Network analysis of temporal trends in scholarly research productivity

We propose a method to identify the journals or proceedings that are most highly esteemed by a research group over some time frame. Using open publication databases, we identify the experts in the community, and analyse their publication pattern, and then use this as a guideline for evaluating scientific outputs of other groups of researchers publishing in the same domain. To illustrate the practicality of our method, we analyse the scientific output of Korean researchers in the security subject domain from 2004 to 2009, and comparing this groups’ output with that of well-known researchers. Our empirical analysis demonstrates that there is a persistent gap between these two research groups’ publications impact over this period, although the absolute number of journal publications greatly increased over recent years.     

An exploratory study contrasting high- and low-achieving students' percent word problem solving

This study evaluated whether schema-based instruction (SBI), a promising method for teaching students to represent and solve mathematical word problems, impacted the learning of percent word problems. Of particular interest was the extent that SBI improved high- and low-achieving students' learning and to a lesser degree on the indirect effect of SBI on transfer to novel problems, as compared to a business as usual control condition. Seventy 7th grade students in four classrooms (one high- and one low-achieving class in both the SBI and control conditions) participated in the study. Results indicate a significant treatment by achievement level interaction, such that SBI had a greater impact on high-achieving students' problem solving scores. However, findings did not support transfer effects of SBI for high-achieving students. Implications for improving the problem-solving performance of low achievers are discussed.     

Child maltreatment in the "children of the nineties": a cohort study of risk factors

AIM: To analyze the multiple factors affecting the risk of maltreatment in young children within a comprehensive theoretical framework. METHODS: The research is based on a large UK cohort study, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Out of 14,256 children participating in the study, 293 were investigated by social services for suspected maltreatment and 115 were placed on local child protection registers prior to their 6th birthday. Data on the children have been obtained from obstetric data and from a series of parental questionnaires administered during pregnancy and the first 3 years of life. Risk factors have been analyzed using an hierarchical approach to logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: In the stepwise hierarchical analysis, young parents, those with low educational achievement, and those with a past psychiatric history or a history of childhood abuse were all more likely to be investigated for maltreatment, or to have a child placed on the child protection register, with odds ratios between 1.86 and 4.96 for registration. Examining strength of effect, the highest risks were found with indicators of deprivation (3.24 for investigation and 11.02 for registration, after adjusting for parental background factors). Poor social networks increased the risk of both investigation (adjusted OR 1.93) and registration (adjusted OR 1.90). Maternal employment seemed to reduce the risk of both outcomes but adjusted odds ratios were no longer significant for registration. After adjusting for higher order confounders, single parents and reordered families were both at higher risk of registration. Reported domestic violence increased the risk of investigation and registration but this was no longer significant after adjusting for higher order variables. Low birthweight children were at higher risk of registration as were those whose parents reported few positive attributes of their babies. CONCLUSIONS: This study supports previous research in the field demonstrating that a wide range of factors in the parental background, socio-economic and family environments affect the risk of child maltreatment. By combining factors within a comprehensive ecological framework, we have demonstrated that the strongest risks are from socio-economic deprivation and from factors in the parents' own background and that parental background factors are largely, but not entirely, mediated through their impact on socio-economic factors.     

Native language predictors of foreign language proficiency and foreign language aptitude

Fifty-four students were tested at specific time intervals over 10 years to determine best native language (NL) predictors of oral and written foreign language (FL) proficiency and FL aptitude. All participants completed two years of Spanish, French, or German. Each was administered measures of NL literacy, oral language, and cognitive ability in elementary school. A measure of FL aptitude was administered at the beginning of ninth grade and FL proficiency was evaluated at the end of the 10th grade. Among the variables, NL literacy measures were the best predictors of FL proficiency, and NL achievement and general (verbal) intelligence were strong predictors of FL aptitude. Results suggest that indices of NL literacy as early as first grade are related to FL proficiency and FL aptitude nine and 10 years later. Findings provide strong support for connections between L1 and L2 skills, and for speculation that “lower level” skills in phonological processing are important for written language development and oral proficiency in a FL.     

Plan S and purpose: The future direction for UK learned societies

• A group of UK-based learned societies were anonymously interviewed to understand how trends are affecting their missions, strategies, and operations.
• The societies' missions focus on supporting academics and disseminating knowledge, with publishing being a means to achieve those goals rather than an end in itself.
• The responses were concerned about addressing open access (OA) but, particularly in the post-COVID-19 era, this was not necessarily their highest priority.
• The societies expressed reliance on larger corporate publishers on them to navigate the transition to OA publishing.
• The societies' focus is on evolving their missions to meet the changing needs of their academic communities, with issues around premises as a result of COVID-19 being more pressing than publishing industry changes.
• The societies face challenges in adapting to the shift to online and digital operations, particularly in regards to maintaining engagement with their members.