Press citation: The impact of scientific journals and research articles on news media

The news media's citations of journals, authors, and papers have been used avant la letre to study the impact of science in the lay press and some characteristics of scientific journalism. In this paper, the concepts of press citation and media impact are outlined by analogy to those of scientific citation and scientific impact, establishing their similarities and differences. Some possibilities of study using press citations counts are also outlined, as well as the development of new bibliometric indicators to measure the media impact of science. The analysis of press citations has advantages over alternative metrics (altmetrics) because the press is the main news producer and offers a more consolidated product with a professional filter. However, press citations also have some limitations, mainly the lack of a database of press citations from scientific journals in the international lay press.