Scholarly journals are an important source of trusted information, although the engineering professional reads fewer journal articles on average than do members of the scientific and engineering academic communities. Studies have shown that engineers spend a smaller proportion of work time reading from scholarly journals and that they read fewer articles than scientists and physicians. Nonetheless journals are useful and valuable to engineers, who also read many types of information resources, including standards, technical reports, books, and articles

King, Donald W.

Tenopir, Carol

English

University of Tennessee, Knoxville: Trace

University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works School of Information Sciences July 2007 Engineers and Scholarly Journals: Reading Patterns in the Electronic Era Carol Tenopir University of Tennessee - Knoxville, ctenopir@utk.edu Donald W. King Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_infosciepubs  Part of the Library and Information Science Commons Recommended Citation Tenopir, Carol and King, Donald W., "Engineers and Scholarly Journals: Reading Patterns in the Electronic Era" (2007). School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_infosciepubs/10 This is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Information Sciences at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact trace@utk.edu. Engineers andScholarly JournalsReading Patterns in the Electronic EraC A R O L  T E N O P I R  A N D  D O N A L D  W .  K I N GTenopir is Professor ofInformation Sciences,College of Communi -cation and Information,University of Tennessee,Knoxville, and King isDistinguished ResearchProfessor, School ofInformation and LibraryScience, University ofNorth Carolina–ChapelHill. They coauthoredCommunication Patternsof Engineers (Wiley,2004).Scholarly journals are an important source oftrusted information, although the engineer-ing professional reads fewer journal articleson average than do members of the scientificand engineering academic communities. Studieshave shown that engineers spend a smaller propor-tion of work time reading from scholarly journalsand that they read fewer articles than scientists andphysicians. Nonetheless journals are useful and valu-able to engineers, who also read many types of infor-mation resources, including standards, technicalreports, books, and articles.  When engineers read articles, they rate the impor-tance to their job as very high. Other informationsources—particularly oral reports and oral commu-nications—are more important for engineers thanfor scientists or medical professionals. Recent stud-ies confirm these trends, which have been observedfor decades, although a growing percentage of read-ing is now from electronic sources.  Comparing Patterns The reading patterns of engineers have been studiedextensively for nearly 50 years. Studies in the 1960s,for example, found that engineers use technicalreports frequently (1–3). Several studies have com-pared the use and importance of scholarly journalsfor several fields, including medicine, sciences, socialsciences, and engineering (4–5).Most of the data presented here were collected inreadership surveys from 2000 to 2005 at five uni-versities and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory(ORNL), a Department of Energy science and energyresearch facility in Tennessee. Responses by engi-neers were compared with those by scientists andmembers of other professions.The surveys focused on the most recent read-ing—a variation of the critical incident technique.After the respondent estimated an amount of read-ing, the questions turned to the last article read.Questions covered details about the last reading,including the time spent, how the article was identi-fied, where it was obtained, the purpose and value ofthe reading, and the form and format of the reading.In addition, a limited number of questions requiredrecall—such as the amount of reading in the pastmonth—and demographic questions aimed at suchinformation as the respondent’s subject discipline,age, gender, and degree.Reading JournalsA 1977 national survey sponsored by the NationalScience Foundation showed that engineers read anaverage of 80 scholarly articles per year and spentabout 60 hours reading these articles, or an average of45 minutes per reading (6). Approximately 30 percentof all readings were by engineers in universities andthe remainder by engineers in other locations. Theuniversity engineers averaged 150 readings and otherengineers about 60 readings per year.A series of 32 surveys in the 1980s and 1990sTR NEWS 251 JULY–AUGUST 200724TR NEWS 251 JULY–AUGUST 200725revealed that engineers in industry, government, andfederal laboratory settings averaged about 83 annualreadings and spent 72 hours per year reading thesearticles (7). Engineers averaged an additional 210hours reading materials such as trade journals orbulletins (47 readings per year); books of all kinds(40 readings); technical reports, mostly internal (81readings); and other work-related documents. In2001 a survey at ORNL showed that engineers aver-aged 98 annual readings of scholarly articles and 88hours reading these articles, an indication thatnonuniversity engineers had increased their readingof articles and their time spent reading. A similar pattern was observed for universityengineers. The amount of reading and time spentreading by university engineers increased from 150readings in 1977 to 250 by 2005 and from 110 to 170hours spent reading per year.Some increased reading of scholarly articles isattributable to broadened access to articles throughbibliographic and full-text article databases and e-journal systems. More time spent reading articles,however, may detract from reading other materials.Regardless, engineers’ willingness to devote time toreading articles indicates the value they place on theinformation.Amount of ReadingIn surveys by Tenopir and King, respondents wereasked, “In the past month (30 days), approximatelyhow many scholarly articles have you read?” A schol-arly article was defined as one “found in journal issues,author websites, or separate copies such as preprints,reprints, and other electronic or paper copies.” Areading was defined as “going beyond the table of con-tents, title, and abstract to the body of the article.” The survey focused on readings, not on the spe-cific articles read. Almost 16 percent of readings byuniversity engineering faculty in 2005 and 30 per-cent of readings by nonuniversity engineers in 2001were rereadings. The distribution of readings tendsto be highly skewed, with only a few engineers read-ing many articles in the preceding month.Figure 1 shows the average amount of reading permonth by university faculty and staff by subject dis-ciplines. The amount of reading by engineering fac-ulty is less than that by science and medical faculty. Time Spent ReadingThe average time spent reading an article hasdecreased from an average of 48 minutes per articleacross all subject disciplines in 1977 to an average of34 minutes per article in 2005. Because the averagenumber of article readings has increased dramati-cally at the same time, the total time spent readingarticles has increased, but by less than would havebeen projected. On average, the decrease in theamount of time engineers spent per article was lessthan that for scientists or medical faculty.Engineering faculty read fewer articles on averagethan colleagues did in several other disciplines butspent more time per article (Figure 2). In 2005 uni-versity engineers reported spending an average of 41minutes per article or 172 hours per year—thisincluded only reading, not searching, retrieving, andciting the articles. ORNL engineers reported spend-ing an average of 54 minutes per article in 2001 orabout 88 hours reading journal articles annually.Sources and FormatAs journal prices have increased, engineers have sub-scribed to fewer journals and have sought articlesfrom other sources, such as libraries and separatecopies. The availability of electronic journals alsohas changed information-seeking and reading pat-terns. The average number of subscriptions per uni-versity engineer was 2.56 during 2000 to 2003; 16percent of university engineers, however, reported4035302520151050Medical/HealthSocial SciencesHumanitiesEngineering/TechnologySciencesOtherFIGURE 1 AverageReadings per Month bySubject Discipline:Faculty in U.S. ResearchUniversities, 2005 (n = 941)454035302520151050MinutesNo. of readingsMedical/HealthSocial SciencesHumanitiesEngineering/TechnologySciencesOtherFIGURE 2 Average TimeSpent per Article bySubject Discipline:Faculty in U.S. ResearchUniversities, 2005 (n = 937)receiving no personal subscriptions. The averagenumber of personal subscriptions per ORNL engi-neer was 1.16. These numbers are down from anaverage of 2.93 subscriptions per engineer in 1977.The main sources for access to print or elec-tronic journal articles were personal subscriptions,library collections, and separate copies. Universityreaders obtained 57 percent and ORNL engineers50 percent of readings from library collections.Nearly two-thirds of university engineers’ readingsfrom library collections were in electronic journals,up from one-third during 2000 to 2003. Most of theelectronic article readings were printed out—fewwere read online.In addition, researchers often obtained articles asseparate copies from interlibrary loan requests,author websites, colleagues, subject repositories suchas arXiv.org, and other sources. University andORNL engineers reported using similar numbers ofarticle copies—22 percent and 18 percent, respec-tively.  The most frequent source of separate copieswas another person, such as a colleague or an author. Most of engineers’ article readings came fromrecent journals; however, an appreciable amountof reading consisted of articles published more than10 years ago. The university engineers read olderarticles more frequently than the ORNL engineersdid. The library collection was the principal source,especially as the age of the articles increased. Theage distribution of articles read from electronicjournals is almost the same as for those read fromprint journals.  Some articles were identified by onemeans and then obtained from the library’s elec-tronic collection.  Newer articles were mostly foundthrough browsing, and older articles throughsearches.Gauging ValueThe value of an article is defined by the consequencesof reading and by what engineers are willing to payfor the information or by how much time they arewilling to spend to obtain and read the articles. One way to measure the consequences of readingjournals is to determine the purpose for which thearticle is read. Engineers were asked to indicate theprincipal purpose for which they have used or planto use the information obtained from the mostrecently read article. For university and ORNL engi-neers, the most frequent principal purpose wasresearch. Among ORNL engineers, one-quarter ofthe readings was for current awareness or keeping upwith the literature; only 6.5 percent of universityengineering faculty gave this reason.In the university surveys, the engineers were asked,“In what ways did the reading of the article affect theprincipal purpose?”  When primary research was theprincipal purpose, the most frequent response wasthat the reading “improved the result,” followed by “itinspired new thinking or ideas,” and “it narrowed,broadened, or changed the focus of the research.” Rea-sons mentioned less frequently were “Resolved tech-nological problems,” “Saved time or other resources,”“Resulted in collaboration or joint research,” and“Resulted in faster completion.”TR NEWS 251 JULY–AUGUST 200726The Transportation Research Record: Journal ofthe Transportation Research Board (TRR), one ofthe leading sources for scholarly research andpractical papers on all aspects of transportation,is now available online. The full texts of morethan 8,000 peer-reviewed papers published inthe journal series since 1996 are accessible to TRROnline subscribers and to employees of TRBsponsors; other users may search and viewabstracts and purchase complete individualpapers.TRR Online subscribers receive permanentaccess to the full text of all papers published dur-ing the subscription year purchase, as well asaccess to some content from previous years whiletheir subscription is current. Subscribers alsomay purchase access to archival content. Thewebsite offers personalized alerts for journal fea-tures and specified search terms.For more information about the services,subscriptions, and pricing, visit www.TRB.org/TRROnline or call the TRB Bookstore at 202-334-3213; e-mail TRBSales@nas.edu.TRB’s Journal Reaching Engineers on the WebTR NEWS 251 JULY–AUGUST 200727Other InfluencesEngineers whose research or other professional con-tributions have been acknowledged through awardsor special recognitions tended to read more and tospend more time reading than those whose workhad not been acknowledged. In the survey, engineerswho had received recognitions averaged nearly twiceas many readings as those who had not.Scientific and technical information is commu-nicated via many other channels, such as informalreporting, technical reports, and conference pre-sentations and proceedings. Engineers thereforehave many opportunities to be exposed beforehandto the information found in articles that they mayread. The surveys asked: “Prior to your first read-ing of this article, did you know about the infor-mation reported or discussed?”  About one-halfstated that they were aware of the information,although they read the article anyway, sometimes atgreat length.  Online Versus PrintEase of use is important for journal-related servicesand advanced features. The time required to iden-tify, locate, and obtain articles affects use. For exam-ple, electronic journals in library collections aremore extensively used than the available print collections. Approximately 80 percent of engineers who havepersonal subscriptions continue to read the articlesin print, although electronic versions are available.Earlier surveys indicated that browsing print journalstook less time than browsing electronic versions, butmore recent and refined data suggest that this may nolonger be true. Readers still consider personal printsubscriptions to a few core journals to be more con-venient for current awareness reading.  Another consideration is whether electronic arti-cles are read online or printed out.  Less than one-quarter of the readings of electronic articles wereonline. Online readings tended to be shorter in dura-tion than readings of printed versions. How the elec-tronic articles were read—online or printedout—was consistent with survey results from otherdisciplines, suggesting that ease of use influences thechoice. The decision to print an article out may bedictated by the need to keep a copy available.Journal Quality and ServicesCertain attributes affect in varying degrees the use ofjournals and related services—such as the quality ofthe content, the number of articles and pages, thenumber of issues, the format, the archive availability,and the price (8). Important attributes for articlesources, such as library collections, include the com-prehensiveness and the age of the journal collec-tions, the location, the hours of availability, the acces-sibility, the format of the collection, and thecollection-related services, such as reference sup-port. Search service attributes include price, recalland precision of results, and display features. Convenience and ValueScholarly journals are an important source of high-quality and convenient information for engineers intheir work. Engineers read fewer journal articleson average and spend more time per article than doscientists and social scientists, but scholarly articlesfrom a variety of sources serve an important role inresearch, current awareness, and teaching for engi-neers. Engineers read a combination of print andelectronic articles and the average number of arti-cles read is increasing.The continuing value of article readings isdemonstrated by the time that engineers spend onreading and their observations that the articles con-tribute to their work. Engineers use many sourcesof readings, with library electronic collections gain-ing in use. Readings from library journal collec-tions are considered of higher value, are more likelyto be electronic, are often older articles, and aremore likely to be for research. Engineers will continue to read from articlesources that are convenient and that bring value totheir work. Along with technical reports, standards,specifications, and books, journal articles have arole to play in engineers’ need for information. References1. Shilling, C. W., J. Bernard, and J. Tyson. Information Com-munication Among Bioscientists. George Washington Uni-versity, Washington, D. C., 1964.2. Goodman, A. F., J. D. Hodges, and F. G. Allen. DOD UserNeeds Study: Phase II. North American Aviation, Anaheim,California, 1966.3. Rosenbloom, R. S., and F. W. Wolek. Technology, Informa-tion, and Organization: Information Transfer in IndustrialR&D. Harvard University, Boston, Mass., 1967.4. Tenopir, C., and D. W. King. Towards Electronic Journals:Realities for Scientists, Librarians, and Publishers. SpecialLibraries Association, Washington, D.C., 2000.5. Tenopir, C., and D. W. King. The Use and Value of Schol-arly Journals.  In Proceedings of the 63rd Annual Meeting ofthe American Society of Information Science, Vol. 37, ASIS,Chicago, Ill., 2000, pp. 60–62.6. King, D. W., D. D. McDonald, and N. R. Roderer. ScientificJournals in the United States: Their Production, Use, andEconomies. Hutchinson Ross Publishing Co., Stroudsburg,Pa., 1981.7. Tenopir, C., and D. W. King. Communication Patterns ofEngineers. Wiley–IEEE Press, Hoboken, N.J., 2004.8. Griffiths, J.-M., and D. W. King. Special Libraries: Increas-ing the Information Edge. Special Libraries Association,Washington, D.C., 1993.

Engineers and Scholarly Journals: Reading Patterns in the Electronic Era

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Engineers and Scholarly Journals: Reading Patterns in the Electronic Era

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