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Analysis of institutional authors

Villar-Rodríguez G.AuthorMartín García, AlejandroAuthorCamacho DAuthor

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October 24, 2022
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Article

Disinformation and vaccines on social networks: Behavior of hoaxes on Twitter

Publicated to:Revista Latina De Comunicacion Social. 2023 (81): 44-62 - 2023-01-01 2023(81), DOI: 10.4185/RLCS-2023-1820

Authors: Noguera-Vivo, JM; Grandío-Pérez, MD; Villar-Rodríguez, G; Martín, A; Camacho, D

Affiliations

Univ Catolica Murcia, UCAM, Murcia, Spain - Author
Univ Murcia, Murcia, Spain - Author
Univ Politecn Madrid, Area Comp, Madrid, Spain - Author
Univ Politecn Madrid, Dept Sistemas Informat, Madrid, Spain - Author
Univ Politecn Madrid, Madrid, Spain - Author
Universidad Católica de Murcia - Author
Universidad de Murcia - Author
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid - Author
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Abstract

Introduction: Anti-vaccine disinformation is highly dangerous due to its direct effects on society. Although there is relevant research on typologies of hoaxes, denialist discourses on networks or the popularity of vaccines, this study provides a complementary and pioneering vision about the anti-vaccine discourse of COVID-19 on Twitter, focused on its spreaders’ behavior. Methodology: Given an initial sample of a hundred hoaxes (from December 2020 to September 2021) for the download of 200,246 tweets, around 36,000 tweets (N=36.292) that support or deny disinformation have been filtered through an algorithm for Natural Language Inference (NLI) to analyze their spreaders’ through their metrics in the platform. Results: In relative numbers, the results show, among others, more hoaxes with original content (not retweets) among accounts with more followers and those verified; more irruption of disinformation opposed to its objection by accounts created between 2013 and 2020, and the association of the acknowledgement (more presence in lists or many more followers than followed users) to the preference for denying false information instead of approving it. Discussion: The article shows how the typology of the accounts can be a predictive factor about the behavior of users who spread disinformation. Conclusions: Similar behavioral patterns of anti-vaccine discourse are revealed according to the accounts’ Twitter-related indicators. The size of the sample and the techniques used give a solid foundation for other comparative studies on disinformation about health and on other phenomena on social networks.

Keywords

artificial intelligencehealth informationhoaxesspaintwittervaccinesArtificial intelligenceDisinformationHealth informationHoaxesSpainTwitterVaccines

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Revista Latina De Comunicacion Social due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2023, it was in position 34/228, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Communication.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 2.27. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)

This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:

  • Weighted Average of Normalized Impact by the Scopus agency: 2.22 (source consulted: FECYT Feb 2024)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-07-17, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 4
  • Scopus: 8
  • Google Scholar: 5

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-07-17:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 36.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 60 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 1.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 1 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
  • Assignment of a Handle/URN as an identifier within the deposit in the Institutional Repository: https://oa.upm.es/89093/

As a result of the publication of the work in the institutional repository, statistical usage data has been obtained that reflects its impact. In terms of dissemination, we can state that, as of

  • Views: 21
  • Downloads: 20

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: Last Author (CAMACHO FERNANDEZ, DAVID).