Drivers of citations in social pharmacy and practice research articles: Factors, trends and recommendations

Background Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy has been expanding in the last decade. The recently published Granada Statements offer key recommendations to improve the quality of research in this field. Objectives To identify the factors associated with the citations of articles in the field of social, administrative, clinical pharmacy and practice research. Methods This study was a retrospective, observational analysis of articles published in three leading journals. Per article Google Scholar citations was the dependent variable. Predictor variables were extracted from all articles published from 2013 to 2015. The dependent variable was dichotomized using sample's median Google Scholar citations. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify independent predictors of citations ≥ median. Results The median number of citations per article was 17 (range 0–341), with a mean of 24.2 (SD 27.6). The number of references included in the articles (OR 1.03, CI 1.02–1.04), the year of publication (OR 0.31 CI 0.21–0.46 for articles published 2015), article social media mentions (OR = 1.01, CI 1.01–1.03 and OR 1.10 CI 1.04–1.18 for Facebook and X, respectively), the topic area of research namely pharmacy services (OR 1.65, CI 1.06–2.57) and medication adherence (OR 2.22 CI 1.13–4.33) were independently associated with article having citations ≥ median. Conclusions The number of references, the year of publication, social media mentions and the topic area of research, namely pharmacy services and medication adherence, were associated with citations above median in the leading journals of social and administrative pharmacy research. Authors may consider providing a thorough literature review in their articles, while researchers, editors, and publishers are advised to use social media to promote newly published work. This article complements the Granada Statements and may contribute to fostering wider dissemination of the discipline's outputs.