Exploring Online Attention and Influence of Massachusetts Institute of Technology Research via Altmetrics

Altmetric Attention Score (AAS) for the year 2001–2025 is assessed for academic recognition of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) publications. The aim of the study is to assess how open access (OA) affects the visibility of MIT articles in the research community, measure altmetric attention on various social media platforms, and assess the impact of citations. “We analyzed 313 MIT-affiliated publications that each had an AAS ≥ 1,000. Across this set, the sum of AAS values was 95,123, and the publications collectively attracted over 1,28,085 Mendeley readers during the study period.” The findings show a noticeable rise in both research output and online visibility since 2010, with the greatest altmetric attention happening throughout the COVID-19 pandemic era (2020–2022). The AAS among the chosen publications varies between 1,000 and 19,042. This variation suggests a right-skewed distribution. It has a mean of 2,018 and a median of 1,438. Altmetric attention is most strongly correlated with Google Scholar (GS) citations (Spearman’s p = 0.580, p < 0.001), followed by Scopus (p = 0.496) and Web of Science (WoS) (p = 0.485). Overall, the results suggest that altmetric indicators complement traditional citation metrics by capturing early online engagement to identify broader research visibility.