  This study explores the interplay between YouTube engagement metrics and the
academic impact of cited publications within video descriptions, amid declining
trust in traditional journalism and increased reliance on social media for
information. By analyzing data from Altmetric.com and YouTube's API, it
assesses how YouTube video features relate to citation impact. Initial results
suggest that videos citing scientific publications and garnering high
engagement-likes, comments, and references to other publications-may function
as a filtering mechanism or even as a predictor of impactful research.
