Improving the impact by disseminating research on social networks: #PublicaSalutIB

Abstract

Objectives. The main objective of the library is to facilitate access to information for its users. However scientific libraries should also focus on the scientific contribution and research results of their institutions. Methodology. There are 16,300 professionals from different categories in the Balearic Islands Public Health System, working in 7 hospitals and 56 primary care centres. The Balearic Islands Virtual Health Sciences Library (Bibliosalut), created in 2003 (Páez et al., 2013; Páez Cervi, 2005), began to have presence on social networks in 2012 (Pastor-Ramon, Páez, and Sastre-Suárez, 2014). From the outset the aim was to disseminate the results of research carried out by professionals from the Balearic Islands Public Health Service, using the hashtag #PublicaSalutIB. Thus the aim of this hashtag was to give any researcher on the Balearic Islands the option of using it, regardless of the centre where they worked in. Conclusions. This service improves the user-library relationship, since authors know how useful it is and how much visibility it gives to their research. In a little more than 8 years, more than 2,900 documents have been disseminated through social networks and, since 2015, a news item has been added to the Bibliosalut portal for each one of the new documents: www.infosalut.com. By providing information about the bibliographical reference and disseminating it on social networks, we also achieve an immediate impact, which can be measured thanks to complementary metrics such as Altmetric and PlumX, which can also influence the evaluation that each work receives.