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Analysis of institutional authors

Torregrosa Lopez, Francisco JavierCorresponding AuthorLara-Cabrera RAuthorCamacho DAuthor
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Linguistic analysis of pro-ISIS users on Twitter

Publicated to:Behavioral Sciences Of Terrorism And Political Aggression. 12 (3): 171-185 - 2020-07-02 12(3), DOI: 10.1080/19434472.2019.1651751

Authors: Torregrosa J., Thorburn J., Lara-Cabrera R., Camacho D., Trujillo H.M.

Affiliations

RMIT UNIVERSITY - Author
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid - Author
Universidad de Granada - Author
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid - Author

Abstract

© 2019, © 2019 Society for Terrorism Research. The present study analyzed the differences in the language usage between pro-ISIS users and random users on Twitter. Based on the literature, it was expected that, when comparing the tweets from both samples, distinctive patterns would be found on their usage of similar linguistic categories. This observational study compared a dataset of 105 pro-ISIS users with 91 random Twitter users, both collected between 2015 and 2016. The Linguistic Inquiry Word Count (LIWC) software was employed to analyze the terminology used by both groups from a quantitative perspective. Relevant LIWC categories used in previous studies were included in the assessment. ISIS supporters used significantly more third person plural pronouns and less first person singular and second person pronouns. They also used more words related with death, certainty, and anger than the random group, along with more words containing six letters or more. Finally, more negative language and tone was used by the pro-ISIS group. The language used by ISIS supporters on Twitter was discussed, as well as comparisons to relevant studies on other political extremists. Ultimately, our results suggest that broad similarities in language usage exist between ISIS supporters and other extreme ideologies.

Keywords
ExtremismIsisJihadismLinguisticsMediaPoliticalPolitical extremismRadicalizationTerrorismTwitter

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Behavioral Sciences Of Terrorism And Political Aggression 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, 2020, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q2 (Segundo Cuartil), in the category Political Science and International Relations.

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: 1.46. 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: 1.4 (source consulted: FECYT Feb 2024)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-05-20, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 6
  • Scopus: 23
  • Google Scholar: 43
  • OpenCitations: 15
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 2025-05-20:

  • 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: 59.
  • 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: 59 (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: 7.4.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 12 (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: Australia.

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been TORREGROSA LOPEZ, FRANCISCO JAVIER.