Scholarly Books: Their Production, Use and Evaluation in South Africa Today

Cite: Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), (2010). Scholarly Books: Their Production, Use and Evaluation in South Africa Today. [Online] Available at: DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/assaf/0035This consensus study addresses the world of book publishing in and from South Africa. It explores the special scholarly virtues of these works and the contributions they make to ‘the literature’ and to the general advancement of scholarship and science. It sets out to do this in a form that will be useful to practitioners and policy-makers alike, answering the many questions that have arisen in relation to such issues as optimal research practice, training, planning and resourcing.Academy of Science of South Afric

Report on a Strategic Approach to Research Publishing in South Africa

Cite: Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), (2006). Report on a Strategic Approach to Research Publishing in South Africa. [Online] Available at: DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/assaf/0038Two strands of influence have affected the publication of local scholarly journals in South Africa in the recent past. The first of these was the establishment of the Bureau of Scientific Publications that subsidized the publication of a number of journals that had been established during the 20th century. The ‘Bureau journals’ were an attempt to foster academic publication in South Africa and to make their products available to an international readership – quality of material was to be coupled to quality of production. In this respect the establishment of the Bureau was mimicking a similar development in Australia and could be seen as a mechanism for fostering home-grown talent. The second influence was a new mechanism of funding universities, which rewarded them directly for the academic publications that they produced. Both of these influences had a significant impact on the development of local journals, the behaviour of individuals, the financial sustainability of learned societies that produced the journals, and the institutions that received the ‘output’ subsidy. The Bureau was recently closed, with only one journal, The South Africa Journal of Science, continuing to receive support through the Academy of Science of South Africa on the basis of its international impact. The funding for ‘outputs’ of the tertiary institutions has continued, although in a modified form that includes a reward for completed masters and doctoral degrees. These developments raised two related questions. The first was whether it was appropriate for the state to support the publication of (some) learned journals in the interest of fostering intellectual exchange. The second question was whether all of the articles, published in journals recognized for the output subsidy of universities, deserved to receive recognition, in view of the wide variation in quality of the material produced. The Academy was commissioned in 2001 in this context by the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology (now the Department of Science and Technology) to undertake a study to address these two questions, with a view to making recommendations for the optimal development of policy in the future. The effect of globalization on knowledge exchange, which is mediated very largely through scientific journals being published in English, and having their origins in Europe and North America, has resulted in the neglect of regional journals. It has also led to the development of benchmarks based on bibliometric analysis of publication patterns that has resulted in global ranking of tertiary institutions. These trends are being countered in the African context, with its relatively neglected tertiary sector, by a need that is expressed by the African Academies of Science that are members of the Network of African Scientific Academies (NASAC), to consider the publication of high-quality journals that report work of significance to African scientists. The degree to which such a project is feasible, and whether it could be successfully implemented both in South Africa and elsewhere on the continent, needs to be explored after the release of this report. Although the report was prepared at the request of, and with funding from the Department of Science and Technology, in order amongst other matters to address specific questions that had been raised about the subsidy for scholarly outputs, its potential impact both in understanding international trends in scholarly knowledge production and in giving guidance to those who would like to foster the publication of indigenous journals, will be great if careful attention is given to the recommendations that are contained in this study. The report was developed and has been guided to a successful conclusion by Prof Wieland Gevers who initiated it during his tenure as President of the Academy and has now brought it to fruition as the Academy’s Executive Officer, with the invaluable assistance of Dr Xola Mati as study director. He and the authors of the various chapters are thanked for the care and attention with which they have produced a seminal analysis of South African publication patterns. They will receive their reward in full measure through the impact that this report will have on the further development of the National System of Innovation.Department of Science and Technolog

Congress UPV Proceedings of the 21ST International Conference on Science and Technology Indicators

This is the book of proceedings of the 21st Science and Technology Indicators Conference that took place in València (Spain) from 14th to 16th of September 2016. The conference theme for this year, ‘Peripheries, frontiers and beyond’ aimed to study the development and use of Science, Technology and Innovation indicators in spaces that have not been the focus of current indicator development, for example, in the Global South, or the Social Sciences and Humanities. The exploration to the margins and beyond proposed by the theme has brought to the STI Conference an interesting array of new contributors from a variety of fields and geographies. This year’s conference had a record 382 registered participants from 40 different countries, including 23 European, 9 American, 4 Asia-Pacific, 4 Africa and Near East. About 26% of participants came from outside of Europe. There were also many participants (17%) from organisations outside academia including governments (8%), businesses (5%), foundations (2%) and international organisations (2%). This is particularly important in a field that is practice-oriented. The chapters of the proceedings attest to the breadth of issues discussed. Infrastructure, benchmarking and use of innovation indicators, societal impact and mission oriented-research, mobility and careers, social sciences and the humanities, participation and culture, gender, and altmetrics, among others. We hope that the diversity of this Conference has fostered productive dialogues and synergistic ideas and made a contribution, small as it may be, to the development and use of indicators that, being more inclusive, will foster a more inclusive and fair world

Study on open science: The general state of the play in Open Science principles and practices at European life sciences institutes

Nowadays, open science is a hot topic on all levels and also is one of the priorities of the European Research Area. Components that are commonly associated with open science are open access, open data, open methodology, open source, open peer review, open science policies and citizen science. Open science may a great potential to connect and influence the practices of researchers, funding institutions and the public. In this paper, we evaluate the level of openness based on public surveys at four European life sciences institute

Twelve Years Later: Second ASSAf Report on Research Publishing In and From South Africa

Cite: Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), (2019). Twelve Years Later: Second ASSAf Report on Research Publishing In and From South Africa (2018). [Online] Available at: DOI:10.17159/assaf.2018/0030The Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) released its second major Consensus Report on a commissioned study of Research Publishing in South Africa in 2006, with detailed data analysis and a 360-degree view of the topic, including the impact of new technologies on the dissemination of research results and the world-wide open access movement. A second Consensus Report on scholarly books followed in 2009. The Department of Science and Technology (DST) endorsed the two reports and requested the Academy itself to oversee the implementation of the recommendations, and has funded the Academy’s Scholarly Publishing Programme (SPP) ever since. The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) has supported the projects of the SPP in various relevant areas. Much has been achieved even though much remains to be done. In 2016, the Academy commissioned Professor Johann Mouton and his colleagues of the Centre for Research on Evaluation of Science and Technology (CREST) at Stellenbosch University to do a thorough, largely bibliometric study of scholarly publishing in and from South Africa (SA) in the period 2005 – 2014, with all forms of peer-reviewed scholarly publications included, whether in journals, books or conference proceedings. The group has become extremely well versed in the appropriate methodologies, using reliably indexed databases and cooperating with partners who have developed special techniques for sharpening the focus of standard parameters such as citation counts and rates over time, demographic shifts in authorships and indicators of collaboration. The study was completed in 2017, and submitted to the Academy. Amongst a large number of interesting and relevant findings were disturbing indications of predatory publishing and questionable editorial practices. As the period studied by the CREST team coincided almost exactly with the period that has elapsed since the data-gathering for ASSAf’s above-mentioned first report, the Academy has decided to publish a second report on scholarly publishing in SA, to include concise but essential summaries of the two earlier ASSAf reports (Chapters 1 and 2); a review of the work of the SPP in the research publishing system over the past 12 years (Chapter 3); an analysis of the problems of access on the part of South African researchers to the problematic international commercial research literature (Chapter 4); the concise version of the new CREST report (Chapter 5); a consideration of the threat posed by predatory publishing and questionable editorial and authorship practices (Chapter 6); a discussion of the main issues and unresolved problems still remaining in the system despite its generally good progress (Chapter 7); and a set of headline recommendations for the future (Chapter 8). The Academy believes that the formation of public policy should involve a longitudinal understanding of how systems behave over time periods that are sufficiently long to reveal both the trends and the underlying causes. We see no reason in this new analysis to depart from our original conclusion, that the highest possible quality of scholarly publishing within a country is important, but that only open access publishing of local journals will ensure the wide dissemination of their important content, with all the benefits that that will bring. This standpoint is not at variance with the other conclusion that South African researchers should also actively contribute to the international literature and participate as fully as possible in the world’s knowledge system.Department of Science and Technology (DST) Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET

EX-POST EVALUATION OF THE DIRECT ACTIONS OF THE JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE UNDER THE SEVENTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMMES 2007-2013

The ex-post evaluation in this report provides the independent assessment requested in the Council Decisions concerning the specific programmes to be carried out by means of direct actions by the Joint Research Centre implementing the Seventh Framework Programmes (2007-2013) of the European Community and of the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). The evaluation has been conducted by a panel of independent external experts under the chairmanship of Professor Patrick Cunningham. In this report the Panel concludes positively on the effectiveness of the JRC as the Commission’s science service in support of Euratom and EU policies. It also concludes that the JRC has a respectable scientific performance in its areas of competence. In particular, the JRC standard is high as regards the scientific quality and impact of its publications. Besides a number of recommendations for incremental improvement of the JRC the Panel also flags two issues with a view to transformative change of the JRC. To begin with the JRC should establish a long-term strategy before the mid-term evaluation of the Horizon 2020 framework programme in 2017. As the JRC further develops its function as scientific service of the Commission, there is a need to address the JRC’s governance as well as its interaction with the scientific community in the Member States. In light of this the Commission should task a Group of eminent personalities to put forward options for JRC governance, adapted to its functions of the future. These include scientific support, research, scientific advice, and knowledge management in partnership with the Member StatesJRC.ADV02-Adviser for Evaluation and Scientific Integrit

EX-POST EVALUATION OF THE DIRECT ACTIONS OF THE JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE UNDER THE SEVENTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMMES 2007-2013

The ex-post evaluation in this report provides the independent assessment requested in the Council Decisions concerning the specific programmes to be carried out by means of direct actions by the Joint Research Centre implementing the Seventh Framework Programmes (2007-2013) of the European Community and of the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). The evaluation has been conducted by a panel of independent external experts under the chairmanship of Professor Patrick Cunningham. In this report the Panel concludes positively on the effectiveness of the JRC as the Commission’s science service in support of Euratom and EU policies. It also concludes that the JRC has a respectable scientific performance in its areas of competence. In particular, the JRC standard is high as regards the scientific quality and impact of its publications. Besides a number of recommendations for incremental improvement of the JRC the Panel also flags two issues with a view to transformative change of the JRC. To begin with the JRC should establish a long-term strategy before the mid-term evaluation of the Horizon 2020 framework programme in 2017. As the JRC further develops its function as scientific service of the Commission, there is a need to address the JRC’s governance as well as its interaction with the scientific community in the Member States. In light of this the Commission should task a Group of eminent personalities to put forward options for JRC governance, adapted to its functions of the future. These include scientific support, research, scientific advice, and knowledge management in partnership with the Member StatesJRC.ADV02-Adviser for Evaluation and Scientific Integrit

Orientation towards Sustainable Entrepreneurship: Empirical evidence on SMEs

[eng] In the last decade, entrepreneurship has been seen as a solution to social inequality and environmental degradation rather than a possible cause. This fact called academics' attention to develop a connection between traditional entrepreneurship, society, and the environment. They established a new type of entrepreneurial activity called sustainable entrepreneurship (SE). The (SE) basis is to preserve nature, sustain life, and the community is searching for perceived opportunities to create future products, processes, and services. According to the literature, SE is an emerging research trend that can be defined as the realisation of sustainable innovations aimed at the mass market and benefit most society. Therefore, (SE) makes a significant contribution to the transition to a sustainable economy. There are indications that a shift towards sustainable business strategies in which economic profit is essentially linked to social and ecological value is essential. For these reasons, the (SE) has received increasing importance from different actors, such as international institutions, companies and universities. A clear example was the development of the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, approved in 2015 by the United Nations (UN), which provides a framework for collaboration at a global level to implement (SE) initiatives. This type of entrepreneur starts a business to serve both their interests and those of the community, addressing unmet social and environmental needs. Therefore, this phenomenon can be seen as a unique perspective that combines economic, social and environmental value with a general concern for the well-being of future generations. In this way, (SE) differs from conventional entrepreneurship in aspects related to the creation of value, highlighting among them the search for the following three aspects (1) economic value, (2) social value and (3) environmental value. Three academic contributions have been proposed to achieve the established aims, which constitute the relevant chapters of this doctoral thesis. This research is presented as a compendium of three contributions, each focused on achieving specific proposed aims under different methodological strategies. In the first contribution, an in-depth analysis was carried out using bibliometric techniques and instruments that made it possible to map the central (SE) academic literature and analyse the most substantial contributions to research in this field. The chronological analysis of the literature in the Web of Science-Social Sciences Citation Index (WoS-SSCI) database-up to January 2018- provides new knowledge, such as the most influential journals, authors and articles so far. This research reviews one of the most recognised databases, the Web of Science-Social Sciences Citation Index, having a chronological distribution of the publications that allows a systematic review of the scientific literature in the timeline. The study also shows the most outstanding journals and papers in the field. The largest number of articles published in (SE) are published in top journals such as the Journal of Cleaner Production, Sustainability, Business Strategy and the Environment Journal of Business Venturing. The second contribution is to analyse the influence that SMEs' sustainability competencies have on their social entrepreneurial orientation and the influence of this strategy on the company's performance (social and economic). This research focuses on measuring how the leader's sustainable competencies influence the social entrepreneurial orientation of SMEs and their outcomes. It is observed that the key competencies that leaders must form or develop in order for SMEs to have a social entrepreneurial orientation are focused on environmental and social practices based on four dimensions: System and thinking competence, normative competence, interpersonal competence and action competence. The third contribution is to find out whether small and medium enterprises in this country are involved in the adoption of sustainable practices and see whether there are significant differences in adoption according to size, sector, and age. Through an exploratory-descriptive study, the research made it possible to analyse the sustainability practices that SMEs in Ecuador include in their business management. Among the most important findings is that managers have an extremely positive and favourable attitude towards sustainability. Practices in economic sustainability have a medium-high implementation level. The main strengths are related to SMEs' social image and human rights; SMEs analysed show concern that their supplier enterprises should also act responsibly to convey the image of a responsible and reliable company. Finally, Ecuador's sustainability is quite relevant at the Government, the University and the Enterprises, which seek to involve, raise awareness. Support enterprises to manage their SMEs in a socially responsible way and become mobilisers of a more just and equitable society. For this reason, this research focuses on small and medium-sized enterprises in Ecuador which face immense sustainability problems and challenges. There is a clear need to build and monitor public policies that are based on evidence, such as indicators designed to monitor environmental dynamics and their interrelationships with social and productive dynamics

Language Models for Citation Classification

Authors reference academic works for a variety of reasons. As a result, not all citations in a research article have the same purpose. The need to understand and distinguish these citation purposes led to the development of automated approaches that consider semantic cues in the form of the context surrounding the citations. Identifying the semantic aspects of citations has proven valuable in various applications including research assessment, information retrieval, document summarisation, and more. While automated citation classification has been in progress since the early 2000s, current efforts to determine citation types based on their contexts remain largely domain-specific. Besides, there is a lack of standard benchmarks for evaluating models for citation classification. Extracting valuable metadata related to the reason behind citation in scientific articles, particularly across multiple domains, is laborious and researchers still lack consensus on what should be the optimal context size for effective detection of citation function. The current methods heavily rely on the amount of annotated data used for training, making them data-centric. The emergence of self-supervised language models, which efficiently learn contextual relationships from vast unannotated datasets, has brought about substantial changes in the realm of Natural Language Processing in recent years. Despite these advancements, the few-shot predictive capability of the language models remains under-utilised in this field. This thesis addresses the above shortcomings of citation classification. We systematically and comprehensively review the existing methodologies used by the previous works and identify the research gap and the potential future works. This meta-analysis forms the foundation for the research problems addressed in Chapters 3, 4, 5 and 6. Initially, we introduce a novel benchmark in the form of an open shared task competition for multi-disciplinary citation classification in Chapter 3. The methods submitted to this shared task highlight the superiority of deep learning-based approaches and hinted at the importance of incorporating additional context to enhance the performance of citation classification models. Secondly, we create a new open access feature-enriched multi-disciplinary citation classification dataset to overcome the challenges associated with extracting meta-data from both citing and cited articles in Chapter 4. The feature extraction process, utilising multiple sources and the missing meta-data values, indicates the complexities involved in extracting features for a heterogeneous dataset. In Chapter 5, we assess domain-specific and multi-disciplinary datasets by fine-tuning them on pre-trained scientific language models, specifically exploring various fixed citation context windows. We introduce a new method for automatically extracting dynamic context windows in an unsupervised manner. Both sets of experiments emphasise the significance of additional context in citation context classification. Moreover, the experimental results also show the domain dependence of the citation context window, providing evidence for the benefit of extracting context dynamically. Lastly, Chapter 6 presents novel prompting strategies for scientific and general-purpose language models to reduce the dependence on labelled citation classification datasets. The analysis of model performances under zero and few-shot settings reveals the effectiveness of large language models with minimal supervision, particularly when employing the newly proposed dynamic citation context-based prompting strategy