Catégorie : EN

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EN

Intended and Unintended Consequences of a Publish-or-Perish Culture: A Worldwide Survey

How does publication pressure in modern-day universities affect the intrinsic and extrinsic rewards in science? By using a worldwide survey among demographers in developed and developing countries, we show that the large majority perceive the publication pressure as high, but more so in Anglo-Saxon countries and to a lesser extent in Western Europe. However, scholars see both the pros (upward mobility) and cons (excessive publication and uncitedness, neglect of policy issues, etc.) of the so-called ‘publish-or-perish’ culture.

By measuring behavior in terms of reading and publishing, and perceived extrinsic rewards and stated intrinsic rewards of practicing science, it turns out that publication pressure negatively affects the orientation of demographers towards policy and knowledge of the population facts. There are no signs that the pressure affects reading and publishing outside the core discipline.

URL : http://ssrn.com/abstract=1983205

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EN

Citing patterns in Open Access journals: a study of D-Lib Magazine

The purpose of this study was to investigate the pattern of citing references of research articles published in D-Lib Magazine during 2002 to 2008. A total of 4775 citations were collected from 295 articles published during 2002 to 2008. Articles classified as editorial materials, power point slides, book reviews, columns, reports and news items were not considered for the analysis.

References of each article were collected and Microsoft Office Excel 2007 was used for analyses. The various analyses focus on year-wise distribution of articles and cited references, types of documents cited, country and language of cited documents, file format and domain of cited references, etc. The study shows the changing trends of research in the field of library & information science in the field of digital libraries particularly with the introduction of Internet and World Wide Web.

This change can be seen in digital library research as researchers have been used digital and web resources to conduct their research.

URL : http://hdl.handle.net/10760/16851

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EN

The Digital Public Domain: Foundations for an Open Culture

This book brings together essays by academics, librarians, entrepreneurs, activists and policy makers, who were all part of the EU-funded Communia project. Together the authors argue that the Public Domain — that is, the informational works owned by all of us, be that literature, music, the output of scientific research, educational material or public sector information — is fundamental to a healthy society.

The essays range from more theoretical papers on the history of copyright and the Public Domain, to practical examples and case studies of recent projects that have engaged with the principles of Open Access and Creative Commons licensing.

The book is essential reading for anyone interested in the current debate about copyright and the Internet. It opens up discussion and offers practical solutions to the difficult question of the regulation of culture at the digital age.

URL : http://www.communia-association.org/wp-content/uploads/the_digital_public_domain.pdf

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EN

Altmetrics in the wild: Using social media to explore scholarly impact

In growing numbers, scholars are integrating social media tools like blogs, Twitter, and Mendeley into their professional communications. The online, public nature of these tools exposes and reifies scholarly processes once hidden and ephemeral. Metrics based on this activities could inform broader, faster measures of impact, complementing traditional citation metrics. This study explores the properties of these social media-based metrics or « altmetrics », sampling 24,331 articles published by the Public Library of Science.

We find that that different indicators vary greatly in activity. Around 5% of sampled articles are cited in Wikipedia, while close to 80% have been included in at least one Mendeley library. There is, however, an encouraging diversity; a quarter of articles have nonzero data from five or more different sources. Correlation and factor analysis suggest citation and altmetrics indicators track related but distinct impacts, with neither able to describe the complete picture of scholarly use alone.

There are moderate correlations between Mendeley and Web of Science citation, but many altmetric indicators seem to measure impact mostly orthogonal to citation. Articles cluster in ways that suggest five different impact « flavors », capturing impacts of different types on different audiences; for instance, some articles may be heavily read and saved by scholars but seldom cited. Together, these findings encourage more research into altmetrics as complements to traditional citation measures.

URL : http://arxiv.org/abs/1203.4745

Catégories
EN

Open access, virtual science libraries, geospatial analysis and other complementary information and communications technology and science, technology, engineering and mathematics assets to address development issues, with particular attention to education

This report provides an overview of how open access, virtual science libraries, and geographic information systems (GIS) could be harnessed to address development challenges, especially in the area of education. It contains recommendations for consideration by national governments and the international community, with a view to encouraging and expanding further development and adoption of these ICT assets.

URL : http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=E/CN.16/2012/3&Lang=E

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EN

Library Publishing Services: Strategies for Success: Final Research Report

This report briefly presents the findings and recommendations of the « Library Publishing Services: Strategies for Success » project which investigated the extent to which publishing has now become a core activity of North American academic libraries and suggested ways in which further capacity could be built.

The research described (consisting of a survey, some case studies, three workshops, and a set of further reading recommendations) was mainly conducted between October 1, 2010, and September 30, 2011.

It was supported by a grant from the Institute for Museum and Libraries Studies, made to Purdue University Libraries in collaboration with the Libraries of the Georgia Institute of Technology and the J. Willard Marriott Library at the University of Utah.

URL : http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/purduepress_ebooks/24/

Catégories
EN

The status and models of digital publishing

This Thesis examines the current impact of digital technology upon certain aspects of the publishing industry, especially the e-book industry. It reviews the key developments in globally digital publishing and sums up several publishing models of digital contents.

URL : http://hdl.handle.net/10760/16721