Scientists’ genders and international academic collaboration: An empirical study of Chinese universities and research institutes

In the previous literature, no clear conclusions have been reached about the effect of gender differences on research performance (RP) in science, as measured by publication productivity, number of citations, and academic awards. Meanwhile, a gap also exists in the research regarding gender differences in international academic collaboration. To complement the existing literature, this study investigated the achievements of scientists engaged in international academic collaboration, which places heavy demands on language and communication skills and in which female scientists appear to have more advantages than male scientists. We investigated the effect of international collaboration carried out by chemists from China’s Project 985 universities and the Chinese Academy of Sciences and compared the extent to which the international collaboration improved female and male scientists’ academic performance. The results indicated that, compared to male scientists, female scientists performed better and significantly improved their academic performance through international collaboration. This conclusion was valid for different periods throughout chemists’ academic careers. The policy implications are discussed at the end of this study.     

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.     

Academic mentorship: an effective professional development strategy for medical reference librarians

Academic mentorship is a professional development strategy that enables fledgling professionals to take advantage of the skills and expertise of the senior members for professional growth. Although widely practiced in many other professions, academic mentorship has not been widely reported in medical librarianship. Drawing upon personal experience, the author reports the success story of an academic mentorship program implemented in an academic medical library and argues for academic mentorship to be widely adopted in academic medical libraries. This paper first reviews the literature on the concept of mentoring in an academic setting, and then describes the background, rationale, methods, and results of the mentorship programs the author has experienced. Lastly, based upon an analysis of several surveys and studies on coping skills for quality job performance of health sciences reference librarians, the paper discusses mentorship as one effective means to ease a new medical reference librarian's transition from his/her pre-service experience to the professional world of medical librarianship. It calls on other health sciences librarians to consider developing their own mentorship programs to promote their professional development and personal growth.     

我国科研人员自存储态度调查－以中国科学院科研人员为例

以对中国科学技术大学和中国科学院部分科研人员的访谈和问卷调查为基础,调查我国科研人员对自存储的态度及意愿,从自存储资源的学术质量、版权、政策或组织方面、技术方面出发分析影响科研人员参与自存储的因素,并建议政府、科研机构建立宣传与教育政策机制、管理政策机制、强制政策机制和技术政策机制,建立OA仓储,引导科研人员自存储。     

中国科学院学术会议文献开放出版研究

本文分析了学术会议文献开放出版的优势,结合中国科学院科学数据、学位论文、科技成果、ARP、科技期刊开放出版等数字资源的相关研究,提出了建立中国科学院学术会议文献开放出版系统的设想,借鉴开放期刊的运行模式,以CC协议方式实现系统资源的版权保护,完善中国科学院的数字资源体系。     

Introducing recalibrated academic performance indicators in the evaluation of individuals’ research performance: A case study from Eastern Europe

In Hungary, the highest and most prestigious scientific qualification is considered to be the Doctor of Science (DSc) title being awarded by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The academic performance indicators of the DSc title are of high importance in the evaluation of individuals’ research performance not only when a researcher applies for obtaining a DSc title, but also during promotions and appointments at universities, and in the case of the evaluation of applications for scientific titles and degrees, and the assessment of applications for funding. In the Section of Earth Sciences encompassing nine related disciplines, rather than carrying out a straightforward bibliometric analysis, the performance indicators were designed as a result of a consensual agreement between leading academicians, each of whom represented a particular discipline. Therefore, the minimum values of the indicators, required to be fulfilled if one is applying for a DSc title, do not adequately reflect the actual discipline-specific performance of researchers. This problem may generate tension between researchers during the evaluation process. The main goal of this paper is to recalibrate the minimum values of four major performance indicators by taking the actual discipline-specific distance ratios into account. In addition, each minimum value will be defined by employing integer and fractional counting methods as well. The research outcome of this study can provide impetus for the Section of Earth Sciences (and eventually other sections of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences) to optimize the minimum values of the DSc title performance indicators by taking the specifics of each discipline into account. Because academic performance indicators are also employed in other Eastern European countries in the evaluation of individuals’ research performance, the methods used in that paper can be placed into a wider geographical context.     

Does “birds of a feather flock together” matter—Evidence from a longitudinal study on US–China scientific collaboration

China's status as a scientific power, particularly in the emerging area of nanotechnology, has become widely accepted in the global scientific community. The role of knowledge spillover in China's nanotechnology development is generally assumed, albeit without much convincing evidence. Very little has been investigated on the different mechanisms of knowledge spillover. Utilizing both cross-sectional data and longitudinal data of 77 Chinese nanoscientists’ publications, this study aims to differentiate individual effects from the effect of international collaboration on the research performance of Chinese researchers. The study finds evidence in support of the “birds of a feather flock together” argument – that China's best scientists collaborate at international level. It also finds that collaboration across national boundaries has a consistently positive effect on China's nano research quality with a time-decaying pattern. Language turns out to be the most influential factor impacting the quality or visibility of Chinese nano research. Policy implications on research evaluation, human capital management, and public research and development allocation are also discussed in the end.     

科技会议文献开放获取资源库研究

在论述文献资源开放获取现状的基础上，分析科技会议文献的特点、国家对 开放获取的政策支持、开放获取的版权问题、国家科技基础条件平台的建设内容以及开 放获取资源库的建设步骤，提出建立中国科技会议文献开放获取资源库的构想，并从中 国科学院现有的优势、开放获取机构政策、软件系统、资源质量、资源收集渠道和管理 方式等方面具体探讨率先建立中国科学院科技会议文献资源库并最终纳入国家科技基础 条件平台的可行性。     

Research complexity increases with scientists’ academic age: Evidence from library and information science

With the continued aging of the scientific workforce, the impact of this trend on scientists’ research performance has attracted increasing attention. The literature has predominantly focused on the productivity, impact, and collaboration pattern of scientists of different ages. A research gap is found in investigating the differences in the research topics studied by junior and senior scientists. This study focuses on the complexity of a scientist's research portfolio (RPC). Based on the concept of economic complexity, RPC was measured to characterize the capability of scientists to study complex research topics. An economic algorithm was adopted to estimate RPC on heterogeneous author-topic bipartite networks using bibliographic data from the field of Library and Information Science between 1971 and 2020. Through comparisons among scientist groups, RPC shows promise in distinguishing outstanding scientists from peers who have similar values of other indicators (e.g., citations and H-index). The change in RPC was further probed across scientists’ careers and an increasing trend with academic age was found, even after removing the accumulated advantages of senior scientists. Moreover, top-ranked scientists distinguish themselves from their peers by a higher RPC in the first year and a greater growth rate during their careers. While many researchers have their highest RPC in the first year, most top-ranked scientists reach their peak RPC later in their careers. The results provide helpful references for studies on the aging effect in academia.     

The representation and professional success of scientific diasporas of the Pushchino Scientific Center abroad

This paper analysis the composition and success of scientific diasporas from three research institutes of the Pushchino Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences that were formed as a result of the outflow of personnel in the 1990–2014 period. It is shown that the current cooperation of our scientists with representatives of scientific diasporas abroad is very weak. In this regard, it is noted that it is necessary to monitor scientific diasporas at the local level, which will help in establishing bilateral scientific relations. It is assumed that this monitoring can be offered to scientific and academic libraries as a new functions.     

图书馆学情报学博士学位论文研究方法调查分析——以中国科学院国家科学图书馆为例

对中国科学院国家科学图书馆2000-2009年的图书馆学情报学博士学位论文进行调查,研究分析图书馆学情报学博士学位论文在研究方法上的使用情况、共性特征及存在问题。发现其中调查、实验等常规研究方法占据主导地位,研究方法突出实践性与实证性,并兼具社会科学与自然科学特征,还反映了学术共同体的研究范式。当然也存在研究方法层次界定不清、思维和基础方法与博士学位论文研究方法相混淆等问题。     

杰出科学家学术谱系的指标构建与实证研究——以学者马费成为例

[目的/意义] 学术谱系是科学家成长的摇篮,可以反映学科的形成与发展过程。研究以科学家学术谱系为研究对象,运用计量学方法,建立评价学术谱系的计量指标,并建构学术谱系树模型。[方法/过程] 提出评价科学家学术谱系的计量指标,包括学术谱系的繁衍能力、学术谱系的影响力和学缘关系;在实证方面,以武汉大学马费成教授的学术谱系为例,从3个维度对其学术谱系进行评价。[结果/结论] 研究结果表明,利用研究构建的学术谱系评价指标,可以对科学家的学术谱系进行量化分析,从而揭示学科的繁衍与发展。学术谱系树模型的建立能够更好地对学术谱系的计量指标进行解释与可视化呈现。     

我国科研人员对科技信息开放获取的态度————以中国科学院科研人员为例

文章以对中国科学院部分科研人员的访谈和问卷调查为基础,调查我国科研人员对科技信息开放获取的态度及意愿,并从开放获取资源、科研机构和科研人员自身特点等角度分析了科研人员参与科技信息开放获取的影响因素,建议政府、科研机构和科研资助机构要积极扶持开放获取期刊的发展,将开放获取期刊纳入科研评价体系之中,支持学术论文的自存储。     

新型机构信息环境的建设思路及框架*

研究分析了当前国内外机构信息环境发展的趋势，调研了国内主要研究机构的信息需求，总结了国内主要研究机构进行高效率科学研究时需要提高的5种信息能力，提出数字图书馆的建设需要为研究机构创建一个集成连贯的机构信息环境。主要论述了机构信息环境的建设思路，提出机构信息环境建设的框架结构，并对可能用于这一框架结构中的软件系统做了选择和分析。     

The role of patenting activity for scientific research: A study of academic inventors from China's nanotechnology

Scientists from universities are becoming more proactive in their efforts to commercialize research results. Patenting, as an important channel of university knowledge transfer, has initiated a controversy on potential effects for the future of scientific research. This paper contributes to the growing study on the relationship between patenting and publishing among faculty members with China's evidence in the field of nanotechnology. Data from top 32 most prolific universities in patenting are used to examine the relationship, consisting of 6321 confirmed academic inventors who both publish and patent over the time period 1991–2008. By controlling for heterogeneity of patenting activities, patenting experience, institutional affiliation and collaboration with foreign researchers, the findings in China's nanotechnology generally support earlier investigations concluding that patenting activity does not adversely affect research output. Patenting, however, has negative impacts on both quantity and quality of university researchers’ publication output, when the assignee lists include corporations or scientists themselves.     

中国科学院联合机构知识库的建设与推广

随着科研成果传播方式的改变,机构知识库在学术界越来越受关注。在这样的背景下,中国科学院国家科学图书馆提出中科院联合机构知识库建设,旨在实现研究所自有知识资产的有效存储和利用,促进研究人员的学术交流和知识共享,扩大研究所科研成果的传播,提高科研管理和知识服务的水平,同时加速研究所信息服务创新发展。     

Rethinking the effect of inter-gender collaboration on research performance for scholars

As scientific collaboration has become more common with increased representation of female scholars, the effects of inter-gender collaboration have attracted more attention. However, scholars have not reached a consensus on the relationship between inter-gender collaboration and research performance. Empirical evidence at the scholar level has also been rare. Therefore, based on the ratio of the opposite sex in collaboration partners, this study reveals the influence of participating in inter-gender collaborations on research performance for scholars. Grouped regression was employed to test gender differences in this effect. The effect of partners’ academic levels was also investigated to account for potential gender differences. The results indicated that inter-gender collaboration had a positive effect on research performance for scholars. Grouped regressions also showed that collaborating with more inter-gender partners exerted a significantly negative effect on the research performance of female scholars, while it had a positive effect for male scholars. The negative effect on female scholars were found to be strengthened if the partners were at a high academic level. This study is helpful to understand inter-gender collaboration in depth, and further reveals the gender differences in scientific collaboration.     

中国医学科学院图书馆书评工作的成效与展望

R058介绍了中国医学科学院图书馆书评工作的内容及所取得的成效,如扩展了书评合作区域的范围、拓宽了书评图书所涉及的医学领域、体现了书评在科研和教学中的学术价值、采取了多样的书评传播方式等,展望了书评工作未来的发展方向。     

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.