Research Mentor Name

Firas Abdollah

Research Mentor Email Address

fabdoll1@hfhs.org

Institution / Department

Vattikuti Center for Outcomes, Research, Analytics, and Evaluation, Detroit, Michigan

Document Type

Research Abstract

Research Type

medicaleducation

Level of Research

no

Abstract

Introduction: The purpose of this cross-sectional study is to identify and describe the top 100 urology influencers on the social media platform Twitter. Furthermore, we aim to correlate each individual's Twitter influence with academic impact in urology.

Materials and Methods: Twitter influence scores for the topic search “urology” were collected in April 2022 using the Right Relevance software, which accounts for the individual's connections (followers/following) to other influencers in urology as well as engagement (likes, retweets, and views) on the platform. The top 100 personal accounts with the highest computed scores were linked to individuals’ names, all-time h-index, geographic location, specialty, sex, and board certification. We examined the Pearson correlation coefficient between influence rank and h-index.

Results: We identified the top 100 Twitter influencers on the topic of “urology.” The majority are from the United States (63%), male (85%), and are practicing urologists (93%). Ninety-three percent (93%) of U.S. urology influencers are board certified. Only 22 out of the 50 states are represented. The second most common country is the United Kingdom with 11 urology influencers. The median all-time h-index is 41.5 (IQR: 27 – 55.5). There is a weak positive coefficient (r=0.26) between the influence rank and h-index (p=0.021).

Conclusions: The top Twitter influencers in urology are mostly Board-certified U.S. urologists. Collectively, influencers have a relatively greater academic impact compared to the average urologist, although there is a weak positive correlation between Twitter influence and h-index among top Twitter influencers.

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences

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