Analyzing Food Science Research for Publishing Characteristics as a Model for Understanding the Needs of Researchers

Abstract

This paper provides a methodology to study the characteristics of the research output from a university department. The faculty publications and their cited references over a 10-year period were used as the basis for this study to identify their publishing patterns and the types of material they are publishing; a core set of journals and other resources they are publishing in and citing over this period; the characteristics of the journals in which they publish and cite; the degree of openness of their publications and their citation advantage; and the age of resources that are referenced.     

On the elephant in the room: toward a generative politics of place on race in academic discourse

Abstract

In our conceptual essay, we draw on an exchange between a White scholar and a group of panelists on Critical Race Theory at an international conference. Taking up this exchange as our point of departure, we work in dialectical and multidimensional ways between the essentialized politics of place on race and critical anti-essentializing foundations in recent Critical Race Feminism and Critical White Studies’ literatures. Working the dialectics and multidimensionality of the place that race makes in academic discourse, we recognize and ethically work through the essentialized politics of place in advancing anti-essentializing understandings of race. In articulating these anti-essentializing understandings, our conceptual essay drives at the notion of a generative politics of place on race in academic discourse. A generative politics of place holds essentialized realities and anti-essentializing foundations of race in dialectical and multidimensional tension for teaching, learning, and discussing race in local, national, and international contexts.     

Prejudices Unshelved: Variation in Attitudes toward Controversial Public Library Materials in the General Social Survey, 1972–2014

Using the General Social Survey from 1972–2014, we examine variation in attitudes toward retaining controversial materials in libraries. Previously controversial topics have become much more widely accepted. We find that other controversies remain, showing how global conflicts become intertwined in local cultural controversies, and how the perceived threat from particular groups informs public concern with disseminating information from those groups. We find that more frequent library users are somewhat less likely to want to remove controversial books from the shelves, although some of these relationships are explained by variation in the respondent’s age, race, and other characteristics.     

A qualitative critique of teacher labor market studies

Qualitative studies of the teacher labor market suggest that problems and remedies generated by quantitative research fail to capture the most dynamic variables which are affecting the supply and demand of public school teachers. For example, quantitative research has not accounted for (1) the continual exiting and reentering of urban teachers, (2) the considerable bifurcation between urban and rural teacher labor markets as reflected in teacher mobility and cultural economic opportunities, (3) local definitions of labor market needs and teacher quality, and (4) the demanding and stressful working conditions of teaching, which are having a systemic and adverse effect on the occupation.     

Community School Leadership Development in Papua New Guinea: perspectives for change

Community school personnel in Papua New Guinea are expected to undertake an increasingly complex leadership role in making education more relevant to the needs of the community, yet current administrative training does not acknowledge this leadership perspective. In the light of this changing role, the current model for the in‐service development of community school leaders in Papua New Guinea appears limited theoretically. This is because existing programmes are inadequate epistemologically and do not fully equip community school leaders with the knowledge required to cope with educational change. Existing programmes are based on a technical rationality which serves bureaucratic purposes rather than contributing to teacher empowerment and organisational reward. A new approach is required which recognises the increasing complexities of community school leadership and which links leadership training with the process of professional development.