Iranian Medical Journals Underutilize Social Media, Study Reveals

Strategic Insights -

Researchers from Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, Iran, have conducted a study on the usage of social media platforms by Iranian medical journals. The study aimed to investigate the status of Iranian medical journals in social networks and found that these journals significantly underutilize social media. Our news editors obtained a quote from the research stating that among the 182 medical journals indexed in the Web of Science or Scopus databases, only 38 journals have an active account on LinkedIn, 31 journals are on Academia, 19 are on Twitter, 15 are on Facebook, and only five are on Instagram.

Key Takeaways:

  • The study found that Iranian medical journals do not have significant activity in social networks, with only 38 journals having an active account on LinkedIn and 31 journals on Academia.
  • The most likely platforms to share articles are provided for Twitter and Facebook social media in 144 journals (79.12%) and LinkedIn in 142 journals (78.02%).
  • Iranian medical journals are not utilizing social media platforms to their full potential, with only a few having active accounts on various social media platforms.
  • The study concluded that medical journals should pay more attention to using, creating accounts, sharing, posting, and attracting followers in these networks.
  • The removal of filtering on some social networks by the Iranian government can lead to increased use of these networks in scientific environments.
  • The study was conducted using descriptive statistics in Excel software and analyzed the website of scientific journals regarding the possibility of sharing articles.
  • The study found that no journal had an active account on all the mentioned social networks, and only two journals had an active account on four of the social networks.

Statistics:

  • 182 medical journals were indexed in the Web of Science or Scopus databases.
  • 38 medical journals have an active account on LinkedIn (20.78%).
  • 31 medical journals are on Academia (17.03%).
  • 19 medical journals are on Twitter (10.43%).
  • 15 medical journals are on Facebook (8.24%).
  • 5 medical journals are on Instagram (2.74%).

Sources:

  • The Usage of Social Media Platforms by Iranian Medical Journals. International Journal of Information Science and Management, 2025, 23(3):233-245.
  • Regional Information Center for Science and Technology (RICeST)
  • NewsRx. Researchers from Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences Discuss Findings in Information Science and Management (The Usage of Social Media Platforms by Iranian Medical Journals). Information Technology Newsweekly. July 22, 2025; p 579.