Scholarly journal use and reading behavior of social scientists in Taiwan

This paper reports on a study of social scientists’ information seeking and use of scholarly journals to support scholarly communication and information needs. The goals of the study are: to explore the characteristics of information needs for social scientists; to discuss the importance of scholarly journals to social scientists and their information seeking and access means; to identify article reading patterns of social scientists; and to make comparisons between scholarly journals use and reading patterns of social scientists and other scientists in Taiwan and the USA. The author used a questionnaire survey and interview methods to investigate the information seeking, use and reading of scholarly journals, and article deep reading patterns of social scientists. The target population was social science faculty members from National Cheng-chi University in Taiwan. The article explores the characteristics of information needs for social scientists and shows that scholarly journals are important information resources for university social science faculty. Social science faculty in Taiwan use scholarly journals in multiple languages, mainly English, Chinese, German, and Japanese, which is different from scientists in the United States. In addition, they use electronic journals more than print journals. The number of article readings by social science faculty members was approximately 195 readings per year and nearly 440 h were spent reading per year. In contrast to scientists in the United States, the social scientists in Taiwan read fewer readings, spent more time reading, and read older articles. In addition, the study identifies article reading patterns of social scientists and proposes a six-type taxonomy of article deep reading. The study reports the scholarly journal use and reading behavior model of social scientists and shows there are some differences in scholarly journal seeking and use by social science faculty in Taiwan and scientists in the United States. Further studies of scholarly journal and electronic journal use and reading by social scientists across countries, subject disciplines, and languages of journals are needed.     

Use of information resources by veterinary practitioners

Veterinary practitioners are often isolated from easy access to information in medical or hospital libraries, making necessary the use of a variety of information resources. A survey was conducted to assess the extent to which various information resources were used within the veterinary profession. Most responding veterinarians were small-animal practitioners who used the veterinary literature, colleagues, diagnostic laboratories, continuing education courses, association meetings, and pharmaceutical representatives as sources of information. Books and other practitioners were the preferred information source in critical-care situations, followed closely by diagnostic laboratories and journals. For keeping up-to-date with current advances in veterinary medicine, journals, books, other practitioners, and continuing education were used. University extension services, veterinary medical libraries, and computer applications to information use were not important resources ot most of the respondents. Many veterinarians indicated that they would use library services if they knew more about them. With the trend toward computerization in veterinary practice, it is possible for libraries to help reduce the information isolation of many veterinary practices.     

National and international policies for preservation

Abstract

The aim of the study is to measure the effects of information resources and services of a regional information resources centre (NR CRI Library, Umudike), on the work of agricultural scientists within South Eastern Nigeria. The adequacy and relevance of resources and services were also examined.

One hundred and forty-one copies of a structured, self-administered questionnaire were sent to 140 scientists and one Head Librarian. Ninety-nine (70%) were retrieved and analysed. Data were also generated from intervies and a randomly selected sample, from documentary sources and observations. Analysis focused on library use, resources, services, effects of use on performance, relevance and adequacy of resources and services. Simple analytical tools such as graphs, charts and tables were used to elucidate library use, operations, benefits, effects of use on performance, relevance and adequacy of resources and services.

Results showed that research objective (20%) was the most common reason why scientists sought information and that information “effectively improved” the work of 73% of scientists. It also showed that among six other technical determinants that are essential for agricultural research, the importance attributed to the contribution of information to the success of research varied between groups of scientists. This trend was also observed in the amount of work achieved by scientists with the use information. The highest (20·4%) showed respondents who accepted that 31–40% of their research work was achieved with the use of information. The     

Qualitative and quantitative factors concerning scientific information in agricultural research: A case study of South Eastern Nigeria

The aim of the study is to measure the effects of information resources and services of a regional information resources centre (NR CRI Library, Umudike), on the work of agricultural scientists within South Eastern Nigeria. The adequacy and relevance of resources and services were also examined.One hundred and forty-one copies of a structured, self-administered questionnaire were sent to 140 scientists and one Head Librarian. Ninety-nine (70%) were retrieved and analysed. Data were also generated from intervies and a randomly selected sample, from documentary sources and observations. Analysis focused on library use, resources, services, effects of use on performance, relevance and adequacy of resources and services. Simple analytical tools such as graphs, charts and tables were used to elucidate library use, operations, benefits, effects of use on performance, relevance and adequacy of resources and services.Results showed that research objective (20%) was the most common reason why scientists sought information and that information “effectively improved” the work of 73% of scientists. It also showed that among six other technical determinants that are essential for agricultural research, the importance attributed to the contribution of information to the success of research varied between groups of scientists. This trend was also observed in the amount of work achieved by scientists with the use information. The highest (20·4%) showed respondents who accepted that 31–40% of their research work was achieved with the use of information. The     

Information needs of academic medical scientists at Chulalongkorn University

The information needs of scientists in English-speaking countries have been studied and reported in the library literature. However, few studies exist on the information-seeking patterns of scientists in developing countries, and no study has examined the information needs of medical scientists in developing Asian countries. This study investigated the information needs of academic medical scientists at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand. The results indicate that medical scientists have three types of information needs: identifying up-to-date information, obtaining relevant studies and data, and developing research topics. Thai scientists' information-seeking behavior was different from that of scientists in developed countries. The study shows a high use of libraries as information providers; Thai medical scientists rely heavily on information from abroad.     

Author-team diversity and the impact of scientific publications: Evidence from physics research at a national science lab

In the second half of the 20th century, scientific research in physics, chemistry, and engineering began to focus on the use of large government-funded laboratories. This shift toward so-called big science also brought about a concomitant change in scientific work itself, with a sustained trend toward the use of highly specialized scientific teams, elevating the role of team characteristics on scientific outputs. The actual impact of scientific knowledge is commonly measured by how often peer-reviewed publications are, in turn, cited by other researchers. Therefore, how characteristics such as author team seniority, affiliation diversity, and size affect the overall impact of team publications was examined. Citation information and author demographics were reviewed for 123 articles published in Physical Review Letters from 2004 to 2006 and written by 476 scientists who used the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory's facilities. Correlation analysis indicated that author teams that were more multi-institutional and had homogeneous seniority tended to have more senior scientists. In addition, the analysis suggests that more mixed seniority author teams were likely to be less institutionally dispersed. Quantile regression was used to examine the relationships between author-team characteristics and publication impact. The analysis indicated that both weighted average seniority and average seniority had a negative relationship with the number of citations the publication received. Furthermore, the analysis also showed a positive relationship between first-author seniority and the number of citations, and a negative relationship between the number of authors and the number of citations.     

Information Needs of Anthropologists

Anthropologists at seven universities were surveyed in order to discover: the ways in which they go about locating information of value to them; the information sources that they use and that are of the greatest significance to them; the adequacy of the library service being currently provided to anthropologists; and any opinions they have on the subject of their information needs. Results show that anthropologists; information requirements differ somewhat from those of other social scientists. Reference lists in journals and books are often used to locate information sources; journals are the most important information source. However, cultural anthropologists report that their own field data is their most significant source. Anthropologists use pictorial sources and maps more frequently than social scientists in general do; they also make great use of interlibrary loan. Most of the information needs of the majority of respondents are met by their university's library. Older scholars tend to use databases less than younger ones do; online abstracts and indexes are most important to anthropologists than their print versions are. Some respondents express a great desire for a database which would include current references, abstracts, and articles in anthropology.     

Socio-cultural Determinants of the Use and Transfer of Scientific Information by Agricultural Scientists in South Eastern Nigeria

Abstract

The objective of the study presented here was to determine the socio-cultural factors that enhanced the use and transfer of scientific information among agricultural scientists in south eastern Nigeria. The implications of some of these factors for agricultural development are highlighted.

Structured questionnaires were distributed to a stratified random sample of 300 scientists. Two hundred and ten (210) questionnaires were mailed while 90 were self-administered. Two hundred and forty-five (81·6%) usable responses were received and analysed. Data were also generated from interviews with selected members of the stratified random sample. Analyses focused on social and cultural factors of (1) motivation, (2) computer appreciation, (3) choice of media for research communication, (4) recipients of research communications, and (5) scientists' activities considered for assessment and reward. Frequency counts were the presentation techniques used to elucidate results.

Results showed that scientists were motivated more in the use and transfer of scientific information by social factors of self-development (53·3%) and job security (12·9%) than by social factors of scientific problem solution (19·6%) and intellectual contribution (12·6%).

Cultural factors of development in information technology (36·8%), adequate and relevant information resources (12·6%) and previous information attitudes (24·5%) also influenced scientists. Although five types of recipient groups of research communications were identified, the study noted that there was a disproportionately inadequate diffusion of research communications to two important groups of “national planners” and “external aid bodies”, who plan and finance agricultural development. Only 5% of scientists sent research communications to national planners and only 3·7% of scientists sent research communications to external aid bodies.

Strategies for assessing other quantifiable elements of productivity by scientists outside journal publications and for diffusing adequate scientific information to national planners and external aid bodies are deemed necessary.     

Serving a Fragmented Field: Information Seeking in Higher Education

This study examines the information seeking habits and needs of scholars of higher education. Because higher education is a field which draws on many disciplinary traditions rather than a pure discipline in itself, the information needs of these scholars require diverse information seeking strategies. Phenomenological interviews with productive scholars of higher education were conducted and analyzed for this study. Ellis' (1989) common information seeking behaviors of social scientists are used as a framework to examine the behaviors of these applied social scientists in the modern information seeking environment.     

How does duplicate tweeting boost social media exposure to scholarly articles?

Duplicate tweeting is a kind of behavior that a user posts the same or substantially similar original tweets to one or several topics multiple times in a row, which is commonly used to boost social media exposure to online information. However, how this behavior boosts social media exposure to online information, especially to scientific publications, is still unclear. In this study, we use the number of retweets an article received as a proxy for social media exposure to the article. Based on the duplicate tweeting records of 12,263 users on Twitter from 2011 to 2017, we find that social media exposure to scholarly articles has a significant marginal effect as the number of duplicate tweeting (k) increases. It ramps up a peak value when k is between 2 and 4 and goes down when k takes a greater value. We also find that a longer posting interval can sharply reduce social media exposure to scholarly articles, and posting non-duplicate content can significantly improve the exposure. Our findings not only help scientists and journal publishers effectively improve the social impact of their research outputs but also advance the understanding of the diffusion processes of scholarly articles.     

提高科技信息服务效率和质量的方法

互联网传播时代的海量信息处理,对于教育、研究和科技工作者来说既是福音又是苦恼。一方面,当前科技文献的种类比传统图书馆能够提供的服务更加丰富;而另一方面,如何剔除随信息量增加的噪声信息,以求获取效率和质量上的平衡则是一个需要攻克的课题。图情服务机构利用图情有序组织的方法,针对海量的资源进行序化的组织和管理;结合教育、研究科技工作者的特点,利用科技信息分析的方法,在充分考虑我国国情的前提下最有效率地整合资源,并结合技术手段来提高科技信息资源使用的效率和质量。这对于中国教育、研究、科技工作者最大化利用科技文献来开展研究和工作,是最好的选择之一。     

Information Needs and Information Seeking Behavior of Agricultural Scientists in Malaysia

Knowledge about the information needs and seeking behavior of scientists could play a vital role in meeting their information needs effectively. Libraries can use this knowledge for re-orienting their collections and facilities to attune them to the needs of the scientific community. This study explores information needs and seeking behavior of Malaysian agricultural scientists. It was found that research scientists spent 16% of their office time on reading and literature searching, whereas academicians spent 9.3% of their time for this purpose. The study also revealed that scientists preferred using primary sources of information, particularly journal and review articles. Informal communication with professional colleagues was also considered important for exchanging current research information. A large number of the participants felt that they had not been keeping in touch with scientific literature due to deficient library collections and services. This article recommends that science and technology libraries should periodically survey the information needs of their users, assess their collections and facilities, and strengthen their promotional activities.     

The lost history of American veterinary medicine: the need for preservation

Objective:

The objective of this study was to survey holdings of ephemeral veterinary literature.

Methods:

WorldCat OCLC catalog, the Library of Congress online catalog, the US National Agricultural Library online catalog, and the Dictionary Catalog of the National Agricultural Library, 1862–1965, were used to determine current library holdings of materials published by veterinary schools that are no longer in existence and veterinary associations that are defunct, veterinary supply catalogs, veterinary house organs, patent medicine publications, and veterinary advertisements. Individual library catalogs were also consulted. In addition, the practice of removing advertisements from bound volumes was examined.

Results:

There are many gaps in the cataloged library holdings of primary source materials relating to the history of the education of veterinarians in the United States.

Conclusions:

A proactive action plan needs to be designed and activated to locate, catalog, and preserve this primary source material of veterinary medicine for posterity.

Highlights

• Veterinary libraries have failed to catalog or retain important primary veterinary source materials.
• Several types of veterinary gray literature, with individual pieces scattered across multiple kinds of libraries, are at high risk for loss from the historical record.

Implications

• Academic, veterinary, medical, and special librarians should be involved in efforts to preserve their institutional, local, and state materials; to identify and locate hidden collections of materials, both in uncataloged collections and in the hands of private collectors; and to mentor new librarians about their role in preserving the history of medicine.
• The results of this survey of primary source materials documenting US veterinary medical education suggest the need for a parallel study of medical education and other health professions education.
• The time is now, not only to digitize important scarce veterinary materials for both preservation and improved access, but also to archive present day institutional output (paper and electronic).

     

Knowledge of Open Access Journals Among Research Scientists in Ghana

There previously has been little research specifically about use of Open Access (OA) content in Ghana for information retrieval and for publication or information sharing, although several articles indicate that the infrastructure and the attitudes are in place. The objectives of this article are (1) to document research scientists’ awareness of OA journals, (2) to determine their attitudes toward OA journal use and publication, and (3) to determine the levels of use of OA materials. This article contributes to the growing body of literature on the potential of OA for the developing world in two ways: it provides information about OA adoption in Ghana, where little research has been done thus far, and it provides information about the beliefs of research scientists in a governmental organization, an area where little research heretofore has been done.     

Poultry Farmers' Information Needs and Sources in Selected Rural Communities in the Greater Accra Region,Ghana

A survey was conducted to assess poultry farmers' information needs and sources in selected rural communities in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Data were collected from 150 poultry farmers in 13 communities. Information on disease management, egg storage, feeding and nutrition, vaccination, shelter, pesticide application, marketing of poultry products, and debeaking were the major information needs of the poultry farmers in the study area. The major sources of information for the poultry farmers were from family and friends, the Internet, books, the veterinary office, leaflets, television, researchers, and newspapers. Some of the major constraints faced by poultry farmers when accessing information include lack of skills to access information, inadequate information resources on poultry, inadequate veterinary officers, lack of information centers, and inappropriate airing time of agricultural program on radio stations. The study recommended that community libraries and information centers should be established: It is important that such rural libraries and information centers should contain simple agricultural reading materials, such as leaflets, agricultural magazines, books, and research reports that are written in non-technical language. The veterinary service department of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture should identify relevant sources and use them to deliver information to the poultry farmers.     

Library use and information-seeking behavior of veterinary medical students

Veterinary medical students at Iowa State University were assessed for general use of the veterinary library and for their information-seeking behavior. The library was most frequently used for studying and for making photocopies of materials. The typical respondent relied on course textbooks and handouts for current information on unfamiliar topics, instead of using indexes or abstracts for guidance to recent literature. Light use of library information resources raises the concern that students are developing an inadequate base of retrieval skills for finding information on new procedures, diseases and drugs. No differences were found between students with and without formal bibliographic instruction in their approaches to seeking information or in library use.     

Evolving journal costs: implications for publishers,libraries, and readers

In this article, we summarize the cost implications of print and electronic publishing for scientific scholarly journal publishers, libraries, and scientists. In each case, we developed detailed cost models to demonstrate the importance of factors that affect publishing and decisions made by libraries and scientists to determine whether to subscribe to a journal; if so, in print or electronic medium, and, if not, what alternative information sources to use. In all instances, estimates of unit cost are essential for understanding the dynamics of the economic and systemic interdependencies of publishers, libraries, and readers.     

An investigation of the relationship between scientists’ mobility to/from China and their research performance

A large number of overseas elites were brought back to China by the policy in the past decade. However, name disambiguation defied investigations on the relationship between their mobility and research performance. By taking advantage of the ORCID website and applying causal inference strategies, we investigated 2489 China-connected scientists’ academic performance in the Web of Science database in terms of their job mobility, including 1388 scientists who moved to China the treatment group, and 1101 scientists with a possibility to move to China the control group. The results show that first, scientists moving to China have a new growth pattern where both their productivity and the rates of being corresponding authors in publications grew more rapidly than before; however, they made fewer contributions to the four top journals, Nature, Science, Cell, and PNAS. Second, the research performance of the scientists is affected by the time of mobility towards China, the countries from which they moved, and the disciplines of their publications. Last, China now maintains symmetrical inflow-outflow patterns with most countries, especially developed countries in Europe and North America, with only a few exceptions (e.g., Pakistan).