Personal Growth of New Fathers following Assisted Reproductive Technology or Spontaneous Pregnancy

Objective: The study aimed at comparing personal growth between fathers whose infants were conceived with the aid of assisted reproductive technology (ART) and those whose infants were conceived spontaneously and to examine associations with personal resources. Design: We examined associations between personal growth on the one hand and optimism, positive and negative emotions, and parenting stress on the other, among fathers whose infants were conceived with the aid of ART and those whose infants were conceived spontaneously. One hundred and seventy-two Israeli first-time fathers (76 following ART and 96 following spontaneous pregnancies) whose infants were 5–18 months old completed a series of self-report questionnaires. Results: No difference was found in personal growth between the two research groups. For all men, lower economic status, older age of the child, higher optimism, higher positive and negative emotions, and parenting stress were all associated with greater growth. Conclusions: Although a certain level of stress and negative affect is a prerequisite for personal growth, it is made possible by positive resources, such as optimism and positive emotions. In addition, the manner in which the pregnancy was achieved appears to have no long-term consequences for men’s experience of personal growth in the transition to fatherhood. Professionals should relate to the present needs and emotional states of new fathers rather than their fertility history.     

Where and how early career researchers find scholarly information

This article presents findings from the first year of the Harbingers research project started in 2015. The project is a 3‐year longitudinal study of early career researchers (ECRs) to ascertain their current and changing habits with regard to information searching, use, sharing, and publication. The study recruited 116 researchers from seven countries (UK, USA, China, France, Malaysia, Poland, and Spain) and performed in‐depth interviews by telephone, Skype, or face‐to‐face to discover behaviours and opinions. This paper reports on findings regarding discovery and access to scholarly information. Findings confirm the universal popularity of Google/Google Scholar. Library platforms and web‐scale discovery services are largely unmentioned and unnoticed by this user community, although many ECRs pass through them unknowingly on the way to authenticated use of their other preferred sources, such as Web of Science. ECRs are conscious of the benefits of open access in delivering free access to papers. Social media are widely used as a source of discovering scholarly information. ResearchGate is popular and on the rise in all countries surveyed. Smartphones have become a regularly used platform on which to perform quick and occasional searches for scholarly information but are only rarely used for reading full text.     

Early career researchers and their publishing and authorship practices

This study presents findings from the first year of the Harbingers research project, a 3‐year longitudinal study of early career researchers (ECRs), which sought to ascertain current and changing habits in scholarly communication. The study recruited 116 science and social science ECRs from seven countries who were subject to in‐depth interviews, and this paper reports on findings regarding publishing and authorship practices and attitudes. A major objective was to determine whether ECRs are taking the myriad opportunities proffered by new digital innovations, developing within the context of open science, open access, and social media, to publish their research. The main finding is that these opportunities are generally not taken because ECRs are constrained by convention and the precarious employment environment they inhabit and know what is best for them, which is to publish (in high impact factor journals) or perish.     

The images of scientists and science among Hebrew- and Arabic-speaking pre-service teachers in Israel

This study investigated the image of scientists held by Israeli pre-service teachers, the majority of whom were female. The population consisted of students belonging to two cultures, Hebrew-speaking and Arabic-speaking. The DAST ('Draw-a-Scientist-Test') tool and other tools, some of which were developed specifically for this research, tested the image of the scientist as perceived by the participants. It was found that the image of the scientist is perceived as predominantly male, a physicist or a chemist, working in a laboratory typical of the eighteenth, nineteenth or the early-twentieth century. Students did not differentiate between scientists and inventors. Different images were held in the two cultures. Most of the Arabic-speaking students put Classical Islamic scientists near the top of their lists and thought of the scientist as an Arab male, while the Hebrew-speaking students' was as a typical Western male. Recommendations, resulting from the findings, for developing a new learning unit for the purpose of altering stereotypes are suggested.     

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.     

New ways of building,showcasing, and measuring scholarly reputation

The article reports on a study of the views and actions of nearly a hundred scholars – mostly academic researchers from four European countries and four disciplines – in regard to scholarly reputation in the Science 2.0 age. It specifically looks at the role that 'emerging reputational mechanisms and platforms are playing in building, maintaining, and showcasing scholarly reputation in the digital age. Popular examples of such platforms are ResearchGate and Academia.edu . Data were obtained through one‐to‐one interviews and focus groups, supported by desk research. The main findings were: (a) it is early days and uptake is light and patchy with platforms largely used for non‐reputational purposes, such as sharing documents; (b) most users were passive and did not fully engage with the social aspects of the platforms; (c) the reputational focus was very much on just one scholarly activity (research), on just two outputs of that activity (publications and conferences) and one measurement of that activity (citations), but there are the stirrings of change; (d) young researchers are set to profit most from the emerging platforms.     

The relations of early phonological awareness,rapid‐naming and speed of processing with the development of spelling and reading: a longitudinal examination

Phonological awareness has been found to be strongly related to spelling. Findings on the relations between rapid‐naming and spelling are less consistent and have been suggested to be shared with speed of processing. This study set out to examine these relations in spelling and reading of Hebrew. Children attending the regular educational system were followed longitudinally (N = 70): phonological awareness, rapid‐naming and speed of processing were tested in kindergarten and in grade 1, and spelling and reading were tested in grade 2. Kindergarten and grade 1 rapid‐naming predicted spelling and word reading, and grade 1 phonological awareness predicted spelling, word reading and decoding. Speed of processing was an insignificant predictor. The findings extend the role of phonological awareness in spelling to an orthography with partial phonological representations and concurrently suggest weak relations. The results further suggest a link between rapid‐naming and orthographic knowledge, which may not be explained by shared variance with speed of processing.     

Similar Frameworks of Action-at-a-Distance: Early Scientists' and Pupils' Ideas

Pupils' concepts regarding various types of action-at-a-distance were studied. It was found that often these perceptions related to an underlying framework of presumptions: Earth is unique, a conducting medium is needed, support is needed. These misconceptions have their analogies in the history of science; pupils' difficulties reflect those encountered by earlier scientists. These analogies, which are characterized by using concrete realizations for abstract physical concepts, are relevant to the educational researcher, the science teacher and the pupil.     

The changed – and changing – landscape of serials publishing: Review of the literature on emerging models

This article presents an up‐to‐date portrayal of the greatly changed landscape of scholarly journal publishing and identifies the emerging trends characterizing it. We consider the attributes, novelty, and disruptive potential of different models, which range from improvements to the extant model to attempts at reconfiguration and transformation. We propose that journal transition can be seen as falling into three categories. The first is enhanced models of the traditional scholarly journal, which typically afford enriched functionality that breaks the bonds of the printed page whilst otherwise remaining wholly traditional in their offerings. The second category is innovative models of the traditional scholarly journal, which aim at supporting the journal in performing its traditional roles through convention‐altering ways. The third category is the possible alternatives to the traditional journal, which represent a move towards alternative modes of knowledge dissemination. This review shows that each of the models identified makes contributions to enriching the reporting and showcasing of scholarly output. They also make it more effective and more efficient. However, we conclude that none of the possible alternatives being discussed can serve as a full‐fledged alternative to the journal.     

The impact of the pandemic on early career researchers' work-life and scholarly communications: A quantitative aerial analysis

After two-years of repeat interviewing early career sciences/social sciences researchers from around the world about their work life and scholarly communications in pandemic-times, the Harbingers-2 project is in a position to release quantitative data on the pandemic's overall impact. The data comes from around 50 questions asked in the third and final round of interviews with 147 early career researchers (ECRs), which had a codifiable element to them (such as yes, no, do not know). The 19 scholarly topics covered include: pandemic-related research; research funding; changes to the workplace/working from home; pandemic-incurred stress and anxiety; teaching; employment security; career progression; mentoring; assessment (including metrics); collaboration; searching/finding information; ethics; networking; informal communication; publishing; sharing; pre-prints; outreach; and scholarly transformations. The main findings are that in six broad aspects of ECRs' work-life and scholarly behaviour, more than 50% of ECRs were impacted by the pandemic, with remote teaching having the greatest impact. By way of comparison, in another six aspects there was little change, least of all when it came to sharing activities. Among the countries studied, Malaysia stood out as being the most impacted, and of the disciplines it was the medical sciences and the soft social sciences most impacted.