In this month’s blog, we’re highlighting the 10 papers published so far in 2026 with the highest Altmetric Attention Score (AAS), showcasing research receiving interest beyond traditional citation metrics, including online attention across news, social media, policy, clinical guidelines, blogs, and more. The rankings are based on Altmetric data collected on August 26th 2026.

The manuscript with by far the highest AAS (1213) is also in the July top 10 most-read papers list in BMJ Open. Tiller et al. audited the accuracy, referencing and readability of the responses generated from five artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots to health and medical related questions covering areas particularly vulnerable to misinformation. The authors found variations in platform performance, incomplete or inaccurate referencing, and inconsistent readability. The paper has attracted particularly widespread media attention, with 202 news mentions (from 149 news outlets), alongside 51 mentions on X and 101 Bluesky mentions.

Two other papers in this list also appeared in our July Top 10 most-read papers list. These papers were authored by Steptoe et al., Adherence to the Mediterranean diet and psychological wellbeing before and during the COVID-19 pandemic (ranking 4th, AAS 185), and Rodriguez et al., Association between GLP-1 receptor agonists and alcohol-related hospitalisations (ranking 6th, AAS 140). Their appearance in both lists suggests that these studies continue to attract attention through both readership and wider online engagement.

With an AAS of 415 (ranking 2nd), a study by McNestry et al. examined the association between breastfeeding and depression and anxiety amongst women from their mid-30s to menopause at a tertiary maternity hospital in Dublin, Ireland. The authors found that women who reported depression or anxiety during the 10-year study period were less likely to have breastfed and that those who did had shorter breastfeeding durations. The study attracted 61 news mentions.

Third, with an AAS of 369, is the systematic review and meta-analysis protocol by Afolabi et al., which aims to examine hepatitis B vaccine uptake among pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa. The paper has already attracted 48 news mentions, demonstrating considerable interest in the global challenge of preventing mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B.

Additional studies attracting online attention include Li and colleagues’ cross-sectional analysis of the association between shift work patterns and sleep disturbance in the UK (ranking 5th, AAS 171); a cross-sectional analysis by Shiu et al.  exploring the association between stigma and risk of self-injury and suicidality in adults with Tourette syndrome (ranking 7th, AAS 129); and a longitudinal analysis of levels and trends in knowledge of the major harms of tobacco smoking and second-hand smoke exposure among adults who smoke (ranking 8th, AAS 104) by Chung-Hall et al. In ninth position, with an AAS of 97, is Prashar and colleagues’ prospective cohort analysis, Trajectory, healthcare utilisation and recovery in 3590 individuals with long covid: a 4-year prospective cohort analysis. This paper is particularly interesting in terms of where its attention has come from. While the other papers highlighted above attracted news coverage, this long covid study has generated 106 mentions on X and 45 Bluesky mentions but no news mentions, highlighting an important feature of the AAS – it is a weighted measure of attention, rather than a simple count of mentions. 

Rounding out the top 10 is a modelling study from Lund et al., examining greenhouse gas emissions associated with type 2 diabetes management in adults in the UK (AAS 81), which received 12 news mentions.

The full top 10 list of highest scoring papers on Altmetric from BMJ Open so far in 2026 (as of August 26th) is shown below.