The usefulness of social networks in scientific dissemination in the social sciences in Spain

Abstract

This study aims to discover the views of researchers in the field of social sciences working in areas relating to education of the importance of social networks in scientific dissemination. For this purpose, the study population was taken as the totality of researchers who have published scientific content in academic journals indexed in Scopus or Web of Science (WoS) in the last five years (2016-2020), through quantitative research executed between September 2021 and January 2022. The results show a scenario of scientific dissemination through social networks in which there is still a significant percentage of researchers who do not use or have a positive perception of the importance of this type of current digital communication resource, as well as low levels of scientific dissemination. In conclusion, the study shows the need to ensure a scientific context, at the level of social science researchers, aimed at improving the motivation and culture of dissemination of research projects, and to promote the intensive use of social networks.