Webometric analysis of departments of librarianship and information science

This paper describes a webometric analysis of the linkages (or ‘sitations’) to websites associated with departments of librarianship and informaton science (LIS). Some of the observed sitation counts appear counter-intuitive and there is only a very limited correlation with peer evaluations of research performance, with many of the sitations being from pages that are far removed in subject matter from LIS. Our conclusions are that sitation data are now well suited to the quantitative evaluation of the research status of LIS departments and that departments can best boost their web visibility by hosting as wide a range of types of material as possible

How to Create an Innovation Accelerator

Too many policy failures are fundamentally failures of knowledge. This has become particularly apparent during the recent financial and economic crisis, which is questioning the validity of mainstream scholarly paradigms. We propose to pursue a multi-disciplinary approach and to establish new institutional settings which remove or reduce obstacles impeding efficient knowledge creation. We provided suggestions on (i) how to modernize and improve the academic publication system, and (ii) how to support scientific coordination, communication, and co-creation in large-scale multi-disciplinary projects. Both constitute important elements of what we envision to be a novel ICT infrastructure called "Innovation Accelerator" or "Knowledge Accelerator".Comment: 32 pages, Visioneer White Paper, see http://www.visioneer.ethz.c

Evidence Amalgamation in the Sciences: An Introduction

Amalgamating evidence from heterogeneous sources and across levels of inquiry is becoming increasingly important in many pure and applied sciences. This special issue provides a forum for researchers from diverse scientific and philosophical perspectives to discuss evidence amalgamation, its methodologies, its history, its pitfalls and its potential. We situate the contributions therein within six themes from the broad literature on this subject: the variety-of-evidence thesis, the philosophy of meta-analysis, the role of robustness/sensitivity analysis for evidence amalgamation, its bearing on questions of extrapolation and external validity of experiments, its connection with theory development, and its interface with causal inference, especially regarding causal theories of cancer

Mapping the intellectual structure of the coronavirus field (2000-2020): a co-word analysis

Over the two last decades, coronaviruses have affected human life in different ways, especially in terms of health and economy. Due to the profound effects of novel coronaviruses, growing tides of research are emerging in various research fields. This paper employs a co-word analysis approach to map the intellectual structure of the coronavirus literature for a better understanding of how coronavirus research and the disease itself have developed during the target timeframe. A strategic diagram has been drawn to depict the coronavirus domain’s structure and development. A detailed picture of coronavirus literature has been extracted from a huge number of papers to provide a quick overview of the coronavirus literature. The main themes of past coronavirus-related publications are (a) “Antibody- Virus Interactions,” (b) “Emerging Infectious Diseases,” (c) “Protein Structure-based Drug Design and Antiviral Drug Discovery,” (d) “Coronavirus Detection Methods,” (e) “Viral Pathogenesis and Immunity,” and (f) “Animal Coronaviruses.” The emerging infectious diseases are mostly related to fatal diseases (such as Middle East respiratory syndrome, severe acute respiratory syndrome, and COVID-19) and animal coronaviruses (including porcine, turkey, feline, canine, equine, and bovine coronaviruses and infectious bronchitis virus), which are capable of placing animal-dependent industries such as the swine and poultry industries under strong economic pressure. Although considerable research into coronavirus has been done, this unique field has not yet matured sufficiently. Therefore, “Antibody-virus Interactions,” “Emerging Infectious Diseases,” and “Coronavirus Detection Methods” hold interesting, promising research gaps to be both explored and filled in the future

On the treatment of uncertainty in Innovation Projects

The treatment of uncertainty in innovation projects is a critical aspect that must be addressed to improve project outcomes. This thesis focuses on identifying, measuring, and managing uncertainty in innovation projects, specifically emphasizing perspectives from innovation, risk management, and decision-making. The problematic aspects identified in the literature review include long incubation periods, standardized rules and procedures, non-existent market and market unfamiliarity, fuzziness in the fuzzy front end, team-based dynamic shifting capability, and selecting the right project leader. The research gap identified in the existing literature is the absence of a unified framework or toolbox that comprehensively addresses uncertainty in innovation projects. This thesis aims to fill this gap by proposing a unified toolbox to treat uncertainty effectively. The analytical direction of the research involves identifying the areas of uncertainty, measuring the impact on project outcomes, and developing a toolbox to manage and mitigate those. The research methodology adopted for this study is a qualitative case study approach, utilizing a multiple case study design. Two European Union projects – RESPONDRONE and ASSISTANCE, are selected for conducting a case study analysis. Thematic analysis is employed to derive meaningful insights and patterns from the data gathered during research. From the thematic analysis of the selected cases, five key themes are identified that significantly impact the uncertainty treatment of radical innovation projects. The key themes are- technology and innovation, communication and collaboration, adaptive project management, stakeholder engagement, and risk management. Each theme significantly impacts uncertainty treatment in the four critical areas of uncertainty- market, technological, organizational, and resource. These observations steer the study to see the treatment of uncertainty in innovation projects through the lens of existing literature. An impact assessment flowchart is developed, and a unified toolbox is proposed for better uncertainty treatment by putting things into different perspectives. This thesis concludes that the uncertainty paradigm in radical innovation projects is complex and nuanced. Rather than trying to pinpoint every aspect of it, a better approach for a project team is to understand the common areas of uncertainty generation, measure the impact of an unexpected event as soon as possible and equip themselves with a unified toolbox that can provide them the flexibility to use any tools necessary based on the context of the uncertainty

How to create an innovation accelerator

Abstract.: The purpose of this White Paper of the EU Support Action "Visioneer” (see www.visioneer.ethz.ch) is to address the following goals: 1. Identify new ways of publishing, evaluating, and reporting scientific progress. 2. Promote ICT solutions to increase the awareness of new emerging trends. 3. Invent tools to enhance Europe's innovation potential. 4. Develop new strategies to support a sustainable technological development. 5. Lay the foundations for new ways to reach societal benefits and respond to industrial needs using IC

ANTI-FRAGILE INFORMATION SYSTEMS

As complex socio-technical systems composed of many interconnected parts, interacting in non-linear, dynamic, emergent, and unexpected ways, Information Systems are fragile. In this paper we introduce the concept of antifragility as an alternative means of apprehending the fragility of Information Systems and a novel way of dealing with risk, uncertainty, and the unknown. Antifragility is the opposite of fragility. Antifragility allows us to go beyond robustness or resilience by moving away from a predictive mode of thinking and decision making to a mode that embraces the unknown and randomness and focuses on the characteristics that render systems fragile rather than trying to assess and predict the chain of events that may harm them. We propose a set of guidelines for moving from the fragile toward the antifragile and explore, for the processes of the IT function, their applications and the questions they raise for practice and research