On Friday, March 14, Félix de Moya, director of the SCImago Research Group and a leading figure in the field of scientometrics, will present an innovative Media Visibility indicator at the CoDi Congress. This new index evaluates the presence of scientific institutions in the media using the SCImago Media Ranking(SMR) database, which indexes 5,465 media outlets worldwide.
SCImago, recognized for its contributions to scientometric analysis, expands its set of tools for evaluating scientific production and its societal impact with this new development. This indicator adds to those already published in 2024, such as:
Sustainable Development Goals (SDG): Analysis of the number of documents from an institution related to the UN’s SDGs.
Female Scientific Talent Base (FemSTP): Measurement of women’s presence in scientific article authorship.
Impact on Public Policy – Overton (OV): Evaluation of the number of documents cited in policy papers according to the Overton database.
The CoDi Congress, a leading event in the evaluation and communication of science, brings together international experts in bibliometrics and scientometrics. The 2025 edition will feature the participation of prominent researchers and sponsors such as Xunta de Galicia, Universidade de Vigo, SCImago Research Group, Fundación Larramendi, MicroBacterium, ShareScience, and the FAKELocal Project.
The rigour and impact of high-quality media research are intrinsically linked to methodology. In studies that adopt a case study approach, the selection of sources to define the object of study is also a crucial factor.
In this context, the SCImago Media Rankings (SMR) emerge as a promising starting point with vast research potential on a global scale. This project initially set out to construct the first global map of general news outlets (including both print newspapers with digital versions and digital-native publications). It now extends this framework to incorporate a worldwide selection of leading sports and financial media.
Researchers can also utilise country, regional, and language filters when conducting their studies. Additionally, efforts are underway to integrate a global sample of audiovisual news media, including major television networks.
As a reflection of the research opportunities presented by the SMR, it is worth highlighting the valuable work undertaken by Mari Vállez, Juan José Boté-Vericad, Javier Guallar, and Marco Bastos. Their study examines the publication strategies of five leading media organisations—those ranking highest in digital reputation according to the SMR—during the acquisition of Twitter (now X) by entrepreneur Elon Musk.
The full article is available via the following link. However, we present below a translated summary of the research:
This study analyses the publication strategies of traditional media outlets on Twitter following the platform’s acquisition by Elon Musk. We employ the SCImago Media Rankings to identify the news organisations with the largest online audiences, namely The Guardian, The New York Times, USA Today, The Independent, and The Washington Post. Data were gathered via Twitter’s Academic API v2 and the SEMrush platform in early 2023, covering the entirety of 2022. The dataset includes website audits that monitor domain traffic, with the aggregated data subsequently processed using R packages and Atlas.ti. Our analysis reveals that a stronger presence on Twitter correlates with a significant increase in social traffic, as evidenced by The Independent. This contrasts sharply with other media outlets. These differences persist regardless of the thematic focus of coverage—predominantly centred on the Russia-Ukraine war—or the compositional characteristics of their posts, which largely omit typical Twitter elements such as hashtags and @ mentions. We conclude by discussing the communication strategies employed by news organisations on Twitter following Elon Musk’s acquisition of the platform in 2022.
This research was published in July 2024 in the specialist journal Journalism Studies, under the Taylor & Francis imprint, following a rigorous peer-review process.
Researcher Diana Bajaña-Cedeño offers a compelling insight into the Ibero-American media landscape by drawing on the first wave of analysis from the 2024 SCImago Media Ranking (SMR), which evaluates the digital reputation of general news, sports, and financial newspapers.
In this context, while Grupo Prisa ranks at the top both in Spain and across Latin America—led by El Paísand As—media outlets from Argentina, Peru, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico also stand out, “demonstrating the diversity and informational richness of the region.” Notable examples include El Comercio (Peru), La Nación (Argentina), Ge Globo and O Globo (Brazil), and El Tiempo (Colombia).
The full analysis of the Top 20 Ibero-American media outlets can be accessed in the article published by Bajaña-Cedeño on Professor Lluís Codina’s portal, which serves as the Observatorio de Cibermedios (OCM), dedicated to journalism and the digital ecosystem.
The specific analysis of Ibero-American media conducted by the researcher from Pompeu Fabra University is available [here].
Journalistic innovation and communication observatories have been the focus of this year’s analysis and reflection conference, organized by Pompeu Fabra University at the initiative of the CUVICOM teams, the Observatory of Cybermedia (OCM) led by Professor Codina, and researchers from the DigiDoc project.
In 2024, the CUVICOM Conference has placed a special emphasis on the activities of observatories such as Sembramedia, InCom, and the SCImago Media Rankings platform. Building on this foundation, experts have contributed insights on audience relevance and engagement, as well as on the best interactive narratives in the most innovative forms of journalism.
Journalist and Communication professor at the University of Granada, Magdalena Trillo, a member of the SMR scientific team, was responsible for explaining the origin and evolution of the project, its potential applications and impact both professionally and academically, as well as the current development prospects of the SCImago Group initiative.
What does the Digital Reputation Indicator (DRI) measure? Can we evaluate and compare the digital reputation of media outlets objectively and on a global scale? The article “Digital Reputation Indicator: A Webometric Approach for a Global Ranking of Digital Media”, recently published in Journalism by Magdalena Trillo-Domínguez, Ramón Salaverría, Lluís Codina, and Félix de Moya-Anegón, has been recognized as a “trending paper” in Altmetrics, reflecting the growing interest and attention that the research led by SCImago Research Group is generating around this new line of work, which focuses on digital media both academically and professionally.
Altmetrics assesses the influence and visibility of scientific research beyond traditional metrics like journal impact factor. Instead of relying solely on academic citations, this approach considers a range of indicators that reflect the online attention and impact of a scientific paper.
In “Digital Reputation Indicator: A Webometric Approach for a Global Ranking of Digital Media”, the authors explain the methodology behind SCImago Media Rankings (SMR), introducing the Digital Reputation Indicator (DRI). This indicator allows for the evaluation and comparison of the reputation of digital news media at a global level. Since January 2023, SCImago Media Rankings (scimagomedia.com) has been using the DRI as a composite evaluation and measurement tool, weighting web-based metrics from reliable, stable, and globally accessible sources.
The Digital Reputation Indicator (DRI) provides a foundation for the qualitative comparison of digital media using a webometric model based on the following aspects:
Citation Flow: Assesses the level at which media outlets are cited by other websites.
Trust Flow: Analyzes the quality of the websites linking to the media.
Domain Authority Scores (Domain Rating and Authority Score): Evaluates the authority of media domains.
This webometric approach surpasses the limitations of the two dominant media measurement paradigms used until now:
The traditional model, based on audience metrics.
The more recent model, focused on social media popularity.
The DRI emerges as a valuable resource for both the academic community and digital journalism professionals.
This research is part of a new line of study driven by the SCImago Research Group, aimed at the global analysis and evaluation of digital media.
SCImago Media Ranking (SMR) – First Edition 2024: Forbes enters the Top Ten of the global ranking, ranking just behind USA Today, The New York Times, and The Guardian, making it the most influential economic publication
The first sports media outlet appears at position 27: the Spanish newspaper Marca, with its digital edition, leads the global ranking ahead of popular digital-native platforms like The Athletic.
The SCImago Media Ranking (SMR), launched a year ago as a global observatory for measuring the digital reputation of media outlets, presents the first wave of analysis for 2024, now incorporating over 500 economic and sports newspapers. General news publications such as USA Today, The New York Times, and The Guardian remain at the top, closely followed by some of the most historic financial newspapers from the business press sector.
The online edition of Forbes ranks as the most influential economic media outlet globally, followed by Investopedia, a digital-native platform focused on personal finance and investments, and Bloomberg Businessweek, the flagship publication of the U.S. financial conglomerate. This means that three American outlets dominate the top positions in the economic media ranking.
In the sports category, the Spanish newspaper Marca leads the global ranking in terms of digital reputation (ranked 27th overall), followed by the French sports daily L’Équipe (ranked 32nd) and another Spanish publication, As, from the Prisa Group. Meanwhile, The Athletic, the digital-native sports outlet acquired by The New York Times, has yet to translate its editorial investment into digital prominence, currently ranking at a modest 113th position.
A Growing and Diversified Ranking
The SMR now evaluates a total of 5,452 media outlets, broken down as follows:
4,968 general news outlets
264 finance-focused publications
247 sports media outlets
Regarding media coverage, the ranking includes:
472 international outlets
1,692 national outlets
3,543 regional outlets
Regarding media formats, the dataset consists of:
3,552 traditional newspapers that have undergone digital transformation
1,846 digital-native newspapers
111 online news portals developed by news agencies
Currently, efforts are underway to incorporate additional media types, such as magazines (with an initial selection already included) and broadcast media (radio and television).
SMR’s Evolution and Methodological Advancements
The SMR project was launched at the end of 2022 with an exploratory ranking (Q1) to validate the methodology and the Digital Reputation Indicator (DRI). Throughout 2023, three additional waves (Q2, Q3, and Q4) were published, progressively refining the sample’s global representativeness. During this period, the focus was placed on general information newspapers, both print and digital-native outlets.
For 2024, the ranking expands to include economic and sports newspapers, with an initial selection of 264 finance-focused media and 247 sports media outlets (511 in total). These were identified during the second half of 2023, prioritizing countries with the highest population density. In addition to traditional media databases, specialized keyword-based searches were conducted to ensure a comprehensive selection of specialized media outlets worldwide.
New Features in SMR’s Presentation and Navigation
A new navigation feature has been introduced, allowing users to filter by media type, providing the option to:
View an overall global ranking of all media.
Focus specifically on general news media, economic media, or sports media.
About SCImago Media Ranking (SMR)
The SCImago Media Ranking (SMR) is a joint initiative by the Universities of Granada, Navarra, and Pompeu Fabra. As part of the SCImago Lab tools, this ranking classifies media outlets using the Digital Reputation Indicator (DRI), which measures media traffic and visibility.
Top 50 of the Global Media Ranking (SMR) by Digital Reputation
