Research on the characteristics of highly-cited papers on pandemics from the perspective of alternative metrology

[Background] At present, an increasing number of researchers have studied pandemics and published papers to help people better cope with pandemics. [Purpose/significance] This study explores the value of Altmetrics to facilitate academic responses to pandemics on the web and helps public health organizations design communication strategies through an analysis of the dissemination characteristics of high-cited pandemic papers on social media. To excavate the potential of pandemic papers from the perspective of alternative measurement is also beneficial to more objectively and effectively evaluate the social influence of those papers. [Method/process] Correlation analysis was carried out between traditional bibliometric indicators and various Altmetrics indicators. We can also more clearly understand the characteristics of academic dissemination on Twitter and Mendeley platforms by using visual analysis and descriptive statistical analysis methods. [Result/Conclusion] Our findings conclude that online media has become an important tool for disseminating scientific knowledge related to global pandemics. The Altmetric indicators are significantly different from the citation indicator, which can express the impact of the high-cited pandemic papers from a new perspective.In conclusion, Altmetrics will be a perfect supplement to the quantitative evaluation of such papers.