How does social media mention academic papers? Evidence from WeChat in China

The academic community can disseminate and share local research outcomes by mentioning Chinese academic papers on WeChat. However, the exact relationship between scholarly papers and social media has yet to be confirmed in China. This study explores the relationship between Chinese academic papers and WeChat mentions, analyzing the dissemination of local research. The data, sourced from CNKI and WeChat official accounts, resulted in a dataset comprising 7970 core journal papers and 21,134 WeChat mentions, with a mention coverage rate of 28%. Key findings include: (1) WeChat dissemination of academic papers reflects societal visibility rather than academic depth. WeChat mentions and citation counts measure different dimensions of impact. A two-dimensional classification framework of WeChat mentions and citations can be categorized into four types: outstanding, popular, academic, and ordinary. (2) 56.56% of Chinese academic papers are mentioned on WeChat within 180 days, with Philosophy and Humanities research more likely to gain public attention through WeChat dissemination. (3) Motivations for mentioning papers include expansion, discussion, borrowing and reference, as well as dissemination and introduction. The sentiment of mentions is mostly neutral, with minimal negative sentiment. (4) Most WeChat articles mentioning academic papers lack formal references. We identified the title, abstract, and full text as the most frequently referenced parts of the papers mentioned in WeChat. These findings provide a better foundation and reference for the development of altmetrics in China. They also help to understand the reasons and methods behind the dissemination of academic papers on Chinese social media.