High-ranking Journals Research Articles

Promovendo periódicos científicos gratuitos para leitores e escritores diante da necessidade de mudar o sistema de avaliação acadêmico

Abstract Publishing is an important step for the work of any scientist. Unfortunately, academia has been using publication metrics, particularly the journal impact factor, as one of the main criteria for assessing researchers CVs when hiring and promoting researchers and evaluating grant proposals, among others. This goes against the advice of several researchers and institutions who notice a harmful effect of focusing on such publication-based metrics for the development of science itself. In addition, most journals with high impact factor have been moving to a highly commercialized form of open access publication, where readers do not pay to access those papers, but the authors do. Journals ranked high in those publication-based metrics also charge very high publications fees. Thus, those journals have become too expensive for most scientists, creating a too-large financial gap between those who can afford publishing in high-ranked journals and those who cannot. Science ranking based on publication metrics is thus no longer a question of science quality, impact, or relevance, but of the researchers’ financial conditions to publish their science. Luckly, there are thousands of journals that offer the so-called diamond (or platinum) alternative that do not charge any fees from readers and writers alike. Here, I advocate that scientists should focus on those non-commercialized forms of science publication while working to change the criteria for evaluating science production currently at place in academia.

METHODOLOGY FOR TEACHING LABORATORY CLASSES IN PHYSICS THROUGH THE STEM METHOD

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) is designed to explore what information is available to mechanical engineering students in higher education institutions and what work is being done there. Nowadays, modern teaching methods are used in educational institutions, and one of such methods is the STEM method. Based on global experience, we know that this method is an interdisciplinary approach used to provide students with a broad and deep education in the sciences. The widespread use of information and communication technologies in the field of science education has led to the emergence of a new type of educational experiment - a virtual experiment. This is considered a form of virtual simulation of STEM technologies. The implementation of virtual laboratories using computer programs that simulate physical processes virtually on a computer and allow changing its operating conditions and parameters is a type of STEM method. Such a program creates a unique situation for the implementation of interactive learning. We reviewed scientific literature published in peer-reviewed, high-ranking journals on the development of problem-solving abilities in STEM-rich physics teaching. Based on STEM education, mechanical engineering students were given stages of teaching specific content topics related to curriculum concepts. In order to increase the effectiveness of teaching the STEM method in laboratory classes of the Faculty of Mechanics, an article devoted to this issue discusses ways to use interactive modeling PhET, Algodoo - a digital programming language for 2D physical modeling, computer modeling "Open Physics". programs. One of the main principles of STEM education is to teach future physicists to acquire industrial experience and methodologically sophisticated research methods. The second important issue is the development of industrial business, that is, access to new ideas in response to production problems. It can be seen that the results obtained during the study of the STEM method of teaching in laboratory classes at the Department of Mechanics show great interest in providing students with teaching aids. The information obtained as a result of the study is recommended for use in higher and secondary educational organizations, and these results are the basis for new directions of research in the field of physics education.

Gender balance in infectious diseases and hospital epidemiology journals.

Diversity is recognized as a driver of excellence and innovation. Women represent a significant part of the infectious diseases (ID) and hospital epidemiology (HE) workforce. We aimed to assess gender representation among editors of top ID and HE journals and explore potential correlations with the gender of first and last authors in published articles. Using Scimago Journal & Country Rank, we identified 40 ID and 4 HE high-ranking journals. Editorial members were categorized by decision-making influence (levels I-III). We retrieved names of first and corresponding authors from 12 ID-focused journals' 2019 research articles. Gender assignment for editors, first authors, and last authors utilized digital galleries and manual searches. Among 2,797 editors from 44 journals, 33% were women. Female representation varied across editorial levels: 26% at level I, 36% at level II, and 31% at level III. Gender balance disparities existed among journals. Female first authors accounted for 50%, and female last authors accounted for 36% of the 2,725 published articles. We found weak but significant correlations between the editors' gender and the gender of the first and last authors. Gender representation among ID and HE journal editors displayed unevenness, but no overt vertical segregation was observed. A generational transition among authors may be underway. Our findings suggest that a generational transition may be occurring among authors.

Эпистемологические традиции в современной российской философии

“Gnoseology” and “epistemology”, two terms widely used in the theory of cog­nition, have a history of use for about hundred years. During this time, they were interpreted very differently. In world philosophy, the first term is considered obsolete, and understanding of the second has developed in connection with the great interest in scientific knowledge. In Russia, the first term is much more common due to its use in dialectical materialism and official ideology, while the second has become widespread in the last fifty years due to the influence of works and translations in the field of philosophy of science. The paper’s authors take into account the current practice and propose to use the term “gnoseology” to describe the theory of cognition, built on the maximum abstrac­tion of the subject, and to use the term “epistemology” in the theory of cognition with a reduced level of abstraction of the subject, a level that takes into account such social characteristics of the subject as its communicativeness and values. In gnoseology, these components were either not studied, or they were fought with as unscientific and acceptable only in everyday knowledge. Despite the de­velopment of philosophical concepts of the sociality of the subject in the theory of cognition, in real technoscience the model of the most abstract mind is still very widely used, which is reflected, first of all, in the content and rhetoric of scientific papers. The paper provides examples from modern scientific texts published in high-ranking technical journals. It is concluded that the exceptional use the abstract representation of the subject prevents the scientists from formu­lating and realizing the current acute problems of their sciences.

Progress of Ecological Restoration Research Based on Bibliometric Analysis.

With the deterioration of the global/regional ecological environment, ecological restoration plays an important role in sustainable development. However, due to the differences in research methods, objectives, and perspectives, the research results are highly diverse. This makes it necessary to sort the publications related to ecological restoration, clarify the research status, grasp the research hotspots, and predict the future research trends. Here, 23,755 articles from the core database of Web of Science were retrieved, and bibliometric analysis was carried out to understand the global ecological restoration research progress from 1990 to 2022 from a macro perspective, with the aim to determine the future development direction. The results are as follows. (1) From 1990 to 2022, the number of publications in the field of ecological restoration constantly increased, and the fluctuation of the average annual citations increased. The most important articles were published in high-ranking journals. (2) Ecological restoration covers a wide range of research areas, including biodiversity, ecosystem services, climate change, land use, and ecological restoration theories and technologies. The four main hotspots in this field are heavy metal removal, soil microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen concentrations, grassland ecological restoration, and evaluation framework and modeling of ecological restoration's effects. Currently, studies focus on river basin remediation, heavy metal removal, and forest restoration. (3) Future ecological restoration research should strengthen the multi-object aspect and multi-scale ecological restoration research, improve the ecological restoration effect evaluation system, and incorporate social and economic issues. This study identified current research hotspots and predicted potential future research directions, providing a scientific reference for future studies in the field of ecological restoration.

Regular collective dynamics of research collaboration

Research collaboration, a ubiquitous phenomenon marking the increasing stratification of science, is hailed for its intellectual and societal benefits. Being an essential element of the economics of science, it has become a matter of scientific inquiry attracting efforts from fields as different as network analysis and bibliometrics. The studies have provided insights into the local structure of collaboration networks, relations between the team composition and research impact. However, the laws governing research collaboration at the (macro)scale of countries and institutions are yet to be established. In this work, a simple yet unexpectedly accurate logarithmic relation between measures of the research output and self-reliance is demonstrated. Restriction of co-authorship analysis to high-ranking journals suppresses geographical and cultural differences to expose universalities in the international research collaboration. The emerging law holds across research areas; it benchmarks collaboration patterns of research institutions grouped by type or country. The self-organized regularity of the collaboration dynamics manifests an important role of national research systems in globalized science, may have profound implications for research policy development and implementation.

Eye-tracking Technologies in Mobile Devices Using Edge Computing: A Systematic Review

Eye-tracking provides invaluable insight into the cognitive activities underlying a wide range of human behaviours. Identifying cognitive activities provides valuable perceptions of human learning patterns and signs of cognitive diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and autism. Also, mobile devices have changed the way that we experience daily life and become a pervasive part. This systematic review provides a detailed analysis of mobile device eye-tracking technology reported in 36 studies published in high-ranked scientific journals from 2010 to 2020 (September), along with several reports from grey literature. The review provides in-depth analysis on algorithms, additional apparatus, calibration methods, computational systems, and metrics applied to measure the performance of the proposed solutions. Also, the review presents a comprehensive classification of mobile device eye-tracking applications used across various domains such as healthcare, education, road safety, news, and human authentication. We have outlined the shortcomings identified in the literature and the limitations of the current mobile device eye-tracking technologies, such as using the front-facing mobile camera. Further, we have proposed an edge computing driven eye-tracking solution to achieve the real-time eye-tracking experience. Based on the findings, the article outlines various research gaps and future opportunities that are expected to be of significant value for improving the work in the eye-tracking domain.

Risk Factors for the Development of Disorders Related to Children’s Gambling in the Light of Desk-research Studies

The issue of addiction to activities has been present in the scientific discourse for years. Gambling disorders constitute a specific, separate disease entity. These disorders can affect people of all ages, and children and adolescents are particularly prone to them. The subject of the research described in the article are risk factors for the development of gambling disorders among children, and its aim is to present the results of research conducted in 2021 by a research team at the Jagiellonian University. The research method was a systematic literature review based on PRISMA standards. The research material consisted of selected articles published in English-language high-ranking scientific journals. The conclusions from the research, including the most common risk factors of gambling disorder, allowed for the formulation of recommendations and recommendations in the field of universal and selective prevention addressed to children, their parents and caregivers.

Promotion in Academic Discourse: Authors’ Centrality Claims in Their Research Article Introductions

Centrality claims in the introduction part of a research article are aimed at attracting readers’ attention towards the research topic to be discussed in the article. Readers will decide whether or not to continue reading the article if the appeal is effective and the claims of the importance and usefulness of the article are accepted. However, most studies investigate only the discourse patterns and linguistic features of article introductions without analyzing further how authors attract readers’ attention to the importance of their research topic. This study aimed at comparing the types of centrality claims found in the introductions of articles published in high-rank and low-rank international journals in Applied Linguistics. Forty articles chosen from four Scopus-indexed international journals in Applied Linguistics were used in this study. The results showed that on average every article used 3.65 appeals of different types. Two types of claims (appeal to salience and appeal to problematicity) are more frequently used by authors than the other two types of appeal (appeal to topicality and appeal to magnitude). The data also reveal that, although not significant, the journal ranking correlates with the frequency of appeals used in the introductions. It is suggested that authors in Applied Linguistics should use multiple types of appeals in their introduction to attract readers’ attention to their research topic so that they are willing to read the entire article.

Free-living nematodes research: State of the art, prospects, and future directions. A bibliometric analysis approach

Nematodes are among the most successful metazoans inhabiting the Earth and they are pivotal components as in terrestrial as in aquatic (both in marine and freshwater) environments providing important ecosystem services. The aim of this study was to understand major research trends and topics on free-living nematodes inhabiting soil, marine and freshwater environments and to highlight possible differences among them. To achieve this objective, a bibliometric analysis was performed using Scopus database. The indexed global scientific literature on free-living nematodes from 1912 to 2021 was explored using VOSviewer software, allowing a comprehensive overview of the topic. The analyses of co-authorship (among researchers and countries), the co-occurrence of keywords and the analysis of citation of journals were performed. Overall, free-living soil nematodes found a wider audience in high ranked journals especially when compared with freshwater nematodes. Marine nematodes stand in between them and many aspects of biodiversity research in marine ecosystems are covered by high-medium ranked journals (i.e. taxonomy, systematic, phylogeny, morphological and genetic diversity). Although, the estimation of the taxonomic diversity of the phylum Nematoda enumerated a high number of documents, an increasing attention emerged for the investigation of pollution effects (i.e. nematodes as bioindicators of environmental status) and the use of nematodes as model organisms for addressing scientific questions in line with the Eco-Evo-Devo (Ecological Evolutionary Developmental biology) approach. These fundamental themes were indirectly confirmed by the co-authorship analysis, which revealed that taking integrative approaches between taxonomy (both morphological and molecular), ecological and evolutionary aspects attracted a higher number of citations.

The influence of journal submission guidelines on authors’ reporting of statistics and use of open research practices: Five years later

Changes in statistical practices and reporting have been documented by Giofrè et al. PLOS ONE 12(4), e0175583 (2017), who investigated ten statistical and open practices in two high-ranking journals (Psychological Science [PS] and Journal of Experimental Psychology-General [JEPG]): null hypothesis significance testing; confidence or credible intervals; meta-analysis of the results of multiple experiments; confidence interval interpretation; effect size interpretation; sample size determination; data exclusion; data availability; materials availability; and preregistered design and analysis plan. The investigation was based on an analysis of all papers published in these journals between 2013 and 2015. The aim of the present study was to follow up changes in both PS and JEPG in subsequent years, from 2016 to 2020, adding code availability as a further open practice. We found improvement in most practices, with some exceptions (i.e., confidence interval interpretation and meta-analysis). Despite these positive changes, our results indicate a need for further improvements in statistical practices and adoption of open practices.

Research Article Conclusion: How to Avoid Repeating Yourself

Introduction. Research article Conclusion is intended to help the reader understand the value and significance of the study after reading the article. Intentional omission or incorrectly written Conclusion deprives the reader of the opportunity to realize the significance of the findings presented in the study.Purpose. The editorial is aimed at describing the key rules for writing the RA Conclusion, which will help to avoid common mistakes when writing this section of the research.Materials and Methods. Based on the analysis of the conclusions of research articles selected from high-ranking journals on food topics and health-saving technologies, the main rules, and recommendations for writing the Conclusion of a research article were described.Results. Recommendations for writing the Conclusion of a research article are presented. The basic rules for writing the Conclusion of a research article are described. Recommendations are given regarding the main shortcomings of writing the Conclusion.Conclusions. The materials of this editorial with recommendations for writing the RA Conclusion are intended to help authors in the correct structuring and writing of the final part of their research article to make them visible in scientometric databases and increase its citation.

Gender representation on editorial boards of leading oncology journals

BackgroundThere has historically been women underrepresentation on editorial boards of peer-reviewed medical journals. High-ranked oncology journals showcase cancer-related scientific work at the forefront of the discipline. There is urgent need to investigate gender representation on editorial boards at leading oncology journals.Materials and methodsSixty high-ranked oncology journals based on impact factor calculated by the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) 2021 from Web of Science/Clarivate Analytics were identified. Gender-related information of editorial boards was obtained from each journal’s website. The gender of each member of the editorial team was confirmed by an internet search for picture and/or gender-specific pronoun from journal or personal profile. Fisher’s exact tests and analysis of variance were used to analyze categorical and continuous variables, respectively. Significance was set at P < 0.05.ResultsAmong 4898 members on editorial boards of top oncology journals with the highest impact factor, 1177 were women. Women made up 24% (1177 of 4898) of members on editorial boards in top oncology journals, and there was significantly less women board members than men (P < 0.0001). The mean female composition of editorial boards of oncology journals was 27% (range from 4% to 100%). Among 71 editors-in-chief of the top oncology journals, 14 (20%) were women. There was a positive correlation between the presence of women in journal editorial leadership and the percentage of women on editorial boards (rs = 0.340, P = 0.008). The underrepresentation of women on oncology journal editorial boards was significantly different among quartiles of journal impact factor. There was no significant correlation between women’s representation on journal editorial boards (%) and journal impact factors (rs = 0.226, P = 0.086).ConclusionsThe results demonstrated that there are gender disparities among editorial leadership at high-impact oncology journals. There are cultural and structural barriers and prejudices to gender parity and diversity on editorial boards of oncology journals.

Results of Scientific Research and Training of Specialists in Renewable Energy at the South Ural State University

This article describes the history of establishing the educational discipline on renewable energy at the South Ural State University (national research university), including the development of dedicated laboratories and methodological support, and the features of the educational processes in undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate studies. The innovative teaching methods with using open on-line courses and virtual test benches are described. The project-oriented learning in the framework of master's programs opens the possibility to expand the learning boundaries and reach a high level of student research works with publishing the obtained results in high-ranked journals. The article shows the main scientific work areas, as well as the goals and objectives of establishing the international innovation center Alternative Energy and the shared research center Wind Energy. Some topics and results of research works on using renewable energy sources in heat and electricity generation processes, and ways to protect solar modules from overheating, contamination and degradation are presented. The further development of the research area involves establishing and using an educational center on the basis of the Porogi hydroelectric power station (HPS), which is among the oldest ones in Russia, that includes renewable energy facilities such as wind power plants, solar power plants, and a small hydroelectric power station. The further improvement of the educational process is seen in the development of educational programs for advanced training of elite personnel for distributed energy systems.

The impact of mindfulness practice on physician burnout: A scoping review.

BackgroundPhysician burnout is a growing phenomenon in current health systems worldwide. With the emergence of COVID-19, burnout in healthcare is progressively becoming a serious concern. Increasing emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment threaten the effective delivery of healthcare. Compassion fatigue and moral injury are a considerable risk to the doctor-patient relationship. These issues can potentially be mitigated by mindfulness practice, which has shown promising results in reducing burnout, restoring compassion, and preventing moral injury in physicians.MethodologyA scoping review was conducted to investigate the effects of mindfulness practice on physician burnout. High-ranking journals were targeted to analyze high-quality studies and synthesize common themes in the literature. Studies conducted on current practicing physicians were included. Mindfulness practice of varying forms was the main intervention studied. Gray literature and studies conducted only on allied health personnel were excluded from this review.Results31 studies were included in this scoping review. Mindfulness practice decreased emotional exhaustion and depersonalization while improving mood, responses to stress, and vigor. Self-awareness, compassion, and empathy were also increased in study participants. From this review, four themes emerged: innovations in mindfulness practice, mindfulness and positive psychology, the impact of mindfulness on work and patient care, and barriers and facilitators to physician mindfulness practice.ConclusionMindfulness was widely reported to benefit mental health and well-being, but the studies reviewed seemed to adopt a mono focus and omitted key considerations to healthcare leadership, systems-level culture, and practices. Mindfulness practice is a quintessential component of positive psychology and is inherently linked to effective leadership. A mindful and compassionate physician leader will play a crucial role in addressing current practice gaps, prioritizing staff mental health, and providing a supportive platform for innovation.

Protocol for an observational study investigating hormones triggering the onset of sustained lactation: the INSIGHT study

IntroductionLactation is a hormonally controlled process that promotes infant growth and neurodevelopment and reduces the long-term maternal risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and breast cancer. Hormones, such as prolactin and...

Promoting SMEs in Pacific Island Countries Through Effective Marketing Strategies

This study provides the first systematic review of the different marketing strategies used for promoting SMEs in Pacific Island Countries (PICs). Literature published in high-ranked management journals was reviewed in this area using PRISMA guidelines published between 2000 to 2020. The study identifies three major marketing communication strategies useful for SMEs in the PICs: digital marketing strategies, market orientation strategies and experience based marketing strategies. Further, this study includes a detailed future research agenda under these three major themes. The digital marketing strategies are divided further into social media marketing strategies, blogs, and company websites. Market orientation strategies were categorised as the role of infrastructure development and the role of innovation. The experience-based marketing is another marketing strategy to attract customers (Nair &amp; Chelliah, 2012a). For example, it is identified through the literature that PICs can focus more on cultural festivals and cruise ship markets.

The Assessment of Originality in Academic Research

"Nowadays, for those working in the academic field, the list of publications has become an essential condition in justifying the research activity. “To be or not to be” published in high-ranking journals and indexed in databases is a criterion in the evaluation of any researcher. In some cases, originality is a sine qua non condition for acceptance or publication. And yet sometimes the definition of the concept of “originality” is confusing in some cases. The novice researcher (and not only) needs some terminological clarifications and contextualization in the daily practice. In this sense, this paper offers possible answers to the questions: what is considered to be research? what is originality in research and why is it important? who and how evaluates originality in research? This last interrogation is the key question of the article, and the answer is presented on two main coordinates: the pre-publication evaluation (performed by the author himself followed by the peer-reviewer) and the post-publication evaluation (performed by Altmetrics and again by the author). Therefore, the whole process of evaluation is viewed from the perspective of a cycle that begins and ends with the author. Keywords: research, originality, peer-review, databases, Altmetrics, databases, citations "

Publishing in the academy: An arts-based, metaphorical reflection towards self-care

Publishing in the academy is a high-stakes activity often used to measure academic staff progress and inform promotion. Many universities have increased pressure on academics, even at the earliest stages of their careers, to publish in high-ranking journals resulting in increased stress and uncertainty. The authors of this paper are members of a writing group in an Australian regional university, established to support each other towards success in quality research and publishing. Over the 2020–2021 summer semester, six members of the group decided to reflect on their experiences, emotions and outcomes throughout the writing process by participating in four reflective arts-based activities. Theoretical frameworks of reflection and metaphor were used to share findings. Strong evidence of having to grapple with meeting university expectations in tension with personal goals and passions was ever-present. The importance of drawing on both personal resources and significant others to manage these tensions through self-care practices was also evident. Implications resulting from this research include recognising the pressures placed on academics to publish only in specifically ranked journals. Overall, the arts-based reflection was critical in uncovering deeper feelings about the pressures of publishing and supporting higher education employees’ well-being and self-care during the writing process.

Discussants

We study the role of informal collaboration in academic knowledge production using published research papers previously presented and discussed at the NBER Summer Institute. We show that papers that have a discussant are published in highly-ranked journals and are more likely to be published in a top journal. Conditional on having a discussant, the quality of a paper’s journal outlet increases in the discussant’s prolificness and editorial experience. This supports the idea that discussants help reduce information asymmetries that are inherent in the academic publication process. Conversely, using social network analysis we find no evidence that citations accumulate because discussants diffuse information about the paper.