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Analysis of institutional authors

Lopez-Marcos, CCorresponding AuthorVicente-Fernandez, PAuthor

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September 27, 2022
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Fact Checkers Facing Fake News and Disinformation in the Digital Age: A Comparative Analysis between Spain and United Kingdom

Publicated to:Publications. 9 (3): 36- - 2021-09-01 9(3), DOI: 10.3390/publications9030036

Authors: López-Marcos, C; Vicente-Fernández, P

Affiliations

Rey Juan Carlos Univ, Dept Commun Sci & Sociol, Madrid 28942, Spain - Author

Abstract

The current media ecosystem, derived from the consolidation of Information and Communication Technologies, shows a scenario in which the relationship between the media and their audience is being redefined. This represents a challenge for journalistic practice. In the digital age, the public actively participates in the construction and dissemination of news through social networks. Faced with this loss of control by the media, fake news and disinformation are emerging as one of the main problems of journalistic practice in a competitive business context, and with a high saturation of news content. In this situation, fact checkers emerge as key players in the information verification process. This research comparatively analyses the main fact checkers in Spain and the United Kingdom through content analysis applied to their corporate websites to understand their characteristics and working methodologies. The results underline that they are concerned with the concepts of transparency and honesty, along with showing their funding streams. The rigorousness of the verification process also stands out, as well as the importance of dialogue with the audience in their work. While in Spain they are featured by their non-profit nature and their international coverage, UK fact checkers focus on national information and are sometimes conceived as a business.

Keywords

ConsumptionDisinformationFact checkersFact-checking agencyFake newsJournalismLiteracySocial mediaSocial media and new challengesSpainThe united kingdom

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Publications due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency Scopus (SJR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2021, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q2 (Segundo Cuartil), in the category Media Technology.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 1.61. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)

This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:

  • Weighted Average of Normalized Impact by the Scopus agency: 1.45 (source consulted: FECYT Feb 2024)
  • Field Citation Ratio (FCR) from Dimensions: 25.89 (source consulted: Dimensions Sep 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-09-27, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 19
  • Scopus: 25

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-09-27:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 90.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 86 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 13.65.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 20 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (López Marcos, Casandra) and Last Author (Vicente Fernández, María del Pilar).

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been López Marcos, Casandra.