Transparency of research policy and the role of librarians

Abstract

The current study examines the impact of a research agency on researchers’ behaviour in the context of science policy and the decision to use an existing Library Union catalogue system – Co-operative Online Bibliographic System and Services – as the basis for a research data evaluation. Central and Eastern Europe countries, new European Union member states, represent an ideal laboratory to study the evolution of research organisation since changes are more rapid and profound than in Western European countries. That is why the effects of implementing the transparency of research results on a national level, in Slovenia, are presented through a case study of the Slovenian Research Agency. Thomson Scientific Web of Science citation databases have been used as a starting point for conducting publication analyses after the introduction of new Slovenian Current Research Information System. The findings suggest that transparency, if required by the research funding organisation per se, offers a change and can steer the growth of publications containing research results, as researchers generally see transparency as a positive element which promotes their work. It is also an important promotion of the work done by librarians in research and academic libraries, as they are responsible for the data. This is in line with the suggestion that library and information professionals should seize the opportunity to have an influence on government policy making in providing bibliometric expertise regarding research evaluation (Oppenheim, 2008).