An internal analysis conducted by Taylor & Francis indicates that medical journal articles incorporating supplementary content formats—referred to as “extenders”—receive significantly higher viewership compared to articles without them. The study found that articles enhanced with extenders had 144% more views on average.
Extenders are supplementary digital tools that reframe scientific research into alternative formats, including infographics, graphical or video abstracts, podcasts, and translations. These formats are often intended to increase the accessibility of research findings, particularly for non-specialist audiences such as patients, caregivers, and healthcare practitioners.
The analysis examined 21 Plain Language Summaries of Publications (PLSPs) and 19 Clinical Trial Protocols (CTPs) published with extenders across nine Expert Medicine journals between January 1, 2023, and January 16, 2025. These were compared with 146 PLSPs and 71 CTPs without extenders published during the same period.
While the dataset was limited to nine journals over a two-year span, the analysis indicated a consistent trend in increased engagement for articles featuring extenders. The findings also point to potential areas for future investigation, such as the correlation between extenders and citation rates or alternative metrics of impact, including social media dissemination.
The results suggest that including extenders may offer research groups a viable strategy to enhance the visibility and accessibility of their publications.
Click here to read the original press release.
