Bibliometric and altmetric analyses of the 100 top-cited letters in Endodontics

Objectives To analyze bibliometric and altmetric features of the 100 top-cited letters in endodontics and the relationships of these features with the number of citations. Material and Methods Scopus and Web of Science databases were reviewed to identify the relevant letters and obtain their traditional bibliometric measures. Univariate statistical tests were used to analyze the relationships between the number of citations and various continuous (Altmetric Attention Score, captures, usage) and categorical (publication model, journal type, social media, institutional collaboration type) parameters of the letters. Poisson regression in a generalized linear model was used for multivariate analysis of the parameters found to be significant in the univariate tests. Results The majority of the letters ( n = 65) concerned clinical issues. There were 13 different types of letters, with opinion letters as the most cited and letters ( n = 31) commenting on a previous document as the most frequent. Articles were the most common type of document commented on, whereas the majority of the comments were negative. The multivariate test revealed that the captures ( p = 0.001) and the non-dental journal type ( p = 0.001) increased the number of citations by 2.533 and 1.008 times, respectively. Conclusions Publication in a non-dental journal increased the number of citations. Letters expressing opinions on any free topic were the most cited letter type. Captures can be used to predict future citations. Clinical Relevance The letter is an appropriate document type for conducting a clinical discourse.