Stratégies et comportements de communication scientifique de chercheurs en sciences humaines et sociales face à l’évaluation de la recherche publique

Auteur/Author : Cheikh Ndiaye

Cette thèse se penche sur les enjeux de la communication et de l’évaluation dans le domaine de la recherche en Sciences de l’Information et de la Communication. Partant du principe que la science contribue au progrès d’une société en lui permettant de répondre à ses préoccupations (santé, économie, etc.), divers pays industrialisés comme la France investissent des sommes importantes pour son essor. Ces investissements suscitant, à leur tour, des prescrits afin d’en assurer une gestion efficiente et un impact en adéquation avec les objectifs de développement. Ainsi ont été institutionnalisées l’évaluation de la recherche publique et sa valorisation.

Leur montée en puissance a eu des effets bouleversants sur le paysage scientifique, notamment la gouvernance des universités, leurs missions et rapports au monde économique ou encore la production des connaissances. Au cœur de ses changements, l’évaluation impacte les orientations politiques autour de la recherche, en particulier le choix des priorités thématiques et la distribution des financements. Elle induit un besoin de valorisation individuelle qui semble obliger les chercheurs à intégrer davantage dans leurs activités la quête construite d’autorité, donc de reconnaissance scientifique.Ayant toujours été un régulateur de la compétition entre savants et un vecteur de diffusion de leurs connaissances produites, la communication scientifique est-elle devenue un outil de stratégie ?

Le but de cette recherche est de répondre à cette interrogation. En se fondant sur un modèle psychosociologique, la théorie du comportement planifié, il s’agit d’examiner la construction de ce changement comportemental éventuel, à partir de la motivation, de l’attitude, des perceptions des normes sociales et de la capacité à conduire le changement et l’intention comportementale. Il s’agit également de voir les liens existant entre ces variables et l’intention de s’adapter à l’évaluation, voire le comportement final adopté.

La première partie de l’étude pose les bases conceptuelles de la thèse en examinant les relations entre les Sciences Humaines et Sociales, l’espace scientifique, l’économie et les politiques publiques. Elle explore la dualité entre les SHS et les sciences exactes, ainsi que l’impact du numérique sur la recherche.

La deuxième partie se concentre sur le chercheur en tant que communicateur et objet d’évaluation. Elle aborde les différents moyens de communication scientifique, y compris les publications, les médias sociaux, et les médias alternatifs, ainsi que les enjeux sociaux de la communication dans le domaine académique.

La troisième et dernière partie examine le chercheur en tant qu’acteur central de la recherche. D’une part, elle se penche sur les aspects de l’évaluation de la recherche, notamment la bibliométrie et les classements universitaires. De l’autre, elle expose les théories du comportement humain, le modèle théorique et la méthodologie de la recherche. Ce qui permet de présenter les résultats de l’enquête par un questionnaire auprès des chercheurs.

En conclusion, l’étude met en évidence une perception contraignante de l’évaluation scientifique au-delà d’une incitation à publier. Elle apparaît, en effet, comme une obligation professionnelle dont l’inexécution peut avoir des effets néfastes sur la carrière.

Son attitude est plutôt favorable au changement, et les normes sociales perçues l’y poussent alors qu’il a confiance en ses capacités à intégrer les prescriptions dans sa stratégie de communication. De ce fait, le chercheur en SHS à l’intention de s’adapter en construisant une communication adaptative, en sélectionnant les prescrits lui convenant.

Au final, son comportement adopté consiste à élaborer une stratégie au cas par cas, basée sur la publication évaluée par les pairs afin d’obtenir divers bénéfices : visibilité et reconnaissance scientifiques, intégration sociale, accès aux médias et autorités politiques, responsabilités administratives ou scientifiques.

URL : https://theses.fr/2023MON30038

The oligopoly of academic publishers persists in exclusive database

Authors : Simon van Bellen, Juan Pablo Alperin, Vincent Larivière

Global scholarly publishing has been dominated by a small number of publishers for several decades. We aimed to revisit the debate on corporate control of scholarly publishing by analyzing the relative shares of major publishers and smaller, independent publishers. Using the Web of Science, Dimensions and OpenAlex, we managed to retrieve twice as many articles indexed in Dimensions and OpenAlex, compared to the rather selective Web of Science.

As a result of excluding smaller publishers, the ‘oligopoly’ of scholarly publishers persists, at least in appearance, according to the Web of Science. However, both Dimensions’ and OpenAlex’ inclusive indexing revealed the share of smaller publishers has been growing rapidly, especially since the onset of large-scale online publishing around 2000, resulting in a current cumulative dominance of smaller publishers.

While the expansion of small publishers was most pronounced in the social sciences and humanities, the natural and medical sciences showed a similar trend. A major geographical divergence is also revealed, with some countries, mostly Anglo-Saxon and/or located in northwestern Europe, relying heavily on major publishers for the dissemination of their research, while others being relatively independent of the oligopoly, such as those in Latin America, northern Africa, eastern Europe and parts of Asia.

The emergence of digital publishing, the reduction of expenses for printing and distribution and open-source journal management tools may have contributed to the emergence of small publishers, while the development of inclusive bibliometric databases has allowed for the effective indexing of journals and articles. We conclude that enhanced visibility to recently created, independent journals may favour their growth and stimulate global scholarly bibliodiversity.

Arxiv : https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.17893

An empirical examination of data reuser trust in a digital repository

Authors : Elizabeth Yakel, Ixchel M. Faniel, Lionel P. Robert Jr

Most studies of trusted digital repositories have focused on the internal factors delineated in the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) Reference Model—organizational structure, technical infrastructure, and policies, procedures, and processes.

Typically, these factors are used during an audit and certification process to demonstrate a repository can be trusted. The factors influencing a repository’s designated community of users to trust it remains largely unexplored.

This article proposes and tests a model of trust in a data repository and the influence trust has on users’ intention to continue using it. Based on analysis of 245 surveys from quantitative social scientists who published research based on the holdings of one data repository, findings show three factors are positively related to data reuser trust—integrity, identification, and structural assurance.

In turn, trust and performance expectancy are positively related to data reusers’ intentions to return to the repository for more data. As one of the first studies of its kind, it shows the conceptualization of trusted digital repositories needs to go beyond high-level definitions and simple application of the OAIS standard.

Trust needs to encompass the complex trust relationship between designated communities of users that the repositories are being built to serve.

URL : Asso for Info Science Tech – 2024 – Yakel – An empirical examination of data reuser trust in a digital repository

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.24933

An open dataset of article processing charges from six large scholarly publishers

Authors : Leigh-Ann Butler, Madelaine Hare, Nina Schönfelder, Eric Schares, Juan Pablo Alperin, Stefanie Haustein

This paper introduces a dataset of article processing charges (APCs) produced from the price lists of six large scholarly publishers – Elsevier, Frontiers, PLOS, MDPI, Springer Nature and Wiley – between 2019 and 2023.

APC price lists were downloaded from publisher websites each year as well as via Wayback Machine snapshots to retrieve fees per journal per year. The dataset includes journal metadata, APC collection method, and annual APC price list information in several currencies (USD, EUR, GBP, CHF, JPY, CAD) for 8,712 unique journals and 36,618 journal-year combinations.

The dataset was generated to allow for more precise analysis of APCs and can support library collection development and scientometric analysis estimating APCs paid in gold and hybrid OA journals.

URL : An open dataset of article processing charges from six large scholarly publishers

Arxiv : https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.08356

To share or not to share? Image data sharing in the social sciences and humanities

Authors : Elina Late, Mette Skov, Sanna Kumpulainen

Introduction

The paper aims to investigate image data sharing within social science and humanities. While data sharing is encouraged as a part of the open science movement, little is known about the approaches and factors influencing the sharing of image data.

This information is evident as the use of image data in these fields of research is increasing, and data sharing is context dependent.

Method

The study analyses qualitative semi-structured interviews with 14 scholars who incorporate digital images as a core component of their research data.

Analysis

Content analysis is conducted to gather information about scholars’ image data sharing and motivating and impeding factors related to it.

Results

The findings show that image data sharing is not an established research practice, and when it happens it is mostly done via informal means by sharing data through personal contacts. Supporting the scientific community, the open science agenda and fulfilling research funders’ requirements motivate scholars to share their data. Impeding factors relate to the qualities of data, ownership of data, data stewardship, and research integrity.

Conclusion

Advancing image data sharing requires the development of research infrastructures and providing support and guidelines. Better understanding of the scholars’ image data practices is also needed.

URL : To share or not to share? Image data sharing in the social sciences and humanities

DOI : https://doi.org/10.47989/ir292834

Exploring scholarly perceptions of preprint servers

Authors : Shir Aviv-Reuven, Jenny Bronstein, Ariel Rosenfeld

Introduction

Preprint servers play an important role in scholarly communication.  The study investigates scholars’ engagement, experiences, and perceptions regarding the use of these servers, both as information sources and publishing venues. This qualitative study seeks to extend our understanding of how these servers operate within the academic ecosystem and influence scholarly communication.

Method

Data was collected through 32 semi-structured interviews with scholars from different disciplines, to explore their engagement, experiences and perceptions in using these platforms.

Analysis

The data collected from these interviews underwent thematic content analysis using ATLAS.ti software. This analysis facilitated the organization and thematic examination of the textual narratives derived from the interviews.

Results

In this study, scholars discussed their perceptions about the benefits of using preprint servers in scholarly work such as rapid dissemination of information and open access, but also raised concerns regarding the lack of peer review for the studies uploaded to these servers.

Conclusion

These findings emphasize the growing, yet diverse, role preprint servers play in scholarly communication and their differential impact across academic disciplines.

URL : Exploring scholarly perceptions of preprint servers

DOI : https://doi.org/10.47989/ir292820

Where there’s a will there’s a way: ChatGPT is used more for science in countries where it is prohibited

Authors : Honglin Bao, Mengyi Sun, Misha Teplitskiy

Regulating AI has emerged as a key societal challenge, but which methods of regulation are effective is unclear. Here, we measure the effectiveness of restricting AI services geographically using the case of ChatGPT and science. OpenAI prohibits access to ChatGPT from several countries including China and Russia.

If the restrictions are effective, there should be minimal use of ChatGPT in prohibited countries. We measured use by developing a classifier based on prior work showing that early versions of ChatGPT overrepresented distinctive words like “delve.”

We trained the classifier on abstracts before and after ChatGPT “polishing” and validated it on held-out abstracts and those where authors self-declared to have used AI, where it substantially outperformed off-the-shelf LLM detectors GPTZero and ZeroGPT. Applying the classifier to preprints from Arxiv, BioRxiv, and MedRxiv reveals that ChatGPT was used in approximately 12.6% of preprints by August 2023 and use was 7.7% higher in countries without legal access.

Crucially, these patterns appeared before the first major legal LLM became widely available in China, the largest restricted-country preprint producer. ChatGPT use was associated with higher views and downloads, but not citations or journal placement.

Overall, restricting ChatGPT geographically has proven ineffective in science and possibly other domains, likely due to widespread workarounds.

URL : https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.11583