Étiquette : case study

Publié le

Is scientific knowledge socially constructed? A Bayesian account of Laboratory Life

Author : Henry Small

In the book Laboratory Life Latour and Woolgar present an account of how scientific “facts” are formed through a process of microsocial interactions among individuals and “inscription devices” in the lab initially described as social construction.

The process moves through a series of steps during which the details and nature of the object become more and more certain until all qualifications are dropped, and the “fact” emerges as secure scientific knowledge. An alternative to this account is described based on a Bayesian probabilistic framework which arrives at the same end point.

The motive force for the constructivist approach appears to involve social processes of convincing colleagues while the Bayesian approach relies on the consistency of theory and evidence as judged by the participants.

The role of social processes is discussed in Bayesian terms, the acquisition and asymmetry of information, and its analogy to puzzle solving. Some parallels between the Bayesian and constructivist accounts are noted especially in relation to information theory.

URL : Is scientific knowledge socially constructed? A Bayesian account of Laboratory Life

DOI : https://doi.org/10.3389/frma.2023.1214512

Publié le

Assessing the Value of Subscription Journal Packages and Open Access Journal Articles in a Community College Context

Authors : Tim Dolan, Duncan Claflin

Introduction

Academic libraries are facing two trends: the rising cost of journal subscriptions—the ongoing ‘serials crisis’—and the increasing availability of scholarly journal articles through free, open access channels.

Methods

This study analyzed the bibliographies from 116 research projects created by students across disciplines at a small community college, and classified citations to journal articles based on the simplest way students could have accessed them.

Results

more than 60% of the scholarly journal articles that students used are available to them for free, while an additional 18% are available through state-sponsored database subscriptions available to any Massachusetts resident. Only 17% of the journal articles used were available to students solely through the library’s database packages, and more than half of those articles were used by students in the ADN nursing program.

Discussion

These findings call into question the value of expensive subscription databases to community college libraries and suggest a pattern of diminishing return on investment and value. The trend towards cancellation of ‘big deal’ journal packages at large institutions addresses similar concerns, though the dynamics are somewhat different at small institutions.

Conclusion

The paper concludes by suggesting some steps that small academic libraries might take to adapt to this changing publishing environment, in the areas of collection development and information literacy instruction, in order to better serve students.

URL : Assessing the Value of Subscription Journal Packages and Open Access Journal Articles in a Community College Context

DOI : https://doi.org/10.31274/jlsc.15673

Publié le

Monitoring Organisational Article Processing Charges (APCs) using Bibliographic Information Sources: Turku University Library Case

Authors : Anna-Kaarina Linna, Irene Ylönen, Anna Salmi

As open access publishing has become more widespread and required by research funders and the research community, the management and monitoring of article processing charges (APCs) have emerged as an important task in research organisations around the world. Within this tendency, a question of the comprehensiveness of organisational APC monitoring has become relevant.

This case study demonstrates how the comprehensiveness of in-house APC monitoring can be evaluated using international bibliographic information sources like Web of Science and Scopus, where it is possible to identify the corresponding author, as well as Unpaywall and DOAJ, which contain information about the open access statuses and APCs of articles.

Based on study results, it can be assumed that the organisation’s in-house bookkeeping has succeeded in registering 52 percent of APC invoices while 48 percent have not been identified.

The results show that the number of unreported publications that have been openly published and whose corresponding author is affiliated with the university is almost equal to those registered in the university’s institutional APC report.

The study describes the stages of data collection and processing in order of implementation, which allows a similar review to be feasible in another organisation.

At the end of the article, development proposals are presented for both the organisations’ in-house data collection and the content of publishers’ invoices.

URL : Monitoring Organisational Article Processing Charges (APCs) using Bibliographic Information Sources: Turku University Library Case

DOI : https://doi.org/10.53377/lq.13361

Publié le

Création d’un prototype de jeu sérieux sur la gestion des données de la recherche

Autrices/Authors : Myriam Jouha, Pauline Mell, Alexia Tromber

Les professionnel-le-s de l’information travaillant en bibliothèque académique sont désormais régulièrement amené-e-s à accompagner des chercheurs et chercheuses dans la gestion de leurs données de recherche.

Dans le but d’offrir à ces professionnel-le-s une formation introductive sur cette thématique, nous avons conçu et testé un prototype de jeu sérieux. Ce projet a été réalisé dans le cadre du Master en Sciences de l’information à la Haute école de gestion de Genève.

Méthode : Notre méthodologie s’inspire de deux modèles de conception de jeux sérieux. Elle s’articule en trois étapes : (1) la phase de définition, qui présente les résultats de l’analyse des besoins, l’exploration de l’existant et le dispositif de formation ; (2) la production du prototype et les tests effectués ; (3) l’accompagnement et l’évaluation.

Résultats : Le jeu proposé, « Mission GDR : ultime quête avant les fêtes » est inspiré de la série de jeux d’évasion en boîte « Unlock ». Il s’agit d’un jeu collaboratif pour 1 à 4 participant-e-s dont l’objectif est de compléter une feuille de route représentant le cycle de vie des données et les tâches qui s’y rapportent. Cette feuille, accompagnée d’un guide complémentaire rappelant la théorie abordée dans le jeu, peut ensuite être réutilisée comme ressource dans la pratique professionnelle des joueuses et joueurs.

Discussion : Les tests effectués auprès de personnes aux profils divers démontrent que le jeu est apprécié pour ses aspects ludiques tout en offrant un apport théorique introductif. Initialement prévu pour les professionnel-le-s de l’informations, il pourrait également être proposé à d’autres personnes concernées par la gestion des données, notamment des équipes de recherche. Conçu pour être indépendant d’une session de formation, il est cependant tout à fait envisageable de l’intégrer dans un tel programme.

URL : Création d’un prototype de jeu sérieux sur la gestion des données de la recherche

DOI : https://doi.org/10.55790/journals/ressi.2023.e1093

Publié le

Data Management Librarians Role in a Large Interdisciplinary Scientific Grant for PFAS Remediation: Considerations and Recommendations

Authors : Jennifer Chaput, Renee Walsh

This article explores the conflicts, disparities, and inequalities experienced by two librarians when collaborating on a federal grant proposal. The authors discuss concerns related to time and salary expectations and the inequities that can occur during faculty and staff collaborations on research grants.

The bureaucratic structure and the job classifications of staff at academic institutions in addition to the contract limitations of non-faculty status librarian positions can hinder successful collaborations. The authors also describe data management needs that may occur when working with interdisciplinary research teams and detail the type of work that is included in writing a data management grant.

This article concludes with considerations and recommendations for other data librarians who may undertake similar projects with a focus on ways to create parity between faculty and staff collaborators.

URL : Data Management Librarians Role in a Large Interdisciplinary Scientific Grant for PFAS Remediation: Considerations and Recommendations

DOI : https://doi.org/10.7191/jeslib.616

Publié le

Investigation of potential gender bias in the peer review system at Reproduction

Authors : Marie Biolková, Tom Moore, Karen Schindler, Karl Swann, Andy Vail, Lindsay Flook, Helen Dick, Greg Fitzharris, Christopher A. Price, Norah Spears

This study examined whether publication outcome was affected by the gender of author, handling associate editor (AE), or reviewer, and whether there was gender bias in reviewer selection, in the journal Reproduction.

Analyses were carried out on 4289 original research manuscripts submitted to the journal between 2007 and 2019. Both female and male AEs appointed more male reviewers than female reviewers, but female AEs were significantly more likely to appoint female reviewers than male AEs were (p < 0.001).

When examining the gender of either first or last author manuscripts, those with female authors that were reviewed by female reviewers received better scores than those with male authors that were reviewed by female reviewers (p < 0.05): where the reviewer was male, no such effect was observed.

Acceptance rates of manuscripts were similar for both female and male authors, whether first or last, regardless of AE gender. Overall, there was no significant correlation between gender of first or last author, or of AE, on the likelihood of acceptance of a research paper.

These data suggest no bias against female authors during the peer review process in this reproductive biology journal.

URL : Investigation of potential gender bias in the peer review system at Reproduction

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1002/leap.1537

Publié le

The Preprint Club – A cross-institutional, community-based approach to peer reviewing

Authors : Felix Clemens Richter, Ester Gea-Mallorquí, Nicolas Ruffin, Nicolas Vabret

The academic community has been increasingly using preprints to disseminate their latest research findings quickly and openly. This early and open access of non-peer reviewed research warrants new means from the scientific community to efficiently assess and provide feedback to preprints. Yet, most peer review of scientific studies performed today are still managed by journals, each having their own peer review policy and transparency.

However, approaches to uncouple the peer review process from journal publication are emerging. Additionally, formal education of early career researchers (ECRs) in peer reviewing is rarely available, hampering the quality of peer review feedback.

Here, we introduce the Preprint Club, a cross-institutional, community-based approach to peer reviewing, founded by ECRs from the University of Oxford, Karolinska Institutet and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Over the past two years and using the collaborative setting of the Preprint Club, we have been discussing, assessing, and providing feedback on recent preprints in the field of immunology.

In this article, we provide a blueprint of the Preprint Club basic structure, demonstrate its effectiveness, and detail the lessons we learned on its impact on peer review training and preprint author’s perception.

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.01.04.522570