Use of Hirsch Index for Measuring the Impact of IS Academic Research and Journals

This study examines the use of journal rankings and a relatively new method of measuring impact of research as a surrogate of scholarly impact: the Hirsch Index (Hirsch 2005). Journal rankings are a very important exercise in academia since they impact tenure and promotion decisions. Current methods employed to rank journal influence are shown to be subjective. We propose that the Hirsch Index be adopted as a more objective journal ranking method. To demonstrate the results of using the Hirsch Index, it is applied to the “pure MIS” journals ranked by Rainer and Miller (2005). The authors find substantial differences between the scholar rankings and those obtained using the Hirsch index. This provides weak support for the current journal ranking system but also suggests that other factors are at play

Assessing Scholarly Influence: Proposing New Metrics

This study examines the use of the Hirsch family of indices to assess the scholarly influence of IS researchers. It finds that while the top tier journals are important indications of a scholar’s impact, they are neither the only nor indeed the most important sources of scholarly influence. In effect other ranking studies, by narrowly bounding the venues included in those studies, effectively privilege certain venues by declaring them as more highly influential than they are when one includes broader measures of scholarly impact. Such studies distort the discourse. For instance, contrary to the common view that to be influential one must publish in a very limited set of US journals, our results of the impact of scholars published in top tier European IS journals are of similar influence to authors publishing in the MIS Quarterly, ISR and Management Science even though they do not publish in those venues

Examining Scholarly Influence: A Study in Hirsch Metrics and Social Network Analysis

This dissertation research is focused on how we, as researchers, ‘influence’ others researchers. In particular, I am concerned with the notion of what constitutes the ‘influence’ of a scholar and how ‘influence’ is conferred upon scholars. This research is concerned with the construct called ‘scholarly influence’. Scholarly influence is of interest because a clear “theory of scholarly influence” does not yet exist. Rather a number of surrogate measures or concepts that are variable are used to evaluate the value of one’s academic work. ‘Scholarly influence’ is broken down into ‘ideational influence’ or the influence that one has through publication and the uptake of the ideas presented in the publication, and ‘social influence’ or the influence that one has through working with other researchers. Finally through the use of the definition of ‘scholarly influence’ this dissertation tries to commence a definition of ‘quality’ in scholarly work

Chomskyan (R)evolutions

It is not unusual for contemporary linguists to claim that “Modern Linguistics began in 1957” (with the publication of Noam Chomsky’s Syntactic Structures). Some of the essays in Chomskyan (R)evolutions examine the sources, the nature and the extent of the theoretical changes Chomsky introduced in the 1950s. Other contributions explore the key concepts and disciplinary alliances that have evolved considerably over the past sixty years, such as the meanings given for “Universal Grammar”, the relationship of Chomskyan linguistics to other disciplines (Cognitive Science, Psychology, Evolutionary Biology), and the interactions between mainstream Chomskyan linguistics and other linguistic theories active in the late 20th century: Functionalism, Generative Semantics and Relational Grammar. The broad understanding of the recent history of linguistics points the way towards new directions and methods that linguistics can pursue in the future

The world of stolen goods a psychological perspective of illicit consumption

There is nothing trivial about illicit consumption in contemporary societies. While cultural capital can play a significant role in structuring social mobility, the desire to acquire goods, whether legitimately or illegitimately, has a direct and obvious link to a widespread business crime of Theft from Stores (TFS). Thus far, over time, and throughout society, TFS has flourished in our consumer-focused society, and while it has been on the increase in recent years, it has received relatively limited attention in the research literature. Evidence mainly showed that TFS is extremely widespread, and is not just restricted to the store from which "goods" are stolen or where criminal loss is caused， and it often affects society as a whole. This commonly committed crime has seldom been researched from the viewpoint of victims, and the means of considering the publics reactions and attitudes towards such phenomenon was of importance in this study. Previous research has argued that causal societal response might pinpoint an alternative way of tackling criminality and thus develop better effective strategies to confront and reduce TFS. Using attributions to understand the effects of causal explanations on respondent’s reactions was this study's methodological standpoint. This study ground its discussion on the structural reaction of the causal explanatory nature through the eyes of the victimized "key stakeholders" perceptions, by linking attitude research and TFS research. Thus, the purpose of this study was to develop more insights into how lay attitude toward the potential causes of TFS in general concur with, or differ from research accounts. Another important aspect of this study was to simplify the data and construct those reactions into specific domains that influence the formation of their attitudes toward the causes. Attitudes were measured by an attributional style design. The results of the study indicate the following: (1) lay attitudes varied between different backgrounds, and (2) a structural pattern underlying the formation of those attitudes towards the causes of TFS. Overall, the results captured belief values of seven specific goal-directed strategic domains that had found support on evolutionary reasoning and understanding. The identification of those seven factors formed the structural framework of the lay attributes that reflect to domain-specific social psychological mechanisms, which have evolved to deal with the unique complexities of contemporary demands, and thus are selected for very specific goals and their attendant strategies. This study argues that the origins why some people might want to commit an offence of so-called "shoplifting" or "consumer theft", and serves an evolutionary psychology (EP) purpose, since results suggest that there are very clear ancient behaviours still at work here in our current consumer-obsessed environment. Overall, it makes sense in our consumer-obsessed cultures that so many people steal, since results reveal that such reasoning can take information a step further. More than just a means of acquisition, TFS allows people to immediately experience of other symbolic values through strategic solutions likely to be successful for human survival. Where resources are scarce, accruing "goods" illicitly form stores can help both males and females ensure they have the means they need to successfully pass on their genes to the next generation. This study followed the beliefs and desires created in "us" by"our" psychological mechanisms to explain those numerous conditional and circumstantial sought causes that compel people to accumulate resources by stealing. This study provides theoretical and practical contributions, given that TFS has not been surveyed before in such an exploratory research style. The discovery of the underlying goal-directed strategic effort that arouse from this study's factorial structure, will constitute central implications for further TFS research, and may also facilitate methodological advances

Proceedings of the Seventh Congress of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education

International audienceThis volume contains the Proceedings of the Seventh Congress of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education (ERME), which took place 9-13 February 2011, at Rzeszñw in Poland

Australia's Economy in its International Context: The Joseph Fisher Lectures (vol. 2)

This two-volume collection brings together the first 53 Joseph Fisher Lectures in economics and commerce, presented at the Adelaide University every other year since 1904. Funds for the Lectures, together with a medal for the top accounting student each year, were kindly provided by a £1,000 endowment to the University by the prominent Adelaide businessman Joseph Fisher in 1903. The Lectures address a wide range of Australian economic issues, in addition to some international economic issues of national significance. They have stood the test of time extremely well, while also providing a reminder of the events and concerns that were prominent at different times during the past century