Digital Publishing Research Articles

Revisiting the hermeneutic project of the fragment in its exigency for a digital paradigm of publication

A century ago, Walter Benjamin defined the mode of production of scholarly books as “an outdated mediation between two different filing systems”—the card index of the researcher who wrote it and that of the scholar studying it. The discursive mediation of the codex, in his opinion, no longer created any significant value, “for everything that matters” can be found in the author’s research archive. I explore the implications of this statement through the practices of the fragment in modernity, among which the research archives and notebooks of Benjamin, Giacomo Leopardi, Paul Valéry, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Joseph Joubert, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Friedrich Schlegel, and Novalis, and suggest that the hermeneutic project of the fragment genre could constructively inform recent initiatives towards processual, slow, and reproducible scholarship, as well as the design of digital editing and authoring workspaces. I juxtapose the compositional processes and editorial challenges of the selected fragment collections and explore their exigency for a digital publication platform that would empower their ethical epistemology, activate their relational networks, articulate their processual form, and support their aspiration towards collaborative knowledge-making. I propose that the design of such digital workspace should not only afford access to the contents of these intellectual projects but also enable the performative engagement with their methodology. The dialectical reception between the epistemic practices of the fragment genre and the theoretical visions for the future of the academic book holds promise for engendering multimodal, process-oriented, performative, and collaborative scholarly discourse.

The impact of Ad overloads perception in social media on Ad avoidance behavior: the mediating effect of social media fatigue and goal impediment

Consumers increasingly employ ad-blocking tools and exhibit resistance to traditional marketing tactics, causing significant losses for digital publishers. This study examines the effects of ad clutter and ad intrusiveness on advertising avoidance behavior among social media users, emphasizing the mediating roles of perceived goal impediment and social media fatigue. Utilizing reactance theory and cognitive load theory, the research reveals that ad clutter negatively impacts user attention and recall, contributing to heightened ad avoidance. A survey of 358 social media users indicates that both ad clutter and intrusiveness significantly influence users’ perceptions of goal impediment and social media fatigue, which in turn affect their likelihood to avoid ads. The findings enhance the understanding of how excessive and intrusive advertising diminishes user engagement and satisfaction on social media platforms, providing actionable insights for marketers aiming to optimize their advertising strategies in increasingly cluttered digital environments.

Facilitator factors to develop a healthy ageing Social Prescribing local system in Portugal—A qualitative case study

Social Prescribing (SP) is an approach which aims of improving health and well-being and connecting patients to community services. Examples of these services include physical activity and cultural activities. Despite its benefits, SP has still not been fully implemented in Portugal. This case study is part of a larger study on Social Prescribing Local System (SPLS) implementation, which comprised a quantitative approach, a pilot study and a qualitative approach, and aims at exploring patients’ and healthcare workers’ perspectives on SP. The study was carried out to understand the motivations of different stakeholders for participating in the pilot project, the anticipated benefits for patients, healthcare professionals, and the health unit, as well as their perceptions and experiences within the scope of the SP project. Data collection was carried out in December 2020 through semi-structured individual interviews and a focus group. A total of seven participants were included, of which one patient, one museum representative and five healthcare professionals. Different common dimensions related to SP emerge, including health and well-being, social interaction and community engagement, accessibility and inclusivity, motivation and adherence, collaboration and coordination, and education and awareness. The patient considered the adequacy of the activity to the patient’s state of health and capabilities, adoption of a phased approach, with a focus on progress, in order to promote long-term adherence as facilitators. For the museum, disseminating its activities to healthcare professionals and patients through different channels such as posters at the health center, social media pages, and training sessions can significantly enhance visibility and engagement, while direct phone contact and digital publications can further promote adherence, ensuring a comprehensive and coordinated approach to patient participation and institutional benefit. Healthcare professionals identified several benefits, including reduction of social isolation and sedentarism, as well as a means of strengthening the therapeutic relationship with patients. The design and implementation of SP programs should be participative and involve all stakeholders participating in the process. Barriers to adherence included time for activity and the associated costs or prerequisites, availability of activities and lack of perceived interest in health.

Digital Publisher University Innovation for Higher Education Publishers in the Era of Media Disruption in Indonesia

Digital Publisher University Innovation for Higher Education Publishers in the Era of Media Disruption in Indonesia

Introduction

The Asylum architecture–design–research journal remains committed to publishing high-quality, blind peer-reviewed academic work that reflects our sustained critical interest in the contemporary issues of our profession, and the challenges they pose to individuals and society in a global context. In partnership with Unitec’s digital publishing platform, ePress, we ensure immediate open access to our content. Together, we make Asylum available to read and download for free, fostering a global exchange of knowledge, supporting emerging and established scholars, and providing a valuable avenue for scholarly dissemination.

Comparison of journal and top publisher self-citation rates in COVID-19 research.

Journal self-citation contributes to the overall citation count of a journal and to some metrics like the impact factor. However, little is known about the extent of journal self-citations in COVID-19 research. This study aimed to determine the journal self-citations in COVID-19 research and to compare them according to the type of publication and publisher. Data in COVID-19 research extracted from the Web of Science Core Collection 2020-2023 was collected and further analyzed with InCites. The journals with the highest self-citation rates and self-citation per publication were identified. Statistical comparisons were made according to the type of publication and publishers, as well as with other major infectious diseases. The median self-citation rate was 4.0% (IQR 0-11.7%), and the median journal self-citation rate was 5.9% (IQR 0-12.5%). 1,859 journals (13% of total coverage) had self-citation rates at or above 20%, meaning that more than one in five references are journal self-citations. There was a positive and statistically significant correlation of self-citations with the other indicators, including number of publications, citations, and self-citations per publication (p<0.001). Editorial materials contributed more to journal SC with a median self-citation rate of 5%, which was statistically higher than other documents such as articles, letters or reviews (p<0.001). Among the top twelve publishers, the Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute had a median self-citation rate of 8.33% and was statistically higher than the rest (p<0.001). Self-citation rates for COVID-19 were lower than tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, but self-citations per publication of these diseases were statistically lower than those for COVID-19 (p<0.001). Some journals from the Web of Science Core Collection displayed exorbitant journal self-citation patterns during the period 2020-2023. Approximately, one in every five paper references in COVID-19 is a journal self-citation. Types of publication such as editorials engage in this practice more frequently than others, suggesting that in COVID-19 research, self-citing non-citable items could potentially contribute to inflate journal impact factors during the pandemic.

Prospects of digital scientific publishing on blockchain: The concept of DAP

Background Traditional publishing models, open access and major publishers, cannot adequately address the key challenges of academic publishing today: Speed of peer review, recognition of work and incentive mechanisms, transparency and thrust of the system. Methods To address these challenges, the authors propose Democratisation of Academic Publishing (DAP) platform, which is based on the novel HashNET DLT platform. The DAP introduces several innovative components: tracking the activities of all participants in the peer review process using blockchain and smart contracts, the introduction of the Scholarly Wallet for holding reputation (non-fungible) and reward (fungible) tokens, the use of the Scholarly Wallet as the main interface to the DAP platform, the Virtual Editor that enables automatic discovery of the research area and invitation of reviewers, and finally the global database of evaluated reviewers, ranked by the quality of their previous work. Results The DAP platform is in the development phase, with the design and functionalities of all modules defined. An exception is the central component of DAP, the Scholarly Wallet module, whose first prototype has already been created, tested and published. The implementation of DAP is planned for the next phase of the HorizonEurope TruBlo project and other research initiatives. The DAP platform will be connected to the publishing ecosystem: 1) as a backend system (distributed blockchain database) for existing publishing platforms and 2) as a standalone publishing platform with its own API interface. Conclusions The authors believe that DAP has the potential to significantly improve academic peer review and knowledge dissemination. It is expected that the use of blockchain technology, the fast HashNET consensus platform and tokens for reward (fungible) and reputation/ranking (non-fungible) will lead to a more efficient and transparent way of rewarding all participants in the peer review process and ultimately advance scientific research.

The Sixth Mass Extinction and Amphibian Species Sustainability Through Reproduction and Advanced Biotechnologies, Biobanking of Germplasm and Somatic Cells, and Conservation Breeding Programs (RBCs).

Primary themes in intergenerational justice are a healthy environment, the perpetuation of Earth's biodiversity, and the sustainable management of the biosphere. However, the current rate of species declines globally, ecosystem collapses driven by accelerating and catastrophic global heating, and a plethora of other threats preclude the ability of habitat protection alone to prevent a cascade of amphibian and other species mass extinctions. Reproduction and advanced biotechnologies, biobanking of germplasm and somatic cells, and conservation breeding programs (RBCs) offer a transformative change in biodiversity management. This change can economically and reliably perpetuate species irrespective of environmental targets and extend to satisfy humanity's future needs as the biosphere expands into space. Currently applied RBCs include the hormonal stimulation of reproduction, the collection and refrigerated storage of sperm and oocytes, sperm cryopreservation, in vitro fertilization, and biobanking of germplasm and somatic cells. The benefits of advanced biotechnologies in development, such as assisted evolution and cloning for species adaptation or restoration, have yet to be fully realized. We broaden our discussion to include genetic management, political and cultural engagement, and future applications, including the extension of the biosphere through humanity's interplanetary and interstellar colonization. The development and application of RBCs raise intriguing ethical, theological, and philosophical issues. We address these themes with amphibian models to introduce the Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Special Issue, The Sixth Mass Extinction and Species Sustainability through Reproduction Biotechnologies, Biobanking, and Conservation Breeding Programs.

Hybrid recommender system model for digital library from multiple online publishers.

The demand for online education promotion platforms has increased. In addition, the digital library system is one of the many systems that support teaching and learning. However, most digital library systems store books in the form of libraries that were developed or purchased exclusively by the library, without connecting data with different agencies in the same system. A hybrid recommender system model for digital libraries, developed from multiple online publishers, has created a prototype digital library system that connects various important knowledge sources from multiple digital libraries and online publishers to create an index and recommend e-books. The developed system utilizes an API-based linking process to connect various important sources of knowledge from multiple data sources such as e-books on education from educational institutions, e-books from government agencies, and e-books from religious organizations are stored separately. Then, a hybrid recommender system suitable for users was developed using Collaborative Filtering (CF) model together with Content-Based Filtering. This research proposed the hybrid recommender system model, which took into account the factors of book category, reading habits of users, and sources of information. The evaluation of the experiments involved soliciting feedback from system users and comparing the results with conventional recommendation methods. A comparison of NDCG scores, and Precision scores were conducted for Hybrid Score 50:50, Hybrid Score 20:80, Hybrid Score 80:20, CF-score and CB-score. The experimental result was found that the Hybrid Score 80:20 method had the highest average NDCG score. Using a hybrid recommender system model that combines 80% Collaborative Filtering, and 20% Content-Based Filtering can improve the recommender method, leading to better referral efficiency and greater overall efficiency compared to traditional approaches.

From Manuscripts to Machines: The Evolution of Book Publishing Devices

The paper discusses the publishing devices of the book throughout their transformational journey, starting from ancient manuscripts up to modern printing technologies. The study examines early printing techniques-from the laborious process of handwritten manuscripts through woodblock printing and movable type by personalities such as Bi Sheng and Johannes Gutenberg, respectively. With the invention of lithography and offset printing, mass production of books became customary in the 18th and 19th centuries and made books more publicly available. It further examines the effects of digital printing and electronic publishing in this century, which have redefined the production, distribution, and consumption of written material. It looks at the technological developments of these and how each of them has helped democratize knowledge and increased literacy rates globally.

The post-digital literary journal: Media and funding implications

Literary journals are post-digital publications where digital and print media blend and shape one another. They play an important role in Australian literary culture but rely on funding to survive. Recent discourse about funding Australian literary journals has been characterised by debates about publication media – print and digital. With the upcoming establishment of a new body for writing in Australia, ‘Writers Australia’, this study examines literary journals’ relationships with these media, how editors’ use of these media affects the operations and economics of their publications and the field as a whole. The study finds that federal project funding is unsuited to the type of work that literary journals do, as well as evidence of an increasingly entrenched two-tier field, where journals with operational backing from institutions like universities are more competitive than their smaller, unsupported counterparts in obtaining existing funding. While digital publication has many advantages for literary journals, skill shortages in digital publishing, marketing and data analysis limit the scope of some journals to demonstrate their reach and effectiveness. This study finds that print publication remains important, particularly for writers, and that the community-building capacity of literary journals is a highly significant contribution which, while not evidenced on the page or screen, should be given weight in assessments of journals’ success.

The achilles tendon rupture: A deeper dive into its impact on professional and high-performance athletes

Background: The Achilles tendon rupture (ATR) is an injury that has been detrimental to professional athletes over the years, recently rising to unforeseen heights as the intensity of sports has increased. Methods: To obtain relevant statistics for this paper, a review of prior research, including original research and case studies, was conducted. Digital publications and clinical data were reviewed to dissect factors such as injury causes, operations, current initiatives, the role of technology, and future implications. Results: The data revealed a significant increase in documented ATRs in athletes and the National Football League (NFL) over the years; most recently, these injuries increased from 11 in the 2019-2020 season to 24 in the 2021-2022 season.3 Despite advancements in technology and recovery methods, dynamic changes involving training, conditioning, physicality, and intensity in sports have greatly contributed to the increased rates of injuries. With modernized resources such as advanced testing and rehabilitation procedures incorporating artificial intelligence (AI), specialists continue to search for new ways to treat injury and improve functional outcomes more effectively. Conclusion: This paper examines ATRs in athletes, its risk factors, current surgical methods for treatment, and modern rehabilitation methods. Future research should continue to develop comprehensive assessment and treatment methods to decrease the time to return to play, reduce the risk of re-injuries, and ensure cost-effective standards in implementing advanced rehabilitation modalities.

Revitalising University Presses in Kenya through Digital Technologies

Purpose: This study explores the extent to which university presses in Kenya have adopted digital publishing technologies to enhance competitiveness and sustainability, highlighting the associated merits and demerits. Methodology: The study employed a convergent mixed-methods approach with a survey research design. Study participants were selected through a census of 43 university press staff drawn from seven university presses in Kenya. Data was collected using questionnaires and interview schedules. Findings: Study findings reveal that most university presses in Kenya still use traditional publishing technologies, and their publications are in print format. The benefits of using digital technologies include flexibility, cost-effectiveness, multitasking, accessibility, easy sharing of publications and high-quantity production. The study identified initial investment and maintenance costs, stiff competition, changing demand, unskilled personnel, and piracy as the significant challenges faced by university presses in Kenya in digital publishing. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The authors recommend increased funding for university presses, staff training on digital technologies in publishing, use of official copyright notices by publishers, digital watermarks and acquisition of Digital Rights Management (DRM) software to fight online piracy.

Analysis of Marketing Strategies for Bestselling Books in the Context of Publishing Convergence: A Case Study of The Fugitive Artist

Driven by the dual forces of the digital wave and global trends, the publishing industry is undergoing unprecedented transformation, with publishing convergence becoming the new norm for industry development. In this context, the deep integration of traditional publishing and digital publishing has not only reshaped the methods of content production, distribution, and consumption but has also raised the bar for marketing strategies of international bestsellers. The Fugitive Artist, a fictional literary work that has made a global impact, owes its success not only to its profound literary value and captivating plot but also to its precise and innovative marketing strategies. This provides a valuable case for the market promotion of international bestsellers. This paper aims to analyze the marketing strategies of The Fugitive Artist in the context of publishing convergence, exploring how the book stood out in a complex and ever-changing market environment, and offering insights for the international promotion of similar works from China.

Digilite Content Management System Digital Library Lite

Digital library is a system that organizes and provides access to digital information content. Unlike conventional publishing, which has physical content like books, journals, and journals, digital publishing offers content in electronic format that can be accessed through a computer or other device connected to the internet. It allows users to search, download, and create various types of content, such as e-books, articles, videos, and more, from various sources. In the rapidly evolving digital era, effective and efficient content management is crucial for organizations, businesses, and individuals who want to build online presence. Content Management Systems (CMS) are a useful tool for creating, editing, and distributing content on the web without technical knowledge about coding. CMS provides user-friendly tools, allowing users to easily use text, images, videos, and other elements in their sites. Web-based digital library is a platform that uses CMS to create and distribute content without requiring technical knowledge. Users can search, download, and create digital content from various sources connected to the internet. CMS also provides a user-friendly interface and allows users to manage content efficiently, making it an ideal solution for various web publishing needs, from personal blogs to large business portals. Digital library is designed for ease of use and infrastructure, avoiding various issues. It can help create a modern, literate culture and contribute to the development of a more efficient and user-friendly system.

&lt;em&gt;Recetas de las Américas&lt;/em&gt;: A Case Study in Hugo Static Site Generator for Bilingual Web Publishing

This article describes Recetas de las Américas, a static web project for historic newspaper recipes made with the static site generator Hugo. Static sites offer opportunities for robust online publishing without large computational, financial, or technical resources but are not without their own challenges and constraints. This paper presents Recetas de las Américas, discusses the place of static sites in the context of minimal computing, and examines the utility of Hugo for multilingual online publishing, including comparison between Hugo and other static site generators. Static publishing follows minimal computing principles and is a valuable tool for increasing access to digital publishing. Recently, static websites have experienced a renaissance thanks to the development of static site generators such as Jekyll, Hugo, Gatsby, 11ty, and Next.js among others which automate the tedious process of creating each static webpage. Unlike some other popular static site generators, Hugo’s multilingual capabilities are built-in, decreasing dependencies and complexity. This further lowers barriers to multilingual scholarly publishing, potentially increasing participation by historically marginalized communities as publishers and readers. Recetas de las Américas is a valuable case study in using the static site generator Hugo to publish a bilingual Spanish/English website. By sharing our workflow and lessons learned we hope to help others create their own multilingual static websites.

The Status of Druze Studies and Launching the Druze Studies Journal (DSJ)

This essay discusses the evolution of Druze Studies and the inauguration of the Druze Studies Journal (DSJ), as well as encapsulates discussions from the "2023 Bilingual Interdisciplinary Virtual Symposium: Druze Studies: Past, Present, and Future." Initiated at the University of Kansas, this event marks a pivotal moment in researching the Druze, addressing the field’s expansion over the last two decades, and creating platforms like DSJ and the Druze Studies Project for scholarly exchange. Contributions range from digital publishing innovations to critical reevaluations of Druze Studies' scope and methodologies. Key discussions revolve around enhancing research continuity, overcoming interdisciplinary challenges, and navigating ethical considerations surrounding sacred community beliefs. This collective effort underscores the importance of DSJ as a medium for fostering academic dialogue, broadening Druze Studies’ reach, and promoting a deeper, more inclusive understanding of the Druze community's historical and contemporary contexts.

Hybridism, edutainment, and doubt: Science blogging finding its feet

Blogs have become everyday acquaintances in digital life. Although personal, political, and fashion blogs may be the best known, academics also engage in blogging about research. With fast-expanding digital publishing of all kinds, we may have to rethink the status of blogging in relation to our on-going research. This article discusses the perception of science blogs, and their status as a genre. It explores some blog threads talking about research blogging: are blogs a great way to improve outreach, or just dumbing down? Should we use blogs for publishing serious findings, or brush them aside as edutainment – preferably done by somebody else? Research blogs are explored in the context of science communication and research writing traditions, and their old and new features discussed.

Research artifacts for human-oriented experiments in software engineering: An ACM badges-driven structure proposal

Context:The Open Science (OS) movement promotes the value of making public the research artifacts (datasets, analysis scripts, guidelines, etc.) used during empirical studies. OS is widely known in areas such as Medicine or Biology, where the process of sharing research artifacts is subject to strict protocols. Unfortunately, in Software Engineering (SE), this process is carried out in a non-systematic way, resulting in incomplete or inaccurate material shared by researchers, which hinders the reproducibility and replicability of empirical studies. Nevertheless, in recent years, it seems that the Empirical Software Engineering (ESE) community is embracing some of the proposed OS initiatives, such as the one proposed by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), which provides a badge system to evaluate the quality of a research artifact. This badge system has been adopted by several SE conferences as a method of assessing research artifacts. Aims:Focusing on human-oriented experiments (HOEs) in SE, whose research artifacts are more complex than those for computational experiments, this work applies Design Science Research (DSR) with a twofold purpose: (i) review the current status of HOEs research artifacts publication through evaluation of this practice in the most relevant ESE journals , and (ii) propose a structured outline for HOEs research artifacts driven by the aforementioned ACM badging policy. Method:Regarding the first purpose, we carried out a survey to analyze the current status of the publication of research artifacts considering relevant peer review journals and the quality of 106 research artifacts published in these journals with respect to the ACM badging policy. For the second purpose, an iterative process was carried out to review the content of 106 research artifacts research and their concordance with ACM badges, obtaining a structured scheme for HOEs research artifacts that has been validated through a detailed review of 12 research artifacts obtained from some of those of ACM badges in relevant SE conferences. In addition, we validated the proposal in the research artifacts of 2 of our own experiments. Results:Our survey reveals issues such as the 39,70% of journal studies making completely accessible their research artifacts; most of the analyzed research artifacts are incomplete; the most common repositories used in the ESE community to share the research artifacts are GitHub, institutional repositories, and Zenodo. On the other hand, the validated and structured research artifact outline consists of a list of ordered sections containing a set of artifacts, which can be mandatory or not to achieve a particular ACM badge. For its internal validation, several improvement iterations on the first release of the outline have been carried out based on the conference guidelines, the ACM badging policy, and other relevant proposals. Conclusions:Although the ESE community is making great efforts in standardization, review, and digital publishing related to OS, the availability and completeness of research artifacts can be improved. Our proposal for the elaboration of structured research artifact outline meets the requirements of HOEs in SE. Nevertheless, further research is needed not only to improve and externally validate it but also to disseminate its use among the research community.

Curcumin and Cognitive Function: A Systematic Review of the Effects of Curcumin on Adults With and Without Neurocognitive Disorders.

This systematic review investigates the effect of curcumin on neurocognitive exams and inflammatory serum biomarkers in adults 18 years and older. We search PubMed, Science Direct, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library, and Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute. Modeling the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines (PRISMA), we screened 1,284 studies with the keywords "neurocognitive disorders," "dementia," "cognitive health," "serum biomarkers," and "curcumin." We use the revised Cochrane Risk-of-Bias tool (RoB2) and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale to select 12 open-access full-text articles published within 20 years. We include clinical trials, randomized controlled trials (RCTs), cohort studies, and human studies, excluding nonhumans, other design types, and schizophrenia. Despite gastrointestinal side effects, studies found curcumin significantly improves working memory in the following adult groups: non-demented, metabolically impaired, cognitively impaired, mood impaired, and chemotherapy impaired. Study limitations include variable population characteristics and few trials employing intention-to-treat analysis, emphasizing the need for shared clinical decision-making before curcumin therapy.