The impact of the level of scientific evidence in preprints about COVID-19 on their sharing on Twitter (X) Brazil

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5007/1518-2924.2025.100852

Keywords:

Scientific communication, Scientific evidence COVID-19, Altmetrics, Disinformation

Abstract

Objective: The rapid dissemination of scientific information on Twitter (X) during the COVID-19 pandemic has played an important role in shaping public opinion and health decision-making. This study aims to investigate the level of scientific evidence of COVID-19 preprints shared on Twitter (X) in Brazil between 2020 and June 2023 and the impact of these shares on the public debate about the New Coronavirus pandemic in Brazil.

Method: The study mapped COVID-19 preprints from 2020 to June 2023, identifying the level of scientific evidence for each one, as well as the content of their shares on Twitter (X). Literature review, documentary research, scientific evidence analysis, content analysis and altmetric analysis procedures were used.

Results: The lower the level of scientific evidence of the preprints, the more they were shared. Messages categorized as "anti-vaccine movement" were the most recurrent and a significant proportion of users described themselves as "conservative".

Conclusions: This study found a tendency to disseminate fake and/or distorted news based on the then-eminent scientific production on the New Coronavirus pandemic. The high level of misinformation present in these shares highlighted the need for scientific information to be interpreted based on scientific evidence, as opposed to discourses contrary to science.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Eduardo Santos Rocha, Federal University of Minas Gerais

Master in Knowledge Management and Organization Federal University of Minas Gerais, School of Information Science, Postgraduate Program in Knowledge Management and Organization.

Ronaldo Ferreira de Araújo, Federal University of Alagoas

PhD in Information Science (2015) and MSc in Information Science (2009) from the Postgraduate Program in Information Science at the School of Information Science of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). He has a degree in Information Science (2006) from the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais (PUC Minas). He was a visiting professor at the Department of Journalism and Communication Sciences at the University of Porto (2012). He is an Adjunct Professor on the Library Science course at the Institute of Human Sciences, Communication and Arts (ICHCA), Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL). Professor and Vice-Coordinator of the Postgraduate Programme in Information Science (PPGCI/UFAL) and Professor of the Postgraduate Programme in Knowledge Management and Organization at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (PPG-GOC/UFMG). Leader of the Laboratory for Information Metrics Studies on the Web (Lab-iMetrics) and the Research Group on Information and Communication Policy and Technology (GPoliTICs). Researcher at the National Institute of Science & Technology in Digital Democracy (INCT-DD). Editor of the scientific journal Ciência da Informação em Revista. Ad Hoc Consultant for the Alagoas State Research Foundation (FAPEAL). Areas of interest: Metric studies of information on the web; Cybermetrics; Altmetrics; Information mediation in digital environments; Internet and Politics; Information regime in digital contexts.

References

ALTMETRIC: banco de dados. Disponível em: https://www.altmetric.com. Acesso em: 1-30 set. 2023.

ANDRADE, Viviane Toraci Alonso de. Política de comunicação científica em rede: repositórios institucionais como dispersão. Revista Ibero-Americana de Ciência da Informação, Brasília, v. 6, p. 1-16, 2014. Disponível em: https://periodicos.unb.br/index.php/RICI/article/view/1836. Acesso em 13 mar, 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.26512/rici.v7.n1.2014.1836

ARAÚJO, Ronaldo Ferreira. Ciência aberta e altmetria: aproximações e desafios. Informação na sociedade contemporânea. Florianópolis: Rocha Gráfica e Editora (Selo Nyota), p. 39-50, 2020.

ARAÚJO, Ronaldo Ferreira de; SCHIMUNECK, Isabelle Lins. Science health (dis) information about covid-19 on brazilian twitter (x): a preliminary analysis. Encontro Brasileiro de Bibliometria e Cientometria, Brasília, 2024.

BRASIL. MINISTÉRIO DA SAÚDE. SECRETARIA DE CIÊNCIA, TECNOLOGIA E INSUMOS ESTRATÉGICOS. DEPARTAMENTO DE CIÊNCIA E TECNOLOGIA. COORDENAÇÃO-GERAL DE GESTÃO DO CONHECIMENTO. Sistema GRADE: manual de graduação da qualidade da evidência e força de recomendação para tomada de decisão em saúde, 2014. Disponível em: https://bvsms.saude.gov.br/bvs/publicacoes/diretrizes_metodologicas_sistema_grade.pdf. Acesso em 12 mai. 2024.

CAFÉ, Lígia; BARBOZA, Elza Maria Ferraz. Open Archives. 2001.

CAPONE, Letícia Varela; ITUASSU, Arthur; PECORARO, Caroline. Twitter e esfera pública: pluralidade e representação na discussão sobre o Marco Civil da internet. Contracampo, v. 33, n. 2, p. 86-86, 2015. Disponível em: https://periodicos.uff.br/contracampo/article/view/17549. Acesso em 28 nov. 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22409/contracampo.v33i2.783

CARVALHO, Wellington; GUIMARÃES, Ádria Silva. Desinformação, Negacionismo e Automedicação: a relação da população com as drogas “milagrosas” em meio à pandemia da COVID-19. InterAmerican Journal of Medicine and Health, v. 3, 2020. Disponível em: https://iajmh.emnuvens.com.br/iajmh/article/view/147. Acesso em 27 set. 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31005/iajmh.v3i0.147

CHEN, Zhaowei et al. Efficacy of hydroxychloroquine in patients with COVID-19: results of a randomized clinical trial. medrxiv, 2020. Disponível em: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.22.20040758v3. Acesso em 27 set. 2024.

CHIA, Po Ying et al. Virological and serological kinetics of SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant vaccine-breakthrough infections: a multi-center cohort study. Clinical Microbiology and Infection, 2021. Disponível em: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1198743X21006388. Acesso em 30 mar. 2022.

DIMENSIONS: banco de dados. Disponível em: https://www.dimensions.ai/. Acesso em: 1-30 set. 2023.

GUALLAR, Javier et al. Redistribución de notícias y debate público en las redes sociales. Profesional de la Información, v. 25, n. 3, p. 358-366, 2016. Disponível em: file:///C:/Users/Eduardo/Downloads/50965-Texto%20del%20art%C3%ADculo-147583-2-10-20160704.pdf. Acesso em 30 mar. 2021.

GUIMARÃES, Carlos Alberto. Medicina baseada em evidências. Revista do Colégio Brasileiro de Cirurgiões, v. 36, p. 369-370, 2009. Disponível em: https://www.scielo.br/j/rcbc/a/cVbkCq8b7TJvGMkrFf7N9Jc/?format=pdf&lang=pt. Acesso em 05 jul. 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/S0100-69912009000500002

HANSEN, Christian Holm et al. Vaccine effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 infection with the Omicron or Delta variants following a two-dose or booster BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273 vaccination series: a danish cohort study. MedRxiv, 2021. Disponível em: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.20.21267966v3. Acesso em 12 jun. 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.12.20.21267966

KOUZY, Ramez et al. Coronavirus goes viral: quantifying the COVID-19 misinformation epidemic on Twitter. Cureus, v. 12, n. 3, 2020. Disponível em: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7152572/. Acesso em 5 out. 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.7255

MANZONI, Alexandre. Ciência, não-ciência, anticiência: lutas em torno da saúde pública na pandemia de COVID-19. Revista Brasileira de Ciências Sociais, v. 39, 2024. Disponível em: https://www.scielo.br/j/rbcsoc/a/kx8HWVdbz3TrSrncRgH8nxF/?format=pdf&lang=pt. Acesso em 14 jun. 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/39004/2024

PINHEIRO, Marta Macedo Kerr; BRITO, Vladimir de Paula. Em busca do significado da desinformação. Data Grama Zero, João Pessoa, v. 15, n. 6, 2014.

QIAN, Hua et al. Indoor transmission of SARS‐CoV‐2. Indoor Air, v. 31, n. 3, p. 639-645, 2021. Disponível em: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ina.12766. Acesso em 30 mar. 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ina.12766

RODRIGUES, Eloy. Ciência Aberta: Resposta de Emergência ou o Novo Normal?. Acta Médica Portuguesa, v. 35, n. 12, p. 853-855, 2022. Disponível em: https://www.actamedicaportuguesa.com/revista/index.php/amp/article/view/19200. Acesso em 28 set. 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20344/amp.19200

ROSMAN, Tom; GRÖSSER, Sianna. Belief updating when confronted with scientific evidence: Examining the role of trust in science. Public Understanding of Science, v. 33, n. 3, p. 308-324, 2024. Disponível em: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/09636625231203538. Acesso em 5 out. 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/09636625231203538

SENHORAS, Elói Martins. O campo de poder das vacinas na pandemia da COVID-19. Boletim de Conjuntura (BOCA), Boa Vista, v. 6, n. 18, p. 110-121, 2021. Disponível em: http://revista.ioles.com.br/boca/index.php/revista/article/view/400. Acesso em 07 jul. 2021.

A capa da Revista ENCONTROS BIBLI apresenta como título do volume 30 do ano 2025 "Por uma ciência diversa, equitativa, inclusiva e acessível." Visualmente, a imagem destaca várias silhuetas de perfis de rostos humanos, representando diversidade, com diferentes tons de pele. À direita, há uma representação do globo terrestre. Na parte inferior da capa, são exibidas informações institucionais: "Departamento de Ciência da Informação, Programa de Pós-graduação em Ciência da Informação, Portal de Periódicos UFSC." A publicação é datada de 2025, Volume 30, ISSN 1518-2924.

Downloads

Published

2024-12-18

How to Cite

ROCHA, Eduardo Santos; ARAÚJO, Ronaldo Ferreira de. The impact of the level of scientific evidence in preprints about COVID-19 on their sharing on Twitter (X) Brazil . Encontros Bibli: electronic journal of library science, archival science and information science, Florianópolis/SC, Brasil, v. 30, p. 1–21, 2024. DOI: 10.5007/1518-2924.2025.100852. Disponível em: https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/eb/article/view/100852. Acesso em: 19 dec. 2025.

Issue

Vol. 30 (2025): For diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible science

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Eduardo Santos Rocha, Ronaldo Ferreira de Araújo

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The author must guarantee that:

  • there is full consensus among all the coauthors in approving the final version of the document and its submission for publication.
  • the work is original, and when the work and/or words from other people were used, they were properly acknowledged.

Plagiarism in all of its forms constitutes an unethical publication behavior and is unacceptable. Encontros Bibli has the right to use software or any other method of plagiarism detection.

All manuscripts submitted to Encontros Bibli go through plagiarism and self-plagiarism identification. Plagiarism identified during the evaluation process will result in the filing of the submission. In case plagiarism is identified in a manuscript published in the journal, the Editor-in-Chief will conduct a preliminary investigation and, if necessary, will make a retraction.

This journal, following the recommendations of the Open Source movement, provides full open access to its content. By doing this, the authors keep all of their rights allowing Encontros Bibli to publish and make its articles available to the whole community.

 

Encontros Bibli content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Any user has the right to:

  • Share - copy, download, print or redistribute the material in any medium or format.
  • Adapt - remix, transform and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.

According to the following terms:

  • Attribution - You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
  • No additional restrictions - You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything that the license permits.
Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC