Do Science Kardashians Get Citation Premium? Self-Fulfilling Effects of Social Media on Scientific Impact

Abstract

We analyze whether the visibility of scientists on social media affects the number of academic citations. We use the global COVID-19 pandemic as a quasinatural experiment that exogenously increased public attention and the demand for expertise. Using publications on COVID-related topics by social media stars and their coauthors prior to the outbreak of the pandemic, we find that social media stars' pre-COVID-era papers received about $3.7\%$– $4.9\%$ more citations annually per paper after 2019. Quantitatively comparable results are obtained when we use scientists' Kardashian index (K-index) as a benchmark for stardom, however we find no significant effects when using the intensive margin of scientists' K-indexes. We provide a brief discussion of policy implications in light of these findings.