267 research outputs found

    Gender Differences in Recognition of Coauthored Research: Evidence from the Italian Academia

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    I use data from Italian National Qualification evaluations to analyse whether women and men re-ceive differential credit for their coauthored work. National-level committees assess applicants' research quality, and a positive assessment is a requirement for promotion to associate and full professorship in Italian universities. I find that, conditional on the candidates’ individual characteristics and publications’ average qual-ity, the returns to an extra last- and middle-authored publication are, respectively, 35% and over 50% lower for women. On the other hand, I find no gender differences in the returns to single- and first-authored publications. The evidence is consistent with the possibility that women are evaluated differently from men in the presence of information asymmetries and stereotypes. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that gender differences in the attribution of credit for coauthored work emerge only in applications for associate professorship, where information asymmetries are larger. Moreover, stereotypes in science seem to penalise women when they undertake leadership roles as heads of labs, as women appear to suffer a last-authorship penalty in STEMM fields (sci-ence, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine). Additionally, using data on all publications in the Italian academia from the past twenty years, I explore whether observed coauthorship patterns are consistent with the possibility that women anticipate a coauthorship disadvantage. I find some support for the hypothesis that women might strategically engage in coauthorship in the presence of potential information asymmetries and stereotypes. In fact, in smaller fields, there are no gender differences in the propensity to coauthor, whereas in larger ones, women have fewer coauthors than men. In STEMM fields where authors are listed alphabetically, the gender difference in the share of female coauthors is consistently larger than in STEMM fields where authors are listed according to contribution

    Reviewing, indicating, and counting books for modern research evaluation systems

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    In this chapter, we focus on the specialists who have helped to improve the conditions for book assessments in research evaluation exercises, with empirically based data and insights supporting their greater integration. Our review highlights the research carried out by four types of expert communities, referred to as the monitors, the subject classifiers, the indexers and the indicator constructionists. Many challenges lie ahead for scholars affiliated with these communities, particularly the latter three. By acknowledging their unique, yet interrelated roles, we show where the greatest potential is for both quantitative and qualitative indicator advancements in book-inclusive evaluation systems.Comment: Forthcoming in Glanzel, W., Moed, H.F., Schmoch U., Thelwall, M. (2018). Springer Handbook of Science and Technology Indicators. Springer Some corrections made in subsection 'Publisher prestige or quality

    Italian sociologists: A community of disconnected groups

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    Examining coauthorship networks is key to study scientific collaboration patterns and structural characteristics of scientific communities. Here, we studied coauthorship networks of sociologists in Italy, using temporal and multi-level quantitative analysis. By looking at publications indexed in Scopus, we detected research communities among Italian sociologists. We found that Italian sociologists are fractured in many disconnected groups. The giant connected component of the Italian sociology could be split into five main groups with a mixture of three main disciplinary topics: sociology of culture and communication (present in two groups), economic sociology (present in three groups) and general sociology (present in three groups). By applying an exponential random graph model, we found that collaboration ties are mainly driven by the research interests of these groups. Other factors, such as preferential attachment, gender and affiliation homophily are also important, but the effect of gender fades away once other factors are controlled for. Our research shows the advantages of multi-level and temporal network analysis in revealing the complexity of scientific collaboration patterns

    Student Research Journal, Vol.8, Iss.2

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    Making visible the invisible through the analysis of acknowledgements in the humanities

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    Purpose: Science is subject to a normative structure that includes how the contributions and interactions between scientists are rewarded. Authorship and citations have been the key elements within the reward system of science, whereas acknowledgements, despite being a well-established element in scholarly communication, have not received the same attention. This paper aims to put forward the bearing of acknowledgements in the humanities to bring to the foreground contributions and interactions that, otherwise, would remain invisible through traditional indicators of research performance. Design/methodology/approach: The study provides a comprehensive framework to understanding acknowledgements as part of the reward system with a special focus on its value in the humanities as a reflection of intellectual indebtedness. The distinctive features of research in the humanities are outlined and the role of acknowledgements as a source of contributorship information is reviewed to support these assumptions. Findings: Peer interactive communication is the prevailing support thanked in the acknowledgements of humanities, so the notion of acknowledgements as super-citations can make special sense in this area. Since single-authored papers still predominate as publishing pattern in this domain, the study of acknowledgements might help to understand social interactions and intellectual influences that lie behind a piece of research and are not visible through authorship. Originality/value: Previous works have proposed and explored the prevailing acknowledgement types by domain. This paper focuses on the humanities to show the role of acknowledgements within the reward system and highlight publication patterns and inherent research features which make acknowledgements particularly interesting in the area as reflection of the socio-cognitive structure of research.Comment: 14 page

    Análisis de la participación española en los proyectos de investigación en Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades dentro del VI Programa Marco de la Unión Europea (2002-2006)

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    The objective of this paper is to describe the Social Sciences and Humanities projects with Spanish participation within the Sixth EU Framework Programme (FP6) (2002-2006) as well as the scientific production resulting from these projects. First, we determine the most significant characteristics of the projects with Spanish participation (duration, funding, topics, type of institution, etc.). Secondly, we analyse the scientific production derived from a selection of projects from the Scopus database to analyse some bibliometric features. The results show that the projects have a significant Spanish participation, but below other countries with a smaller demographic volume, and there is little leadership from Spanish institutions. The scientific production is characterized by articles written predominantly in English, published in first-quartile journals and prepared by one or two authors. However, only 14.7% of the articles analysed were coordinated by a Spanish author.El objetivo de este artículo es describir los proyectos de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades con participación española dentro del Sexto Programa Marco de la UE (FP6) (2002-2006), así como la producción científica resultante de estos proyectos. En primer lugar, determinamos las características más significativas de los proyectos con participación española (duración, financiación, temática, tipo de institución, etc.). En segundo lugar, analizamos la producción científica derivada de una selección de proyectos de la base de datos Scopus para analizar algunas características bibliométricas. Los resultados muestran que los proyectos tienen una importante participación española, pero por debajo de la de otros países con un menor volumen demográfico, y hay poco liderazgo de las instituciones españolas. La producción científica se caracteriza por artículos escritos predominantemente en inglés, publicados en revistas de primer cuartil y elaborados por uno o dos autores. Sin embargo, sólo el 14,7% de los artículos analizados están coordinadas por un autor español

    Analysis of Spanish Participation in the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Projects within the 6th European Union Framework Programme (2002-2006).

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    The objective of this paper is to describe the Social Sciences and Humanities projects with Spanish participation within the Sixth EU Framework Programme (FP6) (2002-2006) as well as the scientific production resulting from these projects. First, we determine the most significant characteristics of the projects with Spanish participation (duration, funding, topics, type of institution, etc.). Secondly, we analyse the scientific production derived from a selection of projects from the Scopus database to analyse some bibliometric features. The results show that the projects have a significant Spanish participation, but below other countries with a smaller demographic volume, and there is little leadership from Spanish institutions. The scientific production is characterized by articles written predominantly in English, published in first-quartile journals and prepared by one or two authors. However, only 14.7% of the articles analysed were coordinated by a Spanish author

    Age stratification and cohort effects in scholarly communication : a study of social sciences

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    Aging is considered to be an important factor in a scholar’s propensity to innovate, produce, and collaborate on high quality work. Yet, empirical studies in the area are rare and plagued with several limitations. As a result, we lack clear evidence on the relationship between aging and scholarly communication activities and impact. To this end, we study the complete publication profiles of more than 1000 authors across three fields—sociology, economics, and political science—to understand the relationship between aging, productivity, collaboration, and impact. Furthermore, we analyze multiple operationalizations of aging, to determine which is more closely related to observable changes in scholarly communication behavior. The study demonstrates that scholars remain highly productive across the life-span of the career (i.e., 40 years), and that productivity increases steeply until promotion to associate professor and then remains stable. Collaboration increases with age and has increased over time. Lastly, a scholar’s work obtains its highest impact directly around promotion and then decreases over time. Finally, our results suggest a statistically significant relationship between rank of the scholar and productivity, collaboration, and impact. These results inform our understanding of the scientific workforce and the production of science
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