When are readership counts as useful as citation counts? Scopus versus Mendeley for LIS journals

This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Association for Information Science and Technology in Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology on 08/01/2015, available online: https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.23369 The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.In theory, articles can attract readers on the social reference sharing site Mendeley before they can attract citations, so Mendeley altmetrics could provide early indications of article impact. This article investigates the influence of time on the number of Mendeley readers of an article through a theoretical discussion and an investigation into the relationship between counts of readers of, and citations to, 4 general library and information science (LIS) journals. For this discipline, it takes about 7 years for articles to attract as many Scopus citations as Mendeley readers, and after this the Spearman correlation between readers and citers is stable at about 0.6 for all years. This suggests that Mendeley readership counts may be useful impact indicators for both newer and older articles. The lack of dates for individual Mendeley article readers and an unknown bias toward more recent articles mean that readership data should be normalized individually by year, however, before making any comparisons between articles published in different years

Information exchange on an academic social networking site: A multidiscipline comparison on researchgate Q&A

The increasing popularity of academic social networking sites (ASNSs) requires studies on the usage of ASNSs among scholars and evaluations of the effectiveness of these ASNSs. However, it is unclear whether current ASNSs have fulfilled their design goal, as scholars' actual online interactions on these platforms remain unexplored. To fill the gap, this article presents a study based on data collected from ResearchGate. Adopting a mixed-method design by conducting qualitative content analysis and statistical analysis on 1,128 posts collected from ResearchGate Q&A, we examine how scholars exchange information and resources, and how their practices vary across three distinct disciplines: library and information services, history of art, and astrophysics. Our results show that the effect of a questioner's intention (i.e., seeking information or discussion) is greater than disciplinary factors in some circumstances. Across the three disciplines, responses to questions provide various resources, including experts' contact details, citations, links to Wikipedia, images, and so on. We further discuss several implications of the understanding of scholarly information exchange and the design of better academic social networking interfaces, which should stimulate scholarly interactions by minimizing confusion, improving the clarity of questions, and promoting scholarly content management

Researchers’ green Open Access practice: a cross-disciplinary analysis

The EC-funded Publishing and the Ecology of European Research (PEER) project (http://www.peerproject.eu/) is an unprecedented collaboration between stakeholders involved in scholarly research and scholarly publishing, looking into specific aspects of the complex relationship between Open Access (OA) and scholarly communication. The project includes publishers and representatives, libraries, open access repositories (OARs) and researchers themselves, both as authors of journal articles and as readers (or consumers) of journal literature. The behavioural research is one of three strands that form the PEER Observatory, which was set up to investigate the effects of the large scale deposit of stage-two manuscripts (also known as authors’ final peer-reviewed and accepted manuscripts) on reader access, journal visibility and viability, and the broader ecology of European research (Shepherd & Wallace, 2009). The PEER behavioural research project was carried out in two phases, between April and September 2009, and from September 2010 to August 2011. Researchers at Loughborough University examined the behavioural aspects affecting self-archiving of stage-two manuscripts in OARs as well as the use of these manuscripts by fellow researchers. Most discussion of Open Access recognises the two main mechanisms to achieving open access. The gold route, often referred to as the ‘author pays’ route, involves payment of an article processing charge to publishers enabling the article to be made available to all without subscription or charge barriers. The alternative green route, often referred to as the ‘self archiving’ route, entails authors submitting manuscripts to traditional journals but maintaining the right to mount a version of their work on an open access repository. Much debate has focussed on the most effective way to achieve Open Access. There are many advocates of the green self archiving route to OA; subject-based repositories containing both stage-two manuscripts and preprints of research articles are a widely accepted development in certain disciplines such as physics and economics. Alongside this, many institutions are developing their own open access repositories and some are mandating deposit into these respositories. ROARMAP (http://roarmap.eprints.org/) and OpenDOAR (http://www.opendoar.org/) outline the extent of these developments worldwide. On the other hand, the recent report by the Working Group on Expanding Access to Published Research Findings, chaired by Professor Dame Janet Finch (Working Group on Expanding Access to Published Research Findings, 2012) recommended developing clear policies in support of publication in Open Access journals. In recommending gold OA, the Finch report requests that repositories carefully consider the balance between the aims of open access and possible risks ‘to the sustainability of subscription-based journals during what is likely to be a lengthy transition to open access’, however the report does recommend the continual development of the infrastructure surrounding subject and institutional repositories, though primarily for the purposes of research data and grey literature. In the lights of current policy developments in favour of the different routes to Open Access, a cross disciplinary analysis of researcher’s views and attitudes towards green (self archiving) OA practice is timely. Based on Phase 2 of the project, this article extends the preliminary results from phase 1 reported in Creaser et al (2010), and further develops understanding of researchers’ green OA experience both as authors and readers of peer-reviewed journal articles by looking in greater detail at their reported use of OARs and the context of that use. The article identifies disciplinary patterns of behaviour at the level of the Medical sciences, Life sciences, Physical sciences & mathematics, and Social sciences, humanities & arts in order to better understand the role of OARs in the scholarly communication landscape

Are Printed Documents Becoming Irrelevant? The Role of Perceived Usefulness of Knowledge Repositories in Selecting From Knowledge Sources

Knowledge sourcing through knowledge repositories, people, and documents in organizational settings are investigated in this paper. This competition among the knowledge sources is modeled via the perceived usefulness and ease of use of a Knowledge Management System (KMS) and extends the work of Gray and Durcikova (2005-2006) by adopting the concept of competition among knowledge sources suggested by Zimmer et al (2007-2008). Results suggest that when a KMS is perceived to be useful, users tend to reduce the usage of printed documents as a source of knowledge. However, when a KMS is perceived to be useful and easy to use, knowledge sourcing from other individuals is not influenced. This suggests that while good quality KMS may be slowly replacing printed documents, they complement sourcing knowledge from colleagues rather than reducing it. Implications for future research and practice are offered

Research support services of University Libraries

Este trabajo se propone reconstruir el debate político intelectual en torno al carácter democrático de la democracia en la revista Crítica & Utopía (1979-1989) presentándolo como una intervención pública, en diálogo, pero también en contraposición con un debate más general de época en torno a qué suponía la democratización en el contexto de las transiciones democráticas. Nuestra hipótesis es que en buena parte de los artículos publicados en la revista existen indicios suficientes de discusión con una perspectiva institucionalista de la democracia –que fue hegemónica en los estudios politológicos y que consolidaron una perspectiva institucionalista y normativa sobre la democracia que perdura hasta la actualidad–, privilegiando una concepción de la democracia asociada al conflicto y a la disputa, vía la recuperación de la importancia de la movilización social y la participación política. La recuperación de este debate nos permitirá comprender esos “otros” sentidos que estaban en disputa durante los años de la transición y disputar, desde otro lugar y con otras herramientas teóricas, un campo de conocimiento para el que las transiciones fueron un objeto ajeno, saldando así una deuda con el lugar que las ideas, los conceptos y los lenguajes ocupan en la construcción del sentido de lo político.This paper aims to reconstruct the intellectual political debate around the democratic nature of democracy in the Crítica & Utopía journal (1979-1989), presenting it as a public intervention, in dialogue, but also in contrast to a general debate of what democratization meant in the context of democratic transitions. Our hypothesis is that in a good part of the articles published in the journal are many indications of discussion with an institutionalist perspective of democracy –that was hegemonic in political studies and that consolidated an institutionalist and normative perspective of democracy that lasts until today–, privileging a conception of democracy associated with conflict and dispute by the recovery of the importance of social mobilization and political participation. The recovery of this debate will allow us to understand those “other” senses that were in dispute during the transition years and dispute, from another place and other theoretical tools, a field of knowledge for which transitions were a foreign object, thus paying off a debt with the place that ideas, concepts and languages occupy in the construction of the political sense.Facultad de Periodismo y Comunicación Socia

O contributo das bibliotecas para a “vida do laboratório”: uma cartografia internacional teórica e prática

Objective. The need for access to scientific information, as an indispensable condition for the generation of new knowledge, places the information problem in a central role in the production and dissemination of science. In the relation between information and science, we questioned the place that libraries occupy. Design/Methodology/Approach. International literature on the role of libraries in scientific research was retrieved and analyzed. From a content analysis, the literature was grouped into five categories that form the theoretical framework. Given its relevance, special attention was paid to empirical work carried out in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and Spain.Results/Discusion. It presented a bipartite structure —theoretical framework and empirical studies— that gives shape to the state of the art. In the first part, the dimensions converging to a theoretical definition of the problem of the role of libraries in scientific research are briefly presented. In the second part, we presented international work focusing particularly on empirical investigation regarding the support that these information systems provide for scientific research.Conclusions. Libraries occupy a place that is in deep reconfiguration. On the one hand, the generalized provision of information seems to render the role of libraries unnecessary, but on the other hand, libraries remain on their mission to add value, offer new services and products, and contribute to scientific development. The state of the art on the relationship between libraries and research demonstrates the robustness and relevance of this research line, and underlines the importance of empirical studies which allows an approximation to the relational complexity present in “laboratory life”. Originality/Value. It is a systematic analysis of literature relevant to the topic, where it is built a dialogue between the theoretical and empirical dimensions, from the studies that dealt with the relationship between libraries and scientific research.Objetivo. A necessidade do acesso à informação científica, enquanto condição indispensável para a geração de novo conhecimento, confere à informação um papel central na produção e disseminação da ciência. Na relação entre informação e ciência, interroga-se o lugar que as bibliotecas ocupam. Desenho/Metodologia/Enfoque. Foi realizada uma recolha e análise da literatura internacional sobre o papel das bibliotecas na investigação científica. A partir da análise do seu conteúdo, a literatura foi agrupada em cinco categorias que formam o enquadramento teórico. Pela sua relevância, foi dada especial atenção aos trabalhos empíricos desenvolvidos no Reino Unido, Estados Unidos da América e Espanha. Resultados/Discussão. É apresentada uma estrutura bipartida —enquadramento teórico e estudos empíricos—que dá forma ao estado da arte. Na primeira parte, apresentam-se de forma breve as dimensões que convergem para uma definição teórica do problema do papel das bibliotecas na investigação científica. Na segunda parte, são apresentados os trabalhos internacionais que incidem particularmente na investigação empírica do apoio que estes sistemas de informação prestam à investigação científica. Conclusão. As bibliotecas ocupam um lugar que está em profunda reconfiguração. Por um lado, a oferta generalizada de informação parece tornar dispensável o papel das bibliotecas, mas por outro as bibliotecas permanecem na sua missão de acrescentar valor, oferecendo novos serviços e produtos, e contribuindo para o desenvolvimento científico. O estado da arte sobre a relação entre as bibliotecas e a investigação demonstra, de forma cabal, a robustez e a pertinência desta linha de investigação e sublinha a importância dos estudos empíricos como a melhor forma de nos aproximarmos da complexidade relacional que está presente na “vida do laboratório”.Originalidade/Valor. É uma análise sistemática da literatura relevante para o tema, onde se pretende construir um diálogo entre as dimensões teórica e empírica, a partir dos estudos que abordaram a relação entre as bibliotecas e a investigação científica

Les pratiques informationnelles des chercheurs dans l’enseignement supérieur et la recherche : regards sur la décennie 2000-2010

Les recherches sur les pratiques informationnelles ont une longue tradition, se développant en parallèle à l’évolution même de la science et de la croissance de la production de connaissances depuis la seconde moitié du XXe siècle. L’avènement du numérique n’a fait que relancer les interrogations et l’intérêt de multiplier les études pour suivre au plus près l’évolution permanente des pratiques. En conséquence, il existe une multitude de travaux, la plupart très localisés et de ce fait diffic..

Vad är forskarservice?. En litteraturöversikt inom LUB-projektet Forskares behov av service och stöd

Abstract in Undetermined Litteraturöversikten utgör en av tre delar i ett projekt om forskares behov av stöd som genomfördes vid Lunds universitets bibliotek 2012. Projektets övergripande mål var att utveckla forskarservicen på Lunds universitet, både vad gäller gemensamma funktioner och service och vad gäller den service de enskilda biblioteken erbjuder. I löversikten fokuserades på vad forskarservice är, vilket stöd biblioteken ger forskare samt vad forskarna tycker om det stöd och erbjuds och vilka behov av stöd som finns. I litteraturen återfinns få definitioner av vad man menar med forskarservice utan det är hur man faktiskt gör som ofta får definiera betydelsen. Stödet handlar på olika sätt om att underlätta för forskaren och spara forskarens tid. Det kan göras antingen genom att stödja forskaren att lära sig strategier, förhållningssätt och tekniker som underlättar sökande, samlande och användande av information eller genom att bibliotekarien gör arbetet åt forskaren, t.ex. informationssökning, sammanställningar av litteratur eller organisering av olika material. Mest stöd återfinns i forskningsprocessens insamlingsfas och vid tillgängliggörande av resultat. Ofta finns en glidning mellan att tala om stöd till forskning och stöd till forskare. Generellt är det en splittrad bild som tecknas utifrån de studier som gjorts av forskarnas inställning till och behov av stöd och service. Detta kan förklaras med de många variationerna av upplägg och frågeställningar liksom ämnesmässiga skillnader. För att utforma relevant stöd behövs lyhördhet för hur olika forskare arbetar och biblioteket behöver vara synliga och tydliga med vad de kan erbjuda