A study of social media use for scientific communication and dissemination among Spanish education researchers

Abstract

This work focuses on understanding how researchers in Spain perceive the importance of social media in scientific communication and dissemination and deepening their understanding of the influential underlying factors. From the initial identification of 5,314 researchers affiliated with higher education institutions in Spain, who published in journals indexed in Scopus and Web of Sciences from 2016 to 2020, 487 were surveyed, and 20 were interviewed. The results show how despite the potential of non-academic social media for the social dissemination of scientific knowledge, use remains low among the researchers surveyed in this study. Also, data allow us to recognize how the time of use of social media and the perception of the training needed influence the perception of the usefulness of social media by Spanish researchers on education. Use that does not seem to be oriented toward dialogue and citizen participation. Higher education institutions should improve the communication and scientific dissemination led by researchers through training and the design of dissemination policies that guarantee an active and general use of them (not only academics but also generalists like Facebook or Youtube) to transfer scientific knowledge to society better.