'Insights' continuous publication case study

'Insights: the UKSG Journal' switched to a continuous publication model in early 2018, following a decision by the Editorial Board in November 2017. The prospect of a switch had been discussed a number of times previously. In the event, the decision was quickly made and the transition largely smooth. Given UKSG’s position as a membership organization including many publishing members, it was considered that a case study of the process would be useful in helping members and other publishers to consider and execute a similar transition

Making research evaluation processes in Europe more transparent

Researchers repeatedly cite career advancement as a key incentive for their practices and behaviours. This is critical to understanding the pace of change in scholarly communications, as those researchers inclined to innovate or experiment with new forms of research outputs, methodologies, or communication styles risk being penalised by the evaluation system used by many research institutions that are slow to adapt to the modern research environment. Sarah Slowe, Gareth Cole, Jon Tennant and Charlie Rapple are gathering data on current promotion and hiring guidelines used throughout Europe and will analyse how these compare to researchers’ attitudes of “publish or perish” and the impact factor as the key determining factor for career advancement. A number of recommendations will follow from this analysis, with the ultimate aim of fostering a more informed evaluation, promotion, and recruitment system for researchers

England's Neglect of Higher Education: The Comparative Perspective of Matthew Arnold

In this study, I examine why Matthew Arnold considered his country's higher educational institutions to be inadequate, what prescriptions he advocated for improving them, and why he was convinced this amelioration was so necessary for leading England to true modernity. I argue throughout that Arnold's beliefs were profoundly influenced by what he had witnessed during his many official and unofficial trips to the Continent. A genuine understanding of Arnold's views on England's post-secondary institutions necessitates a concomitant comprehension of Arnold the comparative educator

Epistemic Trust in Online Higher Education: A Mixed Method Phenomenological Research Study

The purpose of this study was to explore the online instructor’s role in building epistemic trusting relationships with adult learners in their online classrooms. A mixed-method phenomenology research (MMPR) approach was used to discover if certain instructor actions influenced an epistemic trust relationship to develop between the instructor and the adult learner. This study examined the instructor’s classroom management actions, communication immediacy actions, and regulatory actions, as well as the level of epistemic trust in 48 fully online courses, focusing on 4 exemplar cases for cross-case analysis. It was determined that the instructor’s classroom management actions and communication immediacy actions explained 52% of the variation in epistemic trust. The instructor’s regularity actions played a lesser role by initializing early trust (a shallower trust than epistemic trust), a necessary foundation on which to build epistemic trust relationships. The regulatory actions also provided support for the other two types of instructor actions by creating a sense of the instructor’s fairness and availability. The study advanced a causation network that made visible a path from early trust of the instructor to an epistemic trust relationship with the instructor. These results suggest that instructors that practice these three types of actions in the online classroom have the potential to influence epistemic trust relationships with the adult learners, thereby improving learner motivation, cooperation, critical thinking, satisfaction, and academic performance. The findings presented in this study provide a possible epistemic trust model that may contribute to future research for developing a theory of epistemic trust

Beyond Metrics: Managing the performance of your work

ISSN:2504 - 185

The M.L.S. Degree: Time for a Two-Year Program?

The author began working by asking a question: how well are library schools preparing students for future participation in the library profession? She thought that one year is not long enough for students to gain what they need to become a library and information science professional. She suggested library schools to undertake a major restructuring of their programs and recommended a two-year M.L.S. program