Amplifying Academic Research through YouTube: Engagement Metrics as Predictors of Citation Impact

Abstract: This study explores the interplay between YouTube engagement metrics and the academic impact of cited publications within video descriptions, amid declining trust in traditional journalism and increased reliance on social media for information. By analyzing data from Altmetric.com and YouTube's API, it assesses how YouTube video features relate to citation impact. Initial results suggest that videos citing scientific publications and garnering high engagement-likes, comments, and references to other publications-may function as a filtering mechanism or even as a predictor of impactful research.