Visibility and research impact of Bulgarian geographers: insights from indexing databases and social media platforms

Background: The requirement of publishing high-quality papers in established peer-reviewed journals is still in the early days of implementation among academic geographers in Bulgaria, which limits the visibility and impact of Bulgarian research and delays the possibilities of academic recognition a...

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Main Authors: Hristina Prodanova, Stelian Dimitrov
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: European Association of Science Editors 2025-06-01
Series:European Science Editing
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Online Access:https://ese.arphahub.com/article/120210/download/pdf/
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author Hristina Prodanova
Stelian Dimitrov
author_facet Hristina Prodanova
Stelian Dimitrov
author_sort Hristina Prodanova
collection DOAJ
description Background: The requirement of publishing high-quality papers in established peer-reviewed journals is still in the early days of implementation among academic geographers in Bulgaria, which limits the visibility and impact of Bulgarian research and delays the possibilities of academic recognition and international collaboration.Objectives: To examine the current visibility and impact of Bulgarian geographers using quantitative analysis of publicly available data derived from eight scientometric databases and social media platforms.Methods: Relevant data were collected for 116 researchers affiliated with five institutions from the following sources: Scopus, Web of Science, Publons, ORCID, Google Scholar, Research Gate, LinkedIn, and X (Twitter). Using Microsoft Excel, the performance of each of the researchers and each of the institutions was quantified in terms of (1) the number of publications, (2) the number of citations, (3) H-index, (4) i10-index, and (5) Research Interest Score. The scores were also plotted using RAWGraphs and Microsoft PowerPoint.Results: Only half of the researchers had published in internationally indexed journals. The institutions and departments in the capital city, Sofia, enjoyed significantly and disproportionately higher visibility than those from smaller towns. Geographers from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (Sofia) and one department from Sofia University showed the highest visibility on Scopus (100%), whereas two rural universities – the University of Veliko Tarnovo and Shumen University – were visible mostly on ResearchGate and Google Scholar. Overall visibility of each institution on social media was very low (8%–16%).Conclusions: The analysis led to several recommendations on increasing the visibility and impact of Bulgarian research in geography. These recommendations will be valuable in research management, public relations, especially in improving communications and devising development strategies.
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spelling doaj-art-e856ebd5cc574b89913781de3deaa2702025-08-20T02:06:04ZengEuropean Association of Science EditorsEuropean Science Editing2518-33542025-06-015111510.3897/ese.2025.e120210120210Visibility and research impact of Bulgarian geographers: insights from indexing databases and social media platformsHristina Prodanova0Stelian Dimitrov1National Institute of Geophysics, Geodesy and Geography, Bulgarian Academy of SciencesSofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”Background: The requirement of publishing high-quality papers in established peer-reviewed journals is still in the early days of implementation among academic geographers in Bulgaria, which limits the visibility and impact of Bulgarian research and delays the possibilities of academic recognition and international collaboration.Objectives: To examine the current visibility and impact of Bulgarian geographers using quantitative analysis of publicly available data derived from eight scientometric databases and social media platforms.Methods: Relevant data were collected for 116 researchers affiliated with five institutions from the following sources: Scopus, Web of Science, Publons, ORCID, Google Scholar, Research Gate, LinkedIn, and X (Twitter). Using Microsoft Excel, the performance of each of the researchers and each of the institutions was quantified in terms of (1) the number of publications, (2) the number of citations, (3) H-index, (4) i10-index, and (5) Research Interest Score. The scores were also plotted using RAWGraphs and Microsoft PowerPoint.Results: Only half of the researchers had published in internationally indexed journals. The institutions and departments in the capital city, Sofia, enjoyed significantly and disproportionately higher visibility than those from smaller towns. Geographers from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (Sofia) and one department from Sofia University showed the highest visibility on Scopus (100%), whereas two rural universities – the University of Veliko Tarnovo and Shumen University – were visible mostly on ResearchGate and Google Scholar. Overall visibility of each institution on social media was very low (8%–16%).Conclusions: The analysis led to several recommendations on increasing the visibility and impact of Bulgarian research in geography. These recommendations will be valuable in research management, public relations, especially in improving communications and devising development strategies.https://ese.arphahub.com/article/120210/download/pdf/Google ScholarResearchGatescience communicatio
spellingShingle Hristina Prodanova
Stelian Dimitrov
Visibility and research impact of Bulgarian geographers: insights from indexing databases and social media platforms
European Science Editing
Google Scholar
ResearchGate
science communicatio
title Visibility and research impact of Bulgarian geographers: insights from indexing databases and social media platforms
title_full Visibility and research impact of Bulgarian geographers: insights from indexing databases and social media platforms
title_fullStr Visibility and research impact of Bulgarian geographers: insights from indexing databases and social media platforms
title_full_unstemmed Visibility and research impact of Bulgarian geographers: insights from indexing databases and social media platforms
title_short Visibility and research impact of Bulgarian geographers: insights from indexing databases and social media platforms
title_sort visibility and research impact of bulgarian geographers insights from indexing databases and social media platforms
topic Google Scholar
ResearchGate
science communicatio
url https://ese.arphahub.com/article/120210/download/pdf/
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AT steliandimitrov visibilityandresearchimpactofbulgariangeographersinsightsfromindexingdatabasesandsocialmediaplatforms