Towards more consistent, transparent, and multipurpose national bibliographic databases for research output

National bibliographic databases for research output collect metadata on universities’ scholarly publications, such as journal articles, monographs, and conference papers. As this sort of research information is increasingly used in assessments, funding allocation, and other academic reward structures, the value in developing comprehensive and reliable national databases becomes more and more clear. Linda Sīle, Raf Guns and Tim Engels outline the challenges faced by those developing national bibliographic databases for research output, from the need for reliable (persistent) identifiers, through to the new and evolving contexts for data use

Predatory Open Access journals: A review of past screenings within the Flemish performance based research funding system (2014 – 2018)

From 2013 – 2014 onwards, our group (ECOOM - UAntwerpen) has been monitoring Predatory Open Access publication patterns in Flemish (Belgium) SSH scholarship. In light of the Flemish Performance Based Research Funding System, these screening exercises are conducted to assist university review boards with the decision-making processes concerning what is and what is not to be considered a peer reviewed periodical. Each year, the results of these monitoring exercises than, are published in as a report, and presented to the Authoritative Penal. In the introductory part of this essay, we will present a general background against which these yearly screenings emerged. Second, we will present the sources used and the methods deployed for the yearly screenings. Thereafter, we will shortly present the yearly results these exercises yielded. In the third section, we present a more comprehensive analysis of the results. We conclude with reflecting on the past exercises and the findings presented in this report, and discuss some implications for colleagues and scholars manoeuvring through the contemporary journal landscape

Predatory Open Access journals: A review of past screenings within the Flemish performance based research funding system (2014 – 2018)

From 2013 – 2014 onwards, our group (ECOOM - UAntwerpen) has been monitoring Predatory Open Access publication patterns in Flemish (Belgium) SSH scholarship. In light of the Flemish Performance Based Research Funding System, these screening exercises are conducted to assist university review boards with the decision-making processes concerning what is and what is not to be considered a peer reviewed periodical. Each year, the results of these monitoring exercises than, are published in as a report, and presented to the Authoritative Penal. In the introductory part of this essay, we will present a general background against which these yearly screenings emerged. Second, we will present the sources used and the methods deployed for the yearly screenings. Thereafter, we will shortly present the yearly results these exercises yielded. In the third section, we present a more comprehensive analysis of the results. We conclude with reflecting on the past exercises and the findings presented in this report, and discuss some implications for colleagues and scholars manoeuvring through the contemporary journal landscape

Predatory Open Access journals: A review of past screenings within the Flemish performance based research funding system (2014 – 2018)

From 2013 – 2014 onwards, our group (ECOOM - UAntwerpen) has been monitoring Predatory Open Access publication patterns in Flemish (Belgium) SSH scholarship. In light of the Flemish Performance Based Research Funding System, these screening exercises are conducted to assist university review boards with the decision-making processes concerning what is and what is not to be considered a peer reviewed periodical. Each year, the results of these monitoring exercises than, are published in as a report, and presented to the Authoritative Penal. In the introductory part of this essay, we will present a general background against which these yearly screenings emerged. Second, we will present the sources used and the methods deployed for the yearly screenings. Thereafter, we will shortly present the yearly results these exercises yielded. In the third section, we present a more comprehensive analysis of the results. We conclude with reflecting on the past exercises and the findings presented in this report, and discuss some implications for colleagues and scholars manoeuvring through the contemporary journal landscape

Educational Research Publication Patterns in a Context of the Norwegian Model: The Case of the University of Gothenburg (2005-2014) [NWB'2016 presentation slides]

In this study I explored educational research publication patterns in relation to the use of the so-called Norwegian model (NM) at the Faculty of Education in the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. The study included 4090 publications. The approach to analysis was designed to enable a comparison of publication patterns before (2005-2009) and after (2010-2014) the introduction of NM.<br><br>The findings suggest that the numbers for Level 1 are increasing with a greater rate than those publications that are excluded from the model (see Figure 1). However, such a trend can be identified already before the introduction of the model, thus raising further question on how to interpret this pattern. Further exploration suggests that the annual number of Level 2 publications fluctuate around 25 (SD 6.89) throughout the whole period with the exception for the last year explored (2014) when the annual number increases to 62.  A comparison on basis of annual average growth rates show that increase in annual average growth rate can be identified only for Level 1 publications. For Level 2 and those publications that are excluded from the model the annual average growth rate after the introduction of the model matches the rate before.<br><br>Consequently, it is not clear to what extent the change in publication patterns is related to NM. With findings from this, I wish to express a few conceptual and methodological concerns and open up a discussion on alternative ways to capture the relationship between publication patterns and one or another research assessment approach

National bibliographic data for studies of social sciences and humanities: towards interoperability

National bibliographic data bring numerous opportunities for science studies, especially when integrating data from multiple data sources. The use of multiple data sources, however, is hindered by the lack of interoperability. Although progress has been made in developing persistent international identifiers such as ISBN, DOI, and GRID, the interoperability between different data sources still poses challenges at several levels. We reflect upon these challenges with a focus on conceptual and methodological aspects with respect to the Academic Book Publisher Register (ABP), a comprehensive international list of publishers that is created by integrating multiple publisher lists used in different countries. This register, currently in development, is primarily meant to be used in research evaluation settings. At the same time it is potentially a valuable source of data for studies focused on publishing in different knowledge domains. In discussing the challenges encountered while making the ABP, we focus on two main issues: delineation of publishers and establishing connection between local lists and the ABP. In this paper we discuss possible ways to overcome these obstacles and draw conclusions in relation to other data sources that can be of use in research within the social sciences and humanities

European Databases and Repositories for Social Sciences and Humanities Research Output

This document provides an overview of European databases and repositories for research output within the social sciences and humanities. This overview is a result of a survey conducted within the framework of European Network for Research Evaluation in the Social Sciences and Humanities (ENRESSH, <a href="http://www.enressh.eu">www.enressh.eu</a>). This overview can be used to identify data sources and/or possible collaborators for bibliometric studies focused on social sciences and humanities or other related topics. Similarly, the insights reported here can be used as a starting point for more detailed exploration of designs and contents of databases for research output within the social sciences and humanities. Finally, the findings can serve as a source of background information for discussions on research evaluation and/or research funding allocation suitable for the social sciences and humanities