journals included in the SCImago Journal Rank. The number of followers on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and the number of tweets were extracted from verified accounts. Journal differences according to the presence in social networks were evaluated using non-parametric tests, and the Spearman correlation coefficient was calculated between the metrics of dissemination in social networks and the SCImago Journal Rank.  Results: Out of 122 physical medicine and rehabilitation journals, 25.4% had the presence in one social network. The H Index medians (32 vs 17, P=0.014) and of the SJR (0.67 vs 0.32, P= 0.001) were better in journals with the presence in social networks. A moderate correlation was found between the SJR and the number of followers on Twitter (r=0.5, P=0.066). The global correlation between the SJR and followers on Facebook was acceptable (r=0.4, P=0.1205). Discussion: Our data show that scientific journals of physical medicine and rehabilitation with presence in social networks have superior quality metrics. Additionally, SJR and the indicators of dissemination in social networks are moderately correlated. Both metrics offer complementary information. Presence in social networks could improve the visibility of journals and their interaction with readers.