The transformation of scholarly communication

Recent debate on the reform of scholarly communication has focused on access issues. Although important, access is only one dimension in which the scholarly process can be transformed. Scholars are embracing highly collaborative and data‐intensive standards of practice influenced by powerful computing and network technologies. This dramatic transformation of scholarship demands a natively digital, network‐based scholarly communication system that is able to capture the scholarly record, make it accessible, and preserve it over time. I will offer a technological perspective on how these demands might be met.     

The rapid evolution of scholarly communication

Traditional journals, even those available electronically, are changing slowly. However, there is rapid evolution in scholarly communication. Usage is moving to electronic formats. In some areas, it appears that electronic versions of papers are being read about as often as the printed journal versions. Although there are serious difficulties in comparing figures from different media, the growth rates in usage of electronic scholarly information are sufficiently high that if they continue for a few years, there will be no doubt that print versions will be eclipsed. Further, much of the electronic information that is accessed is outside the formal scholarly publication process. There is also vigorous growth in forms of electronic communication that take advantage of the unique capabilities of the web, and which simply do not fit into the traditional journal publishing format. This paper presents some statistics on usage of print and electronic information. It also discusses some preliminary evidence about the changing patterns of usage. It appears that much of the online usage comes from new readers (esoteric research papers assigned in undergraduate classes, for example) and often from places that do not have access to print journals. Also, the reactions to even slight barriers to usage suggest that even high-quality scholarly papers are not irreplaceable. Readers are faced with a ‘river of knowledge’ that allows them to select among a multitude of sources, and to find near substitutes when necessary. To stay relevant, scholars, publishers and librarians will have to make even greater efforts to make their material easily accessible.     

Demographics of scholarly publishing and communication professionals

Scholarly publishing plays a pivotal role in the dissemination of research. While a great deal is known about the companies active in this sector, we need to know more about the employees of the firms that edit, produce, market, and distribute today's scholarly books and journals. To achieve this goal, the researchers conducted an international survey in late 2014 and early 2015 of approximately 6,121 scholarly publishing employees in 33 nations. The researchers received 828 usable questionnaires. Some of the substantive findings about the respondents include: 90.79% identified themselves as white; 85.07% worked in scholarly publishing for more than 5 years; 60% held graduate or professional degrees; and 49% worked in editorial departments. Key suggestions include the need for annual surveys of this type and that the majority of scholarly publishing firms need to address the issue of diversity.     

Chinese researchers,scholarly communication behaviour and trust

Over 660 Chinese researchers were questioned about their scholarly use, citing, and publishing and how trust is exercised in these key activities. Research showed few signs of new forms of scholarly usage behaviour taking hold, despite multiple opportunities afforded by Science 2.0 developments. Thus, for determining trustworthiness for usage purposes, the most important activity was reading the abstract. In terms of citations, citing the seminal source was the most common activity. In contrast, citing non‐peer reviewed sources, such as the social media, was not thought acceptable. For publishing, relevance to the field was the most important factor when choosing a place to publish. Comparisons were made with a study of 3650 international researchers, which employed the same methods and questions. The main differences between Chinese and international researchers were that the former (a) rated abstracts more highly, (b) took into account impact factors more when citing and publishing and (c) were much more likely to be influenced by institutional directives when placing their articles.     

Research practices and scholarly communication in the digital environment

This paper examines changing research practices in the digital environment. A review of the literature and our own field research in Australia suggest that there is a new mode of knowledge production emerging, changing research practices and bringing new information access and dissemination needs. Adjustments will be required to accommodate these changes, but new opportunities are emerging for more cost‐effective and sustainable information access and dissemination. It will be necessary, however, to take an holistic approach and treat the creation, production and distribution of scholarly information, the management of information rights and access, systems of review and evaluation and the underlying infrastructure as parts of a single research information and scholarly communication system.     

Crisis and transition: the economics of scholarly communication

This paper explores the scholarly communication ‘industry’ using a product systems approach, scopes and sizes the Australian scholarly communication product system, and examines the economics behind its operation. We find that the set of interrelationships between the market characteristics of information and cost structures, patterns of demand and acquisition practices, and the forces encouraging increasing scholarly output go a long way towards explaining the operation of the system and the genesis of the crisis. Based on our economic analysis of the system, we outline broad market conforming and market distorting approaches to alleviating the crisis.     

Of wolves and and boys: the scholarly communication crisis

The case for the self‐publishing by academic institutions of scholarly research as a response to the 'serials crisis' is made against the background of the experience of Bepress. It is suggested that such arrangements provide a valuable and cost‐effective answer to the problem.     

The move to open: medical library leadership in scholarly communication

Over the years, health sciences librarians have been change agents, leading the charge on issues of importance to the profession and the communities we serve. From its founding in 1898 with the Exchange, the Medical Library Association (MLA) has been dedicated to improving access to health information. In 2003, the Board of Directors published a statement supporting open access to information generated from federally funded scientific and medical research and maintained that having access to timely, relevant, and accurate information is vital to the health of the nation and its education and research programs. At some financial risk, the association made the Journal of the Medical Library Association (JMLA) open access and published the entire archive of JMLA and its predecessor, the Bulletin of the Medical Library Association, in PubMed Central. Nearly two decades later, the promise of open access and open science finally seems to be coming to fruition. In the 2020 Janet Doe Lecture, Chris Shaffer, AHIP, described the ways that MLA has led the profession, standing behind a shared vision and “walking the walk.” In challenging listeners to embrace open science, he affirmed that, as leaders in improving access to health sciences information since 1898, medical librarians must work in the open science arena to realize our vision “that quality information is essential for improved health.”

Open in a separate windowChris Shaffer     

Secondary information services: Mirrors of scholarly communication. Forces and trends

The statistics published each year by U.S. secondary publishers reveal trends in scientific communication, including political, economic, and social factors. For the first time since 1957, the number of documents abstracted and indexed by U.S. secondary services has declined—following thirty-five years of often rapid growth. The author traces the history of abstracting and indexing services in the United States, considers reasons that the coverage of secondary services has stabilized, and discusses why comprehensive coverage of the scholarly literature may no longer be a viable strategy for secondary services to follow in the years ahead.     

Exploring the scholarly communication styles of Arab social science and humanities scholars

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a study of scholarly communication behaviour among Arab scholars. The main objective of this study is to determine how Egyptian and Saudi Arabian social sciences and humanities scholars engage in scholarly communication practices. The study used a mixed‐methods approach. A questionnaire was answered by a sample of 104 participants, followed by interviews with 36 participants to gain insight into the scholarly communication behaviour of the Arab scholars. The analysis demonstrated that participants use different styles of scholarly communication approaches. Most of the participants do use informal (social media) channels to communicate their research findings (particularly ResearchGate and Facebook), although priority is given to formal over informal publication in peer reviewed journals. Responses showed that the promotional systems of both countries dictate publication choices of scholars, reducing the amount of collaboration by ranking co‐publications lower than sole publications and favouring printed journals over online‐only journals.     

The changing scholarly communication landscape: an international survey of senior researchers

This survey reports on the behaviour, attitudes, and perceptions of 5,513 senior journal authors on a range of issues relating to the scholarly communication system.     

Practices of quality and trustworthiness in scholarly communication: A case from Pakistan

This paper aims to investigate the practices of Pakistani academic researchers with respect to using, citing, and publishing their scholarly work. The quantitative survey method adopted to collect data from local researchers was based on an instrument developed and used by CIBER. Their notions and practices involved in deciding trust and quality of scholarly journals were obtained. The findings revealed that national and institutional policies have significantly influenced their decisions regarding the publishing outlets. The credibility of indexing services was found to be an important factor in choosing the journal for publishing research. ISI Web of Science Impact Factor was not considered as the top source for determining quality and trustworthiness. This study is the first of its kind that targets the top two universities of the country. A comparison of the findings with another international study shows that some of the behavioural traits are compatible with scholars from less‐developed countries like India and China, while others are more similar to the ones from highly developed countries like USA and UK.     

University copyright/scholarly communication offices: Analysis of their services and staff profile

Questions surrounding copyright and its impact on the possibilities of using scientific articles, theses, and other types of intellectual works have been growing in volume and complexity. Several studies show that neither university professors nor students possess adequate knowledge or are prepared to face such issues. This void has a negative impact on academic activities. In view of the situation, some university libraries have dedicated special effort to provide their users with more specific information related to these topics, giving rise to the new professional profile of copyright librarian, or even developing a new library section denominated copyright office. This new role has gradually expanded to deal with more global problems of scholarly communication. The present study analyzes the services offered by these offices and the professional and academic profile of the staff involved. Results point to a healthy degree of maturity and consolidation, together with a gradual broadening of the subject areas they cover.     

A global questionnaire survey of the scholarly communication attitudes and behaviours of early career researchers

This article describes an international study informed by a 3‐year‐long qualitative longitudinal project, which sought to discover the scholarly communication attitudes and behaviour of early career researchers (ECRs). Using a combination of small‐scale interviews and a larger‐scale survey, ECRs were questioned on their searching and reading behaviour, publishing practices, open data, and their use of social media. Questionnaire invitations were sent out via publisher lists, social media networks, university research networks, and specialist ECR membership organizations. One‐thousand and six‐hundred responses were received, with many coming from China, Russia, and Poland. Results showed that ECRs are adopting millennial‐facing tools/platforms, with Google, Google Scholar, social media, and smartphones becoming embedded in their scholarly activities. Open data sharing obtains widespread support but somewhat less practice. There are some differences in attitudes and behaviour according to age and subject specialism.     

The Electronic Publishing Initiative at Columbia (EPIC): a university-based collaboration in digital scholarly communication

Researchers and staff from the Press, the Libraries, and the Academic Information Systems within Columbia University have been actively collaborating to develop strategies and models for ongoing, sustainable programmes of electronic scholarly publishing that take advantage of the available new technologies while maintaining the traditional quality and purpose of university-based research, teaching, and publishing. The evolving structure and content of current projects are briefly described, along with some of the lessons learned and plans for future development.