Where are citations located in the body of scientific articles? A study of the distributions of citation locations

We address issues concerning what one may learn from how citation instances are distributed in scientific articles. We visualize and analyze patterns of citation distributions in the full text of 350 articles published in the Journal of Informetrics. In particular, we visualize and analyze the distributions of citations in articles that are organized in a commonly seen four-section structure, namely, introduction, method, results, and conclusions (IMRC). We examine the locations of citations to the groundbreaking h-index paper by Hirsch in 2005 and how patterns associated with citation locations evolve over time. The results show that citations are highly concentrated in the first section of an article. The density of citations in the first section is about three times higher than that in subsequent sections. The distributions of citations to highly cited papers are even more uneven.     

Is there Lingua Franca in informal scientific communication? Evidence from language distribution of scientific tweets

Language distribution in scientific communication reflects the influence of different languages on science in global perspective. The study, based on over 450 thousand scientific tweets of all publications indexed by Scopus in June 2015, reveals the language distribution in informal scientific communication. Moreover, this result is compared with the language distribution in formal scientific communication reflected in scientific publications. Results show: (1) The language of scientific tweets is concentrated in English (91%), Japanese (2.4%) and Spanish (1.7%), while the language of scientific publications is concentrated in English (90.6%), Chinese (5%) and German (1.1%). (2) Both scientific tweets and scientific publications present disciplinary differences in language distribution, reflecting the different amount of attention that authors of different languages have on certain disciplines. (3) Except Saudi Arabia, investigated countries all over the world, regardless of whether their native language is English or not, all have English scientific tweets in the dominant position. For the vast majority of these countries, the native language scientific tweets only rank the second position. (4) Overall, 26% of tweeters use more than one language to tweet scientific products, while 49% of scientific tweeters tweet everything in English only. The results indicate that English has undoubtedly become the lingua franca in informal scientific communication.     

An empirical investigation of the tribes and their territories: Are research specialisms rural and urban?

We propose an operationalization of the rural and urban analogy introduced in Becher and Trowler (2001). According to them, a specialism is rural if it is organized into many, smaller topics of research, with higher author mobility among them, lower rate of collaboration and productivity, lower competition for resources and citation recognitions compared to an urban specialism. It is assumed that most humanities specialisms are rural while science specialisms are in general urban: we set to test this hypothesis empirically. We first propose an operationalization of the theory in most of its quantifiable aspects. We then consider specialisms from history, literature, computer science, biology, astronomy. Our results show that specialisms in the humanities present a sensibly lower citation and textual connectivity, in agreement with their organization into more, smaller topics per specialism, as suggested by the analogy. We argue that the intellectual organization of rural specialisms might indeed be qualitative different from urban ones, discouraging the straightforward application of citation-based indicators commonly applied to urban specialisms without a dedicated re-design in acknowledgement of these differences.     

An investigation of the relationship between cognitive complexity and listener‐adapted communication

This study investigated the hypothesis that dyads composed of two cognitively complex individuals would be more successful at a communication task than would dyads composed of two individuals who are both noncomplex. Another hypothesis was that mixed dyads (one person complex, one noncomplex) would be more effective than noncomplex dyads but not as effective as complex dyads. The data supported the hypotheses. When both members of a dyad were complex or when the complex member of a mixed dyad was the person giving directions, the directions were more effective than when both members are noncomplex or when the noncomplex member of a mixed dyad was giving directions.     

An attempt of data exchange between the institutional repository and the information environment for the management of scientific research—ARP

In the present paper an attempt of data exchange between the institutional repository based on DSpace and the Academy Resource Planning System (ARP) of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), which is the information environment for management of scientific research in CAS, was described. It includes the development of a tool based on browser which imports data from EXCEL into DSpace and a tool which exports data from DSpace into EXCEL. Consequently, data can be exchanged between ARP and DSpace through EXCEL. In addition, the way to customize the input form and the display page according to different types of documents was introduced.     

An investigation of the use of cellulose-based materials to gap-fill wooden objects†

The conservation of wooden objects is complicated by their response to changes in their environment. In particular, filling voids in wooden objects can be difficult when their dimensions might be expected to alter over time. A short survey of conservators showed that a wide variety of materials have been, and are being used for this purpose. Following conservation work undertaken on a wooden coffin, the author wished to investigate the properties of cellulosic materials and their suitability in the conservation of wooden objects. This paper shares the results of experiments that were conducted to determine the way in which hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) and paper pulp fills respond in various conditions, as compared to other fill materials used by conservators. The compatibility of the HPC and paper pulp fills with wood is satisfactory enough to be able to recommend their use in the conservation of wooden artefacts, but ideally further experiments would be carried out, and on a wider variety of fill materials.     

Does an image facilitate the sharing of negative news on social media? An experimental investigation

Negative news on social media is always disseminated promptly and widely which leads to negative economic and social outcomes that render a practical research agenda necessary to understand user sharing decisions. Moreover, news posted on social media usually includes images, but little is known about the role of such images in shaping user decisions to share negative news. To fill this gap, the humans' affective–cognitive model of information processing (HACIP) was developed to explore the effects of images on the sharing of negative news and to investigate the contingent role of images in the sharing decision. To test the model and hypotheses, a scenario-based online experiment was conducted, which yielded 285 valid responses. Analysis results indicate that images in negative news induce users' negative emotion and arousal, which influence their sharing decision. Further, the presence of images strengthens the effect of negative emotion and weakens the effect of information uniqueness. Thus, this study contributes to the literature by identifying the distinct role of images in information processing and by proposing a brand-new framework to explore user sharing of negative news.     

How do entrepreneurs obtain financing? An evaluation of available options and how they fit into the current entrepreneurial ecosystem

ABSTRACT

Given the high visibility of venture capital and private equity (VC/PE) in business news, entrepreneurs may be misled on the role and relative size of this financing model. In reality however, VC/PE is quite difficult to obtain, particularly for young entrepreneurs. With this in mind, I assess seven popular models for financing that may be of interest to entrepreneurial students. These seven models include: self-funding/bootstrapping; friends, family, and colleagues; banks; accelerators; angel investors; peer-to-peer (P2P) lending; and crowdfunding. Each model is summarized and evaluated for their advantages and disadvantages. A discussion of relevant resources for each model is also provided.     

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).     

Showing results? An analysis of the perceptions of internal and external stakeholders of the public performance communication by the Belgian and Dutch Railways

Performance measurement and communicating about it with the broader public is not self-evident if one looks at public services organizations (Hernon, P., 1998. The government performance and results act. Government Information Quarterly, 15: 153–156). In Belgium and the Netherlands, one organization that has been under constant surveillance from its stakeholders is the railroad company. Originally a national public service, it has changed through a European directive to operate in a liberalized transportation market. In this paper, we present the results of a qualitative study into what the Belgian and Dutch railway companies measure about their performance towards travelers, how they measure it, and specifically how they communicate it to their employees and stakeholders. Although we might expect the Dutch railway company (NS) to be more transparent than the Belgian railway company (NMBS/SNCB), in reality the two organizations do not differ that much from each other.     

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.     

Who pays the piper? The political economy of freedom of information

If freedom of information is fundamental to contemporary democracy, why have democratic countries differed so markedly in their willingness to pass laws enshrining formal rights of access to government files? This article demonstrates that an analysis grounded in comparative political economy can provide a compelling answer to this question. Specifically, it demonstrates that the more highly coordinated a country's economy, the less transparent it is likely to be. Through a comparison of the United States and Germany, this article argues that in coordinated market economies, ongoing negotiations between the state and the peak representative bodies provide privileged access to information about the government, and indeed privileged channels of influence over government action. Public access to official files threatens this privileged access. In less coordinated economies, however, firms lack this privileged access; they are likely to favor access laws as a partial substitute, especially since such laws are more consistent with the highly fragmented and competitive environment in which they operate. By further comparing Sweden and the United Kingdom, it also demonstrates the limits of this explanation, suggesting that historical sequences and classic political variables should also be taken into account.     

Do altmetrics point to the broader impact of research? An overview of benefits and disadvantages of altmetrics

Today, it is not clear how the impact of research on other areas of society than science should be measured. While peer review and bibliometrics have become standard methods for measuring the impact of research in science, there is not yet an accepted framework within which to measure societal impact. Alternative metrics (called altmetrics to distinguish them from bibliometrics) are considered an interesting option for assessing the societal impact of research, as they offer new ways to measure (public) engagement with research output. Altmetrics is a term to describe web-based metrics for the impact of publications and other scholarly material by using data from social media platforms (e.g. Twitter or Mendeley). This overview of studies explores the potential of altmetrics for measuring societal impact. It deals with the definition and classification of altmetrics. Furthermore, their benefits and disadvantages for measuring impact are discussed.