A BSTRACT Background: Traditional bibliometric measures present limitations in capturing broader societal influence of medical research. Objective: To evaluate the altmetric performance of the Journal of Indian Association of Pediatric Surgeons ( JIAPS ) to assess its digital impact and online visibility beyond conventional citation metrics. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional analysis with longitudinal trends (2008–2024) was conducted using Altmetric Explorer platform. The Altmetric Attention Scores (AAS), mention counts, platform-specific engagement, geographic distribution, and demographic patterns were analyzed. Website analytics and bibliometric comparisons supplemented altmetric findings. Results: Of 266 tracked articles (Altmetric.com), 200 (75.2%) received online mentions, generating 1236 total mentions across 13 digital platforms. Twitter/X dominated engagement (994 mentions, 80.4%), followed by news outlets (92 mentions, 7.4%). Peak attention occurred in 2024 with over 500 mentions. The highest-performing article achieved an AAS of 330, ranking within the top 5% globally tracked by Altmetric. Geographic analysis revealed international reach across 180 countries, with predominant engagement from Japan, USA, and Canada. The case reports of rare congenital anomalies generated highest social media attention, contrasting with highly-cited systematic reviews and clinical guidelines that received minimal online visibility. Conclusions: Despite being a regional specialty journal, JIAPS demonstrated global digital visibility through selective content resonating with public interest. Altmetric and bibliometric indicators showed complementary rather than competitive patterns, with rare case presentations driving social media engagement while evidence-based reviews influenced academic discourse. These findings position altmetrics as valuable tools for enhancing JIAPS ’s broader dissemination strategies.
Phugat et al. (2026) studied this question.