A sensitivity analysis of research institutions’ productivity rankings to the time of citation observation

One of the critical issues in bibliometric research assessments is the time required to achieve maturity in citations. Citation counts can be considered a reliable proxy of the real impact of a work only if they are observed after sufficient time has passed from publication date. In the present work the authors investigate the effect of varying the time of citation observation on accuracy of productivity rankings for research institutions. Research productivity measures are calculated for all Italian universities active in the hard sciences in the 2001–2003 period, by individual field and discipline, with the time of the citation observation varying from 2004 to 2008. The objective is to support policy-makers in choosing a citation window that optimizes the tradeoff between accuracy of rankings and timeliness of the exercise.     

Effect of online research data management instruction on social science graduate students’ RDM skills

Prior research has suggested the value of and the need to provide consistent research data management (RDM) instruction specifically for graduate students. However, there is a lack of RDM instruction that is tailored for the social science disciplines. The effect of a four-hour, online RDM instruction intervention, designed based on the research data life cycle, on the RDM knowledge of graduate students in social science disciplines was investigated. A total of 84 students completed both pre/post knowledge assessments with 40 students randomly assigned into the intervention group receiving online instruction and 44 in the control group. A one-way ANCOVA was used for the data analysis. Results indicated that social science graduate students who received online RDM instruction had a significantly higher score in RDM knowledge than students in the control group. Moreover, the effect of the instruction on participants' RDM skills varied by their disciplines.     

Exploring the influence of coauthorship with top scientists on researchers’ affiliation,research topic,productivity, and impact

Research studies have found that coauthorship with top scientists positively correlates with researchers’ career advancement. However, the influence of different proximities and types of coauthorship with top scientists on their performance has rarely been discussed. We identified the winners of four awards as top authors. We also evaluated the effect on the researchers’ affiliation change, research topic, productivity, and impact before and after three top-ordinary scientist coauthorship types (strong, moderate, and weak), examining the effect after top-top and ordinary-ordinary scientist coauthorships. Additionally, a coauthorship closeness indicator was proposed, considering the team size and author role to measure the collaboration relationship between coauthors. The results reveal that the top scientist in strong coauthorship obtained the highest affiliation change rate. For the top-ordinary coauthorship, the affiliation change rate for top scientists is higher than for ordinary scientists. For other aspects (the coauthor number, research topic, productivity, and impact), the rate after strong and moderate coauthorships increases compared to weak top-ordinary coauthorship type for top and ordinary scientists. Therefore, top scientists obtain a partner with skills, and ordinary scientists obtain more guidance. Strong and moderate coauthorships are win-win relationships for top-ordinary coauthorship types.     

Public speaking students’ perceptions of cheating

While cheating has been studied in a variety of academic fields little to no research has been done in the field of communication studies and more specifically in the basic public speaking classroom. This may be due in part to a false sense of security public speaking instructors feel when they observe and evaluate a student as he or she stands and delivers a speech. Instructors may assume that since the student delivers the speech the student also researched and wrote the speech. However, the results of this study indicate that students self‐report cheating on speeches and do not seem to have a clear‐cut idea about what constitutes cheating in a public speaking class.     

Movers’ advantages: The effect of mobility on scientists’ productivity and collaboration

With the rapid globalization of science, mobility is perceived as an important driver of scientific progress and innovation success. However, we have little knowledge about whether and how scientists’ mobility influences their career development, especially scientists’ productivity and collaboration. In this case study, using the data on 62,330 scientists, the Chinese computer scientists who published at least one computer science paper and published no fewer than 10 papers in total from 2000 to 2012, we apply difference in differences models in conjunction with PSM methods to show the effect of domestic mobility (i.e., moving inside China) on scientists’ research quantity and quality by distinguishing the direction of mobility. In contrast to the existing literature that documents a short-term negative effect due to adaption costs or disruption of routines and social capital, we do not observe an initial detrimental impact of following moves on productivity and collaboration, even for non-upward moves. We further find that mobility leads to increased collaboration with new partners without dampening scientists’ collaboration with previous collaborators. However, scientists have a higher probability of collaborating with new collaborators, as evidenced by the decreased share of previous collaborators to the total co-authors after they move. The findings of this case study imply that the benefits of mobility might outweigh its costs and that mobility improves scientists’ productivity and collaboration for prolific scientists in emerging countries.     

A university library management model for students’ learning support

Abstract

This research was aimed at developing a university library management model that would support students’ learning. The research was conducted in three phases: 1) an investigation into the requirements of a university library service of instructors; 2) an investigation into the attitudes of librarians, libraries’ administrators, and university’s administrators toward the roles of library and policy concepts relating to university library management that promote students’ learning; and 3) the development of a university library management model for students’ learning support. A mixed research method was applied comprising qualitative and quantitative approaches. Data was collected using in-depth interviews and questionnaires. The findings have led to a proposal of a university library management model that supports student learning, which is comprised of five components: 1) management policy and system; 2) learning resources; 3) learning support services; 4) learning environments; and 5) the competency and roles of information professionals. It can be stated that studies into Thai university library implementation, strategic plans, and self-assessment reports under the quality assurance system showed that even though libraries have updated resources and services following changing situations in policies, technologies, and users’ needs, there is no clear indicator that Thai university libraries have any strategy for acquiring roles to support students’ learning with practical outcomes. Through reliable research work, this study into a model for university library management would result in a means of developing university libraries that truly supports university student learning based on information from instructors, library administrators, and librarians.     

Library anxiety: Characteristics of ‘at-risk’ college students

Library anxiety is a psychological barrier to academic success among college students. This study of 493 university students examined factors which predict library anxiety. A setwise multiple regression analysis revealed that eight variables (age, sex, year of study, native language, grade point average, employment status, frequency of library visits, and reason for using the library) contributed significantly to the prediction of library anxiety. Analysis of variance, which included trend analysis, revealed that freshmen reported the highest level of library anxiety, and that this level declined linearly as a function of year of study. Based on these findings, both librarians and teaching faculty should be aware of the characteristics of high-anxious students, and increase the availability of anxiety-reducing interventions for students.     

Who benefits from a country’s scientific research?

When a publication is cited it generates a benefit. Through the country affiliations of the citing authors, it is possible to work upwards, tracing the countries that benefit from results produced in a national research system. In this work we take the knowledge flow from Italy as an example. We develop a methodology for examination of how the knowledge flows vary across fields, in each beneficiary country. We also measure the field comparative advantage of countries in benefiting from Italian research. The results from this method can inform bilateral research collaboration policies.     

Evolution of research libraries’ mission under modern economic conditions

This paper describes the tasks performed by research libraries in the market economy, changes in their work methods, types of collected literature, and composition of the readers by the experience of libraries in Belarus.     

A sensitivity analysis of researchers’ productivity rankings to the time of citation observation

In this work we investigate the sensitivity of individual researchers’ productivity rankings to the time of citation observation. The analysis is based on observation of research products for the 2001–2003 triennium for all research staff of Italian universities in the hard sciences, with the year of citation observation varying from 2004 to 2008. The 2008 rankings list is assumed the most accurate, as citations have had the longest time to accumulate and thus represent the best possible proxy of impact. By comparing the rankings lists from each year against the 2008 benchmark we provide policy-makers and research organization managers a measure of trade-off between timeliness of evaluation execution and accuracy of performance rankings. The results show that with variation in the evaluation citation window there are variable rates of inaccuracy across the disciplines of researchers. The inaccuracy results negligible for Physics, Biology and Medicine.     

Communication civility codes: Positive communication through the students’ eyes

Courses: Presentational courses such as Public Speaking, Interviewing, Business and Professional, Persuasion, Interpersonal; any course where civility may be promoted in the classroom.

Objectives: At the end of this single-class activity, students will have an understanding of civility in order to: (1) identify civility and consequences of behaviors, (2) create their own communication civility code for classroom behaviors and presentations, and (3) practice civility throughout the semester.     

International students’ network patterns and cultural stress: What really counts

The cultural adaptation literature indicates that direct contacts with host people and international students have positive effects on adaptation. However, it is not clear how the quantity of host people affects this relationship. Therefore, this study investigates the question by exploring the role of “quantity”; in terms of the numbers of host people in international students’ communication networks and cultural stress (CS). This effect was examined from close interpersonal communication ties and casual communicative contacts perspectives (i.e., quantity alone versus quantity‐with‐quality of relationship). One hundred and two international students were asked to complete a questionnaire from which their CS scores were determined. The scores were used to determine the effect of casual versus close contacts for the students. In general, the findings indicate that the quantity of host people in a network is an important determinant of CS (i.e., both casual contacts and close communication contacts). However, the extent to which these interaction types are able to determine CS is dependent on the stress type.     

Forecasting research trends using population dynamics model with Burgers’ type interaction

The increasing costs of research and the decreasing lifetime of products and processes make the decisions on allocation of R&D funds strategically important. Therefore, ability to predict research trends is crucial in minimizing risks of R&D expenditure planning. The purpose of this paper is to propose a model for efficient prediction of research trends in a chosen branch of science. The approach is based on population dynamics with Burgers’ type global interaction and selective neighborhood. The model is estimated based on a training set. Then, an out-of-sample forecast is performed. The research trends of filtration and rectification processes were analyzed in this paper. The simulation results show that the model is able to predict the trends with a considerable accuracy and should, therefore, be tested on a wider range of research fields.     

Technological research in the EU is less efficient than the world average. EU research policy risks Europeans’ future

We have studied the efficiency of research in the EU by a percentile-based citation approach that analyzes the distribution of country papers among the world papers. Going up in the citation scale, the frequency of papers from efficient countries increases while the frequency from inefficient countries decreases. In the percentile-based approach, this trend, which is uniform at any citation level, is measured by the e_p index that equals the P_{top 1%}/P_{top 10%} ratio. By using the e_p index we demonstrate that EU research on fast-evolving technological topics is less efficient than the world average and that the EU is far from being able to compete with the most advanced countries. The e_p index also shows that the USA is well ahead of the EU in both fast- and slow-evolving technologies, which suggests that the advantage of the USA over the EU in innovation is due to low research efficiency in the EU. In accord with some previous studies, our results show that the European Commission’s ongoing claims about the excellence of EU research are based on a wrong diagnosis. The EU must focus its research policy on the improvement of its inefficient research. Otherwise, the future of Europeans is at risk.     

The land of confusion?: High school students and their use of the World Wide Web for research

The use of the World Wide Web by high school students to complete school assignments was studied by interviewing high school students. The author expected to find that students were using the World Wide Web as their primary source of information and that the students had difficulty in evaluating whether information on a web site was scholarly. The author considered Perry's Scheme of Student Development and the unique nature of the World Wide Web to come to these assumptions, which were only partially validated by this study. As is typical in a qualitative study, the sample was small, but some themes that could help provide direction to further research emerged. It was discovered that the students in the study used a good variety of resources, including libraries and the World Wide Web, to find information for school assignments. However, the students were weak at determining the quality of the information that they found on a web site. Students did poorly at evaluating web site information in the absence of gatekeepers.     

Empirical research on archivists’ skills and knowledge needs in Chinese archival education

This article reports on a survey of archivists from 20 provinces and municipalities in China to investigate their professional skills and knowledge needs. It analyzes their responses concerning the educational advantages and disadvantages archivists face and the relationship between their skill levels and knowledge needs. In conclusion, it points to several solutions to these problems: preprofessional curriculum design better addressing actual archivists?? needs, increasing continuing education to address archivists?? needs to maintain professional skills, and archivists?? desire for custom-built training to specific technical requirements.     

Basic research in the Novosibirsk oblast’: Bibliometrical analysis for 2004–2009

The results from analyzing the scientific output of scientists from the Novosibirsk oblast’ are given based on works published in 2005–2009. The analysis was carried out using the data and potential of the Web of Science (WoS) and, in particular, information about domestic and foreign science foundations that supported particular studies, Journal Citation Reports, HistCite software, and certain additional data that included official statistics from Rosstat and involved indicators derived from the journal impact factor and the aggregate impact factor of the WoS knowledge category. The publications by the scientists from the oblast’ were distributed according to 133 WoS knowledge categories. Research in certain trends in 48 WoS knowledge categories carried out in the oblast’ is in no way inferior to and very often is even better than the global science standards. More than 50% of the publications were sponsored by domestic and foreign science foundations: the scientific quality of these works was considerably higher than that of the unsponsored studies. The coauthors of the articles published by scientists of the oblast’ in the period were their colleagues from 83 countries. R & D costs in the Novosibirsk oblast’ are used quite efficiently: in 2009 the publications by the scientists of the oblast’ accounted for more than 9% of the entire amount of works published all over Russia, while internal research and development expenses were only 2.5% of such expenses nationwide.