A sample of 50 of the most popular articles meeting our inclusion criteria will be generated from each of the two social media platform-based lists. This occurs in two phases: first the two platform lists are combined into a single list, then the articles are screened for meeting our inclusion criteria.
Media/scientific article pairs are defined as a news media article and its associated scientific study for the screening process. Inclusion criteria are applied for each media/scientific article pair. The selection process is based on the media article title and full article and the abstract of the scientific article.
Inclusion criteria
- The URL link to media article is functional at the time of the review, leading to the main media article.
- The news media article reports primarily about the findings from a single scientific article published in a peer-reviewed academic journal.
- The scientific article referred to in the media article is identifiable through academic library sources.
- The news media article reports that the scientific article:
- Has a main analysis of the form exposure (dependent variable) vs. outcome (independent variable).
- Has a health outcome as one of its main outcomes (independent variables).
- Has strongly related primary exposures/outcomes if multiple exposures/outcomes are equally emphasized.
- Is measured in a human population.
- Is a primary study, and not a review or meta-analysis.
- Has main results generated from a single identifiable statistical model.
- The abstract of the scientific article:
- Has a main analysis of the form exposure (dependent variable) vs. outcome (independent variable).
- Has a health outcome as one of its main outcomes (independent variables).
- Has strongly related primary exposures/outcomes if multiple exposures/outcomes are equally emphasized.
- Is measured in a human population.
- Is a primary study, and not a review or meta-analysis.
- Has main results generated from a single identifiable statistical model.
Note: 4f) and 5f) were added to the inclusion criteria list post-hoc after a case study and a journal article consisting of multiple primary sub-studies were selected into the final review based on existing inclusion criteria.