Where Are We Now? Survey on Rates of Faculty Self-Deposit in Institutional Repositories

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Author : Ruth Kitchin Tillman

INTRODUCTION

The literature of institutional repositories generally indicates that faculty do not self-deposit, but there is a gap in the research of reported self-deposit numbers that might indicate how widespread and common this is.

METHODS

This study was conducted using a survey instrument that requested information about whether a repository allowed self-deposit and what its rates of self-deposit were, if known.

The instrument contained additional questions intended to gather a broader context of repositories to be examined for any correlations with higher rates of self-deposit. It also included questions about the kinds of labor required to populate an IR as well as satisfaction with the rates of self-deposit.

RESULTS

Of 82 respondents, 80 were deemed to fall within the study’s parameters. Of these, 55 respondents’ institutions allowed self-deposit, and 10 reported rates of self-deposit of more than 20 items per month.

More than half the total respondents reported using at least three methods other than relying on self-deposit to add content to their repository. Respondents are generally unsatisfied with their deposit profiles, including one at a school reporting the highest rate of self-deposit.

DISCUSSION

From the responses, no profile could be formed of respondents reporting high rates of self-deposit that did not entirely overlap with many others reporting little or no self-deposit. However, the survey identifies factors without which high rates are unlikely.

CONCLUSION

The results of this survey may be most useful as a factor in administrative prioritizations and expectations regarding institutional repositories as sites of scholarly self-deposit.

URL : Where Are We Now? Survey on Rates of Faculty Self-Deposit in Institutional Repositories

DOI : http://doi.org/10.7710/2162-3309.2203

 

Early-Career Researchers’ Perceptions of the Prevalence of Questionable Research Practices, Potential Causes, and Open Science

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Authors : Stefan Stürmer, Aileen Oeberst, Roman Trötschel, Oliver Decker

Young researchers of today will shape the field in the future. In light of current debates about social psychology’s research culture, this exploratory survey assessed early-career researchers’ beliefs (N = 88) about the prevalence of questionable research practices (QRPs), potential causes, and open science as a possible solution.

While there was relative consensus that outright fraud is an exception, a majority of participants believed that some QRPs are moderately to highly prevalent what they attributed primarily to academic incentive structures.

A majority of participants felt that open science is necessary to improve research practice. They indicated to consider some open science recommendations in the future, but they also indicated some reluctance. Limitation and implications of these findings are discussed.

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-9335/a000324

 

Digital Encyclopedia of Scientific Results

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Author : János Tapolcai

This study describes a vision, how technology can help improving the efficiency in research.

We propose a new clean-slate design, where more emphasis is given on the correctness and up-to-dateness of the scientific results, it is more open to new ideas and better utilize the research efforts worldwide by providing personalized interface for every researcher.

The key idea is to reveal the structure and connections of the problems solved in the scientific studies. We will build the system with the main focus on the solved problems itself, and treat the studies only as one presentation form.

By utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning on the network of the solved problems we could coordinate individual research activities in a large scale, that has never been seen before.

URL : https://arxiv.org/abs/1711.10172

L’archivage des revues scientifiques électroniques pour les bibliothèques universitaires en France

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Auteur/Author : Lore Metrat

Les résultats de la recherche, quel que soit le domaine d’étude, sont de plus en plus publiés au format numérique. Les grands éditeurs proposent aux bibliothèques des abonnements à des bouquets de revues indispensables aux chercheurs, mais de plus en plus chers.

Ainsi, les bibliothèques universitaires payent des prix élevés sans aucune garantie de conservation. En effet, le paiement des bouquets de revues consiste à obtenir un droit d’accès, ne tenant pas compte de l’archivage de celles-ci.

Si une revue venait à disparaître, l’ensemble de ce qui avait été acheté disparaitrait aussi. Partant de ce constat, l’enjeu réside dans la nécessité d’assurer la conservation des revues de façon pérenne, tout en garantissant leur lisibilité et leur intelligibilité à long terme.

URL : L’archivage des revues scientifiques électroniques pour les bibliothèques universitaires en France

Alternative location : http://www.enssib.fr/bibliotheque-numerique/notices/67745-l-archivage-des-revues-scientifiques-electroniques-pour-les-bibliotheques-universitaires-en-france

 

Grey literature publishing in public policy: production and management, costs and benefits

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Author : Amanda Lawrence

Public policy and practice, and policy research, relies on diverse forms and types of information and communication, both traditional publications and a myriad of other documents and resources including reports, briefings, legislation, discussion papers, submissions and evaluations and much more.sci

This is sometimes referred to as ‘grey literature’, a collective term for the wide range of publications produced and published directly by organisations, either in print or digitally, outside of the commercial or scholarly publishing industry.

In the digital era grey literature has proliferated, and has become a key tool in influencing public debate and in providing an evidence-base for public policy and practice. Despite its ubiquity and influence, grey literature’s role is often overlooked as a publishing phenomenon, ignored both in scholarly research on media and communications and in the debate on the changing nature of open access and academic publishing.

This paper looks at the production of grey literature for public policy and practice where the changes enabled by computers and the internet are causing a hidden revolution in the dissemination of knowledge and evidence.

It explores the production, dissemination and management of publications by organizations, their nature, purpose and value, and investigates the benefits and the challenges of publishing outside of the commercial or scholarly publishing enterprises.

The paper provides estimates of the economic value of grey literature based on online surveys and valuations and considers the costs and benefits of self-publishing by organisations which provides both a dynamic, flexible and responsive publishing system and one in which link rot, duplication and highly varying standards abound.

The findings are part of a broader research project looking at role and value of grey literature for policy and practice including consumption, production and collection.

It will be of interest to a wide range of policy makers and practitioners as well as academics working in media and communications, public administration and library and information management.

URL : Grey literature publishing in public policy: production and management, costs and benefits

Alternative location : http://apo.org.au/node/121016

Effectiveness of OER use in first-year higher education students’ mathematical course performance : A case study

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Authors : Werner Westermann Juárez, Juan Ignacio Venegas Muggli

This chapter aims to understand the impact of Open Educational Resources (OER) on first-year mathematics students at the Instituto Profesional Providencia (IPP) in Santiago, Chile, where more than half (52%) of first-year students typically drop out of their studies. In order to address this, the institution established an innovation fund and a project to profile, assess and monitor student performance through an early warning system.

IPP stakeholders envisioned that a strategy to promote OER uptake could complement these efforts. By looking at an OER intervention amongst firstyear students, this study seeks to identify ways in which OER can provide new tools, opportunities, and contexts to improve student performance and lower dropout rates by answering the following research questions: What is the effect of OER use on firstyear students’ mathematics course performance? In face-to-face instruction, what is the effect of OER use on first-year students’ class attendance? What are teachers’ and students’ perceptions of the OER adoption process?

To answer questions one and two, this study used a quantitative method to estimate the effect of OER use on students’ mathematical course performance and class attendance. Five groups of first-year students were compared based on the analysis of two scenarios.

In Scenario 1, a control group and two treatment groups were in a traditional face-to-face classroom setting. The control group relied on a proprietary textbook; the first treatment group was taught with the help of a Khan Academy OER collection; and the second treatment group was taught by means of a custom-designed Open Textbook.

Scenario 2 compared two classes in blended-mode Algebra and Calculus courses. The control group relied on a proprietary resource, and the treatment group used a Khan Academy collection of OER in addition to the proprietary resource. In order to estimate the effectiveness of OER use on students’ mathematical performance, the impact analysis focused on three result variables: (1) students’ marks before the final exam, (2) students’ final exam marks, and (3) students’ final course marks after the exam.

To answer research question three, a mixed-methods approach was applied in the form of a series of semi-structured interviews, a focus group discussion and a student survey. The students who used the Khan Academy OER collections or the Open Textbook were asked to participate in this study in order to better comprehend learners’ and teachers’ perceptions of OER.

Students in Scenario 1 who used Khan Academy resources obtained statistically significantly better exam grades than those who used the proprietary resource or the Open Textbook, suggesting that not all kinds of OER have the same effect on student performance.

In Scenario 2, there was no improvement in mathematical course performance amongst students using OER. In terms of student attendance, face-to-face mode students who used Khan Academy OER had significantly lower attendance levels than those who relied on the proprietary textbook, which may be due to the fact that when students have access to the infrastructure required to access OER remotely they tend to work more from home.

With regard to student and teacher perceptions of the OER adoption process, the qualitative and quantitative data confirmed the assumption that OER can be relevant and useful to Chilean students.

The chapter concludes with the insight that “openness” does not necessarily produce an impact in and of itself, but is instead part of a greater set of tools and practices in which many variables exert an influence. Neither the intrinsic nature of information and communication technologies nor openness are tools or instruments that can be said to result in a specific outcome.

URL : Effectiveness of OER use in first-year higher education students’ mathematical course performance : A case study

DOI : https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.601203

Pour une approche communicationnelle des politiques de protection des données personnelles

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Auteur/Author : Julien Rossi

Les dispositifs numériques contribuent à la traçabilité des individus et facilitent l’exploitation de leurs traces. Les politiques de protection des données personnelles visent dans ce contexte à protéger la vie privée informationnelle des individus. Mais une analyse détaillée des différents énoncés juridiques performatifs (lois, jurisprudence, rapports, mais aussi discours d’acteurs) montre que les termes employés dans ceux-ci connaissent des acceptions diverses, à commencer par le terme même de « donnée à caractère personnel ».

Une cartographie des controverses définitionnelles autour de ce terme, inspirée par les approches cognitives ou communicationnelles de l’action publique, combinée à l’analyse sémiologique des documents et discours d’acteurs de terrain, permet de déceler le sens implicite des différentes acceptions en présence, et la façon dont s’est constitué un référentiel idéologique sectoriel favorable à la vie privée qui a dû cependant maintenir son articulation avec un référentiel global favorable à l’exploitation des traces.

URL : https://www.sfsic.org/index.php/services-300085/bibliotheque/doctorales-2017/912-jrossidoctorales17/file