====== Altmetrics ======

In [[scholarly]] and scientific [[publishing]], altmetrics are non-traditional [[bibliometrics]] proposed as an alternative or complement to more traditional [[citation metrics]] [[impact]], such as [[impact factor]] and [[h-index]].

[[Neurosurgery guidelines]] are developed based on evaluating the most [[up-to-date]] [[evidence]]. However, the current approach incompletely considers or altogether avoids [[cost-effectiveness]] when formulating these [[guidelines]]
((Stein SC. Cost-effectiveness research in neurosurgery: we can and we must. Neurosurgery. 2018;83(5):871-878.)).

Future efforts at measuring [[guideline]] impact will have to take this perspective into account.
The limitations of [[bibliometrics]] have also motivated the study for new methods of quantifying impact. The rise of [[social media]] as a means of information dissemination has extended into
the [[scientific literature]] and has led to the creation of an alternative system of analysis termed [[Altmetrics]]
((Brigham TJ. An introduction to altmetrics. Med Ref Serv Q. 2014;33(4):438-
447.)).

The top 100 neurosurgical articles in [[altmetrics]] belonged primarily to those with active accounts, with [[Journal of Neurosurgery]] ranking the highest (33%), followed by [[Neurosurgery]] (29%) 
((Wang J, Alotaibi NM, Ibrahim GM, Kulkarni AV, Lozano AM. The Spectrum of Altmetrics in Neurosurgery: The Top 100 "Trending" Articles in Neurosurgical Journals. World Neurosurg. 2017 Jul;103:883-895.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.wneu.2017.04.157. Epub 2017 May 3. PMID: 28478251.)).

The Altmetric analysis of “trending” neurosurgical [[article]]s by Wang et al
((Wang J, Alotaibi NM, Ibrahim GM, Kulkarni AV, Lozano AM. The spectrum
of altmetrics in neurosurgery: the top 100 “trending” articles in neurosurgical
journals. World Neurosurg. 2017;103:883-895.e1.)) 
demonstrates that what represents an impactful publication can change after considering [[online]] [[resource]]s. Prospective research that validates methods such as Altmetrics or [[Google Search]] query analysis will
be necessary before widespread adoption is to take place
((Lawson McLean AC, Lawson McLean A, Kalff R, Walter J. Google search queries
about neurosurgical topics: are they a suitable guide for neurosurgeons? World
Neurosurg. 2016;90:179-185.)).
Given that information dissemination will only continue moving in the direction of informal content sharing, we anticipate that these forms of citation analysis will increase in usage as well.