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Analysis of institutional authors

Castillo-Abdul, BCorresponding AuthorMuela-Molina, CAuthor

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YouTubers and miracle diets: the dissemination of health content between 2020 and 2021

Publicated to:Revista Latina De Comunicacion Social. 80 (80): 475-494 - 2022-01-01 80(80), DOI: 10.4185/RLCS-2022-1743

Authors: Castillo-Abdul, Barbara; Blanco-Herrero, David; Muela-Molina, Clara

Affiliations

Univ Espiritu Santo, ESAI Business Sch, Guayaquil, Ecuador - Author
Univ Rey Juan Carlos, Dept Ciencias Comunicac & Sociol, Madrid, Spain - Author
Univ Rey Juan Carlos, Fac Ciencias Comunicac, Comunicac Audiovisual & Publicidad, Madrid, Spain - Author
Univ Rey Juan Carlos, Fac Ciencias Comunicac, Publicidad, Madrid, Spain - Author
Univ Salamanca, Comunicac Audiovisual, Salamanca, Spain - Author
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Abstract

Introduction: This research focuses on the possible influence of little-studied factors in the interaction aroused by YouTube videos on miracle diets, given the potential public health risk that the advice they offer may pose, especially for the young population. Methodology: The 50 most viewed videos on miracle diets posted between January 2020 and June 2021 in Spanish and English were analyzed. Through a quantitative content analysis, the influence of variables related to the relationship with the audience and the presence on camera, the expression of emotions and the description and analysis of the diet or product on the interaction and consumption of the video was studied. Results: The studied factors have hardly any effect, nor did the language of the video, on the numbers of views, comments, likes, dislikes and shares. Discussion: The above is interpreted as a sign of uncritical and thoughtless consumption, which could pose risks if the audience follows diets or consumes products that may pose a health risk. Conclusions: The work aspired to open new ways of analyzing health content on YouTube, focusing on characteristics of the videos less studied in the previous literature. Despite the few effects observed, there is a need to continue addressing factors such as the emotions transmitted, the type of information used or the attitude towards the products or diets treated.

Keywords

Content analysisDetox dietsHealth communicationInformationMiracle dietsOnline content consumptionVideosYoutubers

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Revista Latina De Comunicacion Social 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, 2022, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Communication.

Independientemente del impacto esperado determinado por el canal de difusión, es importante destacar el impacto real observado de la propia aportación.

Según las diferentes agencias de indexación, el número de citas acumuladas por esta publicación hasta la fecha 2025-06-17:

  • WoS: 3
  • Scopus: 3
  • OpenCitations: 1

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 2025-06-17:

  • 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: 15.
  • 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: 18 (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: 6.4.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 8 (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

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Ecuador.

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 (Castillo Abdul Hadi, Bárbara Mercedes) and Last Author (Muela Molina, Clara).

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been Castillo Abdul Hadi, Bárbara Mercedes.