The Citation Advantage of Promoted Articles in a Cross-Publisher Distribution Platform: A 12-Month Randomized Controlled Trial

There is currently a paucity of evidence-based strategies that have been shown to increase citations of peer-reviewed articles following their publication. We conducted a 12-month randomized controlled trial to examine whether the promotion of article links in an online cross-publisher distribution platform (TrendMD) affects citations. In all, 3,200 articles published in 64 peer-reviewed journals across eight subject areas were block randomized at the subject level to either the TrendMD group (n = 1,600) or the control group (n = 1,600) of the study. Our primary outcome compares the mean citations of articles randomized to TrendMD versus control after 12 months. Articles randomized to TrendMD showed a 50% increase in mean citations relative to control at 12 months. The difference in mean citations at 12 months for articles randomized to TrendMD versus control was 5.06, 95% confidence interval [2.87, 7.25], was statistically significant (p < .001) and found in three of eight subject areas. At 6 months following publication, articles randomized to TrendMD showed a smaller, yet statistically significant (p = .005), 21% increase in mean citations, relative to control. To our knowledge, this is the first randomized controlled trial to demonstrate how an intervention can be used to increase citations of peer-reviewed articles after they have been published.