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Open Science: A Review of Its Effectiveness and Implications for Service Research

Posted on by Hans Dillaerts

Authors : Yves Van Vaerenbergh, Simon Hazée, Thijs J. Zwienenberg

Open science aims to enhance the integrity, transparency, and openness of research to improve the reproducibility and accessibility of scientific knowledge. It has received renewed attention due to reported concerns about questionable research practices across multiple scientific disciplines. While various open science practices, such as preregistration and data sharing, have been developed, their effectiveness remains unclear.

This paper provides a review of current meta-research on open science practices, assessing their effectiveness and identifying key initiatives that promote transparency and openness in research. Next, we report the results of a preregistered retrospective observational analysis of 517 studies from 254 papers published in the Journal of Service Research and Journal of Service Management between 2019 and 2023.

This analysis evaluates which open science practices are already in use and to what extent, as well as whether these practices align with the recommendations derived from the meta-research review. Finally, we present actionable guidelines and resources aimed at encouraging authors, reviewers, and editors to adopt effective open science practices in service research, both in the short and long term.

URL: Open Science: A Review of Its Effectiveness and Implications for Service Research

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1177/10946705251338461

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And Plato met ChatGPT: an ethical reflection on the use of chatbots in scientific research writing, with a particular focus on the social sciences

Posted on by Hans Dillaerts

Authors : Reyes Calderon, Francisco Herrera

This interdisciplinary paper analyzes the use of Large Language Models based chatbots (LLM-chatbots), with ChatGPT the most known exponent, in scientific research writing. By interacting with LLM-chatbots, researchers could reduce efforts and costs as well as improve efficiency, but taking important risks, limitations, and weaknesses, which could highly-order erosion scientific thought.

While many scientific journals, as well as major publishers such as Springer-Nature or Taylor & Francis, are restricting its use, others advocate for its normalization. Debate focuses on two main questions: the possible authorship of LLM-chatbots, which is majority denied because their inability to meet the required standards; and the acceptance of hybrid articles (using LLM-chatbots).

Very recently, focusing on the education area, literature has found analogical similarities between some issues involved in Chatbots and that of Plato criticisms of writing, contained in the Phaedrus. However, the research area has been neglected. Combining philosophical and technological analysis, we explore Plato’s myth of Theuth and Thamus, questioning if chatbots can improve science. From an interdisciplinary perspective, and according with Plato, we conclude LLM-chatbots cannot be considered as authors in a scientific context.

Moreover, we offer some arguments and requirements to accept hybrid articles. We draw attention to the need for social science publishers, an area where conceptual hypotheses can take a long time to confirm, rather than solely on experimental observations. Finally, we advocate that publishers, communities, technical experts, and regulatory authorities collaborate to establish recommendations and best practices for chatbot use.

URL : And Plato met ChatGPT: an ethical reflection on the use of chatbots in scientific research writing, with a particular focus on the social sciences

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-04650-0

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Incentives for Open Science and Advancing Sustainability: A German Perspective

Posted on by Hans Dillaerts

Authors : Markus Putnings, Michael Zweier

Open science in ensuring equitable access to information is relevant to the attainment of all United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Badges, prizes and awards evaluate and recognise achievements, encourage involvement in open science and open access practices and provide an opportunity to present related activities to the outside world in a succinct form.

The focus, however, is not on mundane self-promotion, but rather on the goal of external and internal reflec–tion and promotion of the work done, as well as an appropriate presentation of the open resources and workflows produced. Prizes and awards constitute a stimulus for best practice, education and exchange both within an institution, with an insti–tution ́s users and with the wider community.

This chapter provides an overview of the various badges, awards and prizes relevant to Germany as incentive systems for open science and open access activities. The contributions to the SDGs and edu–cation for sustainable development (ESD) are contextualised and discussed. It concludes with a selection of recommendations and summarises the most important results.

URL : Incentives for Open Science and Advancing Sustainability: A German Perspective

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111336466-006

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Podcasting as Open Access: A Review and Discussion of Potential Impact on Scholarly Communication and Promotion

Posted on by Hans Dillaerts

Authors : Allison Symulevich, Matt Torrence, Jason Boczar, Jessica Szempruch

Introduction

Academic Podcasts are an informal way for faculty members to share their research expertise with an expanded and international audience. In this article, we argue that podcasts are a form of informal scholarly communication and that libraries can contribute to the successful dissemination of this informal scholarly communication.

Description of Service

At the University of South Florida, episodes of faculty-created academic podcasts are posted to the institutional repository, allowing the dissemination of these podcasts permanently via open access. The open-access nature of these materials makes them freely available to faculty, students, and other scholars; additionally, it helps to improve metrics capturing while demonstrating international impact.

In comparing the measures afforded to record statistics, as well as other geographic and various platforms used, the authors leaned on internal resources and concepts from the literature to examine existing measures and reporting related to podcasting efforts.

Next Steps

Through the study of both existing services at the University of South Florida and other universities, as well as the literature, what remains is to increasingly document and standardize methods of measuring the impact of academic podcasts and related types of open-access content.

URL : Podcasting as Open Access: A Review and Discussion of Potential Impact on Scholarly Communication and Promotion

DOI : https://doi.org/10.31274/jlsc.18241

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Open science in qualitative evaluations : Considerations and Opportunities

Posted on by Hans Dillaerts

Authors : Crystal N. Steltenpohl, Laurel Standiford Reyes, Mary A. Pei, Lindsay Ellis Lee

This article discusses how open science principles—often rooted in quantitative epistemologies—and qualitative evaluation practices can complement each other and explores strategies for evaluators and researchers to consider adopting in their practices.

Although the qualitative and quantitative approaches to knowledge creation may be perceived as being in conflict, many practices and values can be viewed as different expressions of the shared goals of rigor and transparency. We describe practices like data, process, and outcome sharing as activities that already align with open science values and encourage evaluators to consider practices like preregistration, registered reports, and replication as possible areas for evaluators to expand into.

We also encourage evaluators to contribute to conversations about transparency, community engagement, evaluating effectiveness, and avoiding harm. A flexible, additive approach to evaluation and research projects can allow all parties to draw on each other’s strengths for more rigorous, comprehensive, transparent, and community-centered work.

Finally, we suggest a few starting places for evaluators who are interested in incorporating open science practices and researchers who are interested in conducting qualitative evaluations.

URL : Open science in qualitative evaluations : Considerations and Opportunities

DOI : https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/td5cx_v1

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Making museum research more visible: Open Access in the GLAM sector

Posted on by Hans Dillaerts

Authors : Emily Rees Koerner, Lydia Ackrell

Open Access paradigms have changed how academic scholarship is published and disseminated, creating a new model for how research is shared. But how do these paradigms map onto museum research?

This question is particularly pertinent when larger numbers of funded research projects include, or are led by, museums. This article considers some of the affordances and challenges of using Open Access principles and technologies to make visible the multifaceted modes of research that take place in a museum setting. Using the Science Museum Group as a case study, it focuses on how repositories offer one means to make research conducted in museums more accessible, while also broadening definitions of what a research output is.

With the focus hitherto more on images and collection items, here we expand into the realm of exhibition and gallery outputs – the content which museums produce to narrate their collections’ stories and engage audiences.

Many of these outputs may have been designed to have an ephemeral, physical lifespan, but through platforms such as repositories they can gain a digital afterlife, serving a new purpose as learning resources, research data, or indeed a record of curatorial and museological practice.

The article ultimately argues that Open Access principles can aid museums (and the wider GLAM sector) in their mission to be transparent organisations for wide-ranging audiences.

DOI : https://dx.doi.org/10.15180/252304

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Assessing the societal influence of academic research with ChatGPT: Impact case study evaluations

Posted on by Hans Dillaerts

Authors : Kayvan Kousha, Mike Thelwall

Academics and departments are sometimes judged by how their research has benefited society. For example, the UK’s Research Excellence Framework (REF) assesses Impact Case Studies (ICSs), which are five-page evidence-based claims of societal impacts.

This article investigates whether ChatGPT can evaluate societal impact claims and therefore potentially support expert human assessors. For this, various parts of 6220 public ICSs from REF2021 were fed to ChatGPT 4o-mini along with the REF2021 evaluation guidelines, comparing ChatGPT’s predictions with published departmental average ICS scores.

The results suggest that the optimal strategy for high correlations with expert scores is to input the title and summary of an ICS but not the remaining text and to modify the original REF guidelines to encourage a stricter evaluation.

The scores generated by this approach correlated positively with departmental average scores in all 34 Units of Assessment (UoAs), with values between 0.18 (Economics and Econometrics) and 0.56 (Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience).

At the departmental level, the corresponding correlations were higher, reaching 0.71 for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Leisure and Tourism. Thus, ChatGPT-based ICS evaluations are simple and viable to support or cross-check expert judgments, although their value varies substantially between fields.

URL : Assessing the societal influence of academic research with ChatGPT: Impact case study evaluations

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.25021