Self-promotions and advertising: are they a common practice for boosting altmetric scores?

In the era of internet and social media, the modes of publishing, sharing, searching, and reading scientific research are evolving, as the ultimate goal of any research is to be discoverable to the target audience. Altmetrics is a form of qualitative data that are complementary to traditional, citation-based metrics, which deal with journal articles and other scholarly outputs being discussed worldwide [1]. In recent times, altmetrics has gained reputation and popularity as it offers a quicker way to demonstrate the potential impact of one’s scholarly work and its public engagement. Although enhancing research impact and gaining visibility are essential from a researcher’s viewpoint, self-advertising should be prudent and appropriate. Through this essay, we intend to discuss on how self-promotions and advertising play an active role in driving altmetric scores.