Research Reputation Research Articles

Risks from self-referential peer review echo chambers developing in research fields: 2018 Keynote Address presented at The British Accounting Review 50th Anniversary Celebrations, British Accounting and Finance Association Annual Conference, London

Denigration of academic experts and expertise, amid a resurgence of political populism, poses a challenge to the legitimacy of academic research. Addressing this challenge requires us to continually demonstrate the importance of basing policy interventions on reliable evidence, rather than unevidenced assertions that gain traction through communication echo chambers. However, unconscious confirmation biases in collection and analysis of evidence can impair the reliability of our research insights. A key source of such confirmation biases are unchallenged ideologies and other taken-for-granted assumptions underlying any research (sub)field. This essay argues that informal and formal peer review processes at many stages of research need to highlight and challenge both conscious selectivity bias and unconscious confirmation bias. However, they are unlikely to do so where researchers only take on board feedback from peers in the same (sub)field who share ideological commitments and taken-for-granted assumptions. In such circumstances, self-referential peer review echo chambers can develop that entrench rather than challenge weaknesses in a research (sub)field. This can be a major risk to the effectiveness and reputation of any academic research (sub)field; a risk we need to confront.

The addition of STROBE-nut to the EJCN instructions to authors: some considerations and caveats.

Inadequate reporting in nutritional epidemiology study has important downstream consequences for the public and the reputation of the nutrition research. Poor reporting of nutritional studies can have serious implications on knowledge transfer, public health policy, and research. In addition, it is a significant and avoidable source of research waste. The STrengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology-nutritional epidemiology (STROBE-nut) statement comprises a set of 24 items, organised as a checklist, with minimal information to be included in manuscripts describing findings of nutritional epidemiology research and dietary assessment. The goal of STROBE-nut is to ensure all information is available to enable quality appraisal, correct understanding, effective replication and application of findings. It has been suggested that robust implementation of reporting guidelines will translate into more complete reported research. Furthermore systematic use of reporting guidelines can indirectly improve the methodological qualities of research papers. In this regard, if STROBE-nut becomes a common practice between the community of nutritionist and epidemiologist, it can enhance the quality of the nutritional epidemiology field output. We thus suggest the endorsement of STROBE-nut at the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

ІМІДЖ-ОБРАЗ ВИКЛАДАЧА ЗАКЛАДУ ВИЩОЇ ОСВІТИ ЯК СКЛАДОВА ПРОФЕСІЙНО-ПЕДАГОГІЧНОЇ КУЛЬТУРИ

The article points out that the modern tendencies of education are the modernization of it's content, forms and methods, development and testing of new educational and psychological technologies, the emergence of new types of educational institutions. These changes, in turn, depend on require the constant work of the head of the educational institution over the image of their institution, their own image and the reputation of research and teaching staff. The article deals with the most important components without which the formation of a positive image of a high school teacher is not possible. It was revealed that one of the factors for creating a positive image of the future specialist is the educational environment of the higher education institution and, in particular, the influence of the teaching staff. The role of the teacher's image in the formation of students' professional and personal qualities was analyzed. The essence of the concept of pedagogical image, its formation and development, functions of image, structure of personal image are determined. These include, in particular, professional competence, universal values, moral standards, managerial culture and technology of self-presentation. The article provides examples of the influence of the teacher's appearance on the level of information assimilation by students. The connection between the components of the image and the components of the teacher's pedagogical skill of the institution of higher education was established, the interdependence of teacher's positive image and his or her humanistic orientation was determined. The ways of formation teacher's positive image and development of pedagogical skill are outlined. The types of public image are defined, kinetic and speech image are characterized. The article substantiates that the teacher's positive pedagogical image is able to promote the rise of the efficiency of pedagogical activity and is able to shape the style of social behavior of the high school teacher. Research on this problem and recent publications of domestic and foreign scientists are analyzed.

Електронна демократія: трансформація осмислення

The paper deals with the analysis of changes in the interpretation of the e-democracy concept main provisions. The author compares the formulations of ‘e-democracy’ definition, which have been proposed by reputable researchers over the past 20 years. The paper considers the peculiarities of interpretation of e-democracy’s essence at the main stages of its development, which were connected with the improvement of information and communication technologies (ICT). The author summarizes the opinions of scientists that at the present stage, which is defined as a network society, e-democracy is the main tool that ensures the effectiveness of democratic procedures and the quality of political decisions. It is predicted that the next stage of development will be AI-democracy (artificial intelligence democracy). The paper considers the basic principles and functions of e-democracy, which were established by the EU legislative acts. The main directions of the impact of new ICTs on democracy are shown, and the peculiarities of their implementation in different basic models of democracy are described too. The author analyzes the submodels of ‘wikidemocracy’, ‘liquid democracy’, ‘bubble democracy’, and ‘algocracy’, which are proposed by modern researchers. The paper outlines the latest threats to e-democracy. It highlights the negative changes in the perception of social media’s political role and shows how these changes have influenced the transformation of the understanding of e-democracy. The author illuminates the critique of the instrumentalist approach to the assessment of the essence and prospects of digital technologies implementation in the processes of political communication and participation. The paper presents the achievements of researchers who focus on the ethical aspects of ICT development. The author concludes that in order to restore the truth to democratic values, it is necessary to replace the instrumentalist approach with an axiological one. This transformation is especially relevant in terms of prospects for the transition of e-democracy to the next stage of its development – AI-democracy.

ANIONIC POLYMERIZATION AND CHAIN-END FUNCTIONALIZATION CHEMISTRY

ABSTRACTAnionic polymerization, especially alkyllithium-initiated polymerization of styrenes and dienes, is a truly living polymerization that proceeds in the absence of the kinetic steps of chain termination and chain transfer. The major discoveries in the science and technology of anionic polymerization are chronicled herein. My introduction to this fascinating science is also described. This includes research and training at Phillips Petroleum Company (1974) with Dr. Henry Hsieh and a sabbatical leave at The University of Akron (1976–1977) with Professors Maurice Morton and Lewis J. Fetters. Also detailed is the initiation of my formal anionic polymerization research career at Midland Macromolecular Institute (MMI) in 1979 with outstanding colleagues Drs. Dale Meier, Karl Solc, and Hans Georg Elias. At MMI, I started research on the use of living, alkyllithium-initiated polymerization to prepare chain-end functionalized polymers. This developed into one of my most important research areas. Based on my research experience and publications at MMI, I was appointed Professor of Polymer Science at The University of Akron in 1983. This was the most significant development in my professional career. The University of Akron offered a graduate polymer research program with outstanding, world-class colleagues and facilities; excellent graduate students; a moderate, primarily graduate teaching responsibility; a supportive university administration; and an international reputation in polymer research and education. As described herein, at The University of Akron I was able to develop a comprehensive research program on anionic polymerization, especially in the area of functionalized elastomers, which was the basis for the American Chemical Society Rubber Division Award of the Goodyear Medal to me. A summary of the many research contributions of my outstanding graduate students, visiting scientists, and postdoctoral associates is included.

Tracing the Economic Transition of Kyrgyzstan in the Works of Prof. Dzharkinay Asanovna Musaeva (1948-2018), a Leading Female Economist

This paper aims to synchronize the historical developments in the economy of the Kyrgyz Republic with the works of Professor Musaeva Dzharkinay Asanovna. Prof. Musaeva, the recipient of the outstanding scholar of National Education of the Kyrgyz Republic award, was a prominent representative of the science and culture of the country. Prof. Musaeva's research reputation is based mainly on her works on agricultural economics and problems of economic growth and development of the transitional economy of Kyrgyzstan, which was ended with the formation of the idea of the Asian model of economic reforms. She was involved in several significant research initiatives and projects as part of the growing concern about economic reforms, strategy of economic development and their likely impact on the transitional economy of Kyrgyzstan, where the choice of the liberal model of economic reforms was natural and determined by the specific socio-economic and cultural-historical features of the development of the Kyrgyz people as a result of the nomadic lifestyle. These followed by the formulation and interpretation of the Asian model of the economic reforms in Kyrgyzstan and its future development trends.

Wolfgang Beyer: A Groundwater Scientist from Dresden.

Wolfgang Beyer: A Groundwater Scientist from Dresden.

Preface

I was delighted to serve as the local chair for the 4th International Conference on Design and Manufacturing. The event was held at Deakin University’s Institute for Frontier Materials in Geelong, Australia. The conference was also supported by the ARC Research Hub for Future Fibres based at Deakin University.Deakin University is a large comprehensive university, with over 60,000 course enrolments and a fast growing reputation for research that makes a real difference. The Institute for Frontier Materials is the largest research institute at Deakin, and currently enjoys Australia’s highest research excellence ranking score of 5 in both materials engineering and manufacturing engineering, areas closely related to this conference.Design and manufacturing go hand in hand, and the design aspect will become more and more important in future manufacturing. This is driven by the global trend for sustainability and circularity.The conference provided a great forum to exchange recent research activities around the globe and I hope you will enjoy the selected papers from this conference. I also look forward to seeing you at a future conference.Yours sincerely,Professor Xungai Wang

P-score: a reputation bibliographic index that complements citation counts

The notions of reputation and popularity in academia are critical for taking decisions on research grants, faculty position tenure, and research excellence awards. These notions are almost always associated with the publication track records of researchers. Thus, it is important to assess publication track records quantitatively. To quantify publication records, bibliographic indices are usually adopted and, among these, citation-based indices such as the H-index are frequently considered. In this paper we study the correlation between P-score, a publication record index and H-index, a very popular citation-based index, in the setting of conference ranking. While H-indices reflect the popularity of a given publication or researcher in academia, P-scores can reflect the reputation of a publication or researcher among its peers, considering a reference set of reputable researchers. Popularity and reputation are frequently considered to be equivalent properties in the formulation of citation based indices, however these properties are not identical. Indeed, we first show that H-indices and P-scores are correlated with a Kendall-Tau coefficient that exceeds 0.5. However, we also notice that they show important differences. Particularly, we identify publication venues with high H-indices and low P-scores, as well as venues with low H-indices and high P-scores. We provide interpretations for these findings and discuss how they can be used by research funding councils and committees to better support their funding decisions.

China strengthens its campaign against scientific misconduct

Amid increasing attention to scientific research integrity in China, the country has adopted a new set of standards to more clearly define misconduct in publishing journal articles. Experts hope the new clarity will make it easier to discipline researchers who violate the standards. The State Administration of Press and Publication, the agency in charge of China’s publishing sector, released and adopted in July the Academic Publishing Specification—Definition of Academic Misconduct for Journals. Other standards developed by the agency cover citation and translation practices and the use of ancient Chinese. The publishing specification defines and distinguishes plagiarism, fabrication, and falsification. It also addresses inappropriate authorship, duplicate or multiple submissions, and overlapping publications. The standards follow several high-profile incidents of academic misconduct that affected China’s reputation in scientific research. Two years ago, for example, 107 Chinese papers were retracted by T...

Наукометрия как сдерживающий фактор экономических исследований: опыт США

The article reveals the deterrent eff ect of the scientometric factor on the development of economic research based on the analysis of publication activity in American economic journals. The author systematizes the main trends in the development of modern economic research. It is shown that publications in the top fi ve journals in the United States infl uence the direction of research in the economy, career paths and the reputation of young researchers, decisions of funding agencies, as well as the ratings of departments and universities. Diff erences in citation rates between the top fi ve journals and other top-level journals are noted. It is shown that the orientation to publications in the top “fi ve” as the main scientometric indicator stimulates careerism and restrains the development of new ideas. Possible ways of overcoming the existing institutional trap are considered.

The Trust Triangle: Laws, Reputation, and Culture in Empirical Finance Research

The Trust Triangle: Laws, Reputation, and Culture in Empirical Finance Research

Cultivation of Polytechnic-Industry Linkage for Development and Delivery of Curriculum for Technical Education: A Case Study of The Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro

The implication of the unsuitability of young Nigerian graduates for available jobs in the industry raises the question as to the appropriateness of the training received while in school. It has exacerbated the unemployment problem in the Country, and it is worrisome. Of a necessity in curriculum development and delivery, therefore is the adoption of an approach that takes cognizance of the job function of the graduates in the industry and/or workplace and the skills required to perform on the job. In other words, the curriculum must target the job market demand and needs. This paper reports on the development of a demand-led curriculum in National Diploma Cement Engineering Technology through the partnership of the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro with Cement Industry, Cement Training Institute of Nigeria, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, and the National Board for Technical Education. The paper concludes that the emerging graduates from the implementation of the curriculum would have acquired the appropriate skills for the job, and would be acceptable and fit to perform effectively in the industry. Besides, opportunities for earning industry research income and reputation through the provision of research support to the industry is an added benefit derivable from the linkage.

The impact of cultural appropriation on destination image, tourism, and hospitality

AbstractHarsh critics have relentless exposed myriad instances of misuse, exploitation, and misrepresentation of values, customs, rituals, and religious objects, for example, by different actors, such as designers and artists, and in myriad contexts, such as in art, entertainment, and tourism. Instead of being perceived as the appreciation or preservation of cultures, as claimed, they have been condemned as cultural appropriation. Occasionally, they are deemed offensive by members of the culture of origin. In the context of destination image, tourism, and hospitality, the matter can be even more problematic as many places are economically dependent on tourism and hospitality services. A growing number of critics believe place brands in general and tourist destinations in particular have exploited indigenous groups for the commercial purpose of entertaining visitors. This article represents a pioneer effort to build awareness among place marketing scholars and practitioners, particularly in the context of tourism, of the importance, implications, and risks of cultural appropriation to the future of destination image, reputation, attractiveness, and sustainability and advances suggestions for future research.

Publishing in an Environment of Predation: The Many Things You Really Wanted to Know, but Did Not Know How to Ask

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this research note is to define and review the extent of “predatory1” publishing process practices in academic journals in recent years. In addition, ascertaining what, if any, substantive damage can result from these practices. And to derive “warnings signs” for those embarking on the road to creating/distributing what they have learned. “Predatory publishing” is the charging of a fee or proving value in exchange for the publication of research material without providing the publication services an author would have reasonably expected such as peer review and editing to mention only a few. There is evidence that this “practice” has sadly grown in prevalence in recent years. Following a review of the literature and using case study methodology, it was found that damages in the case of one large publisher were estimated to be over $50 m, as per a court adjudication in the US. With open access publishing becoming more popular as a result of institutional, funder and national mandates, it is likely more authors could be tempted or even baited into making poor decisions and publishing their research articles in illegitimate journals, wasting funding resources and damaging their research reputations. These and other implications are considered, as well as enumeration of such behaviors with an eye toward fostering deterrence. Further research and actions that could mitigate the problems are outlined.

News, Announcements, and IASP

News, Announcements, and IASP

Modelling customer-based bank reputation: the moderating role of uncertainty avoidance

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the moderating role of culture in terms of uncertainty avoidance in the antecedents of customer-based bank reputation in two countries with different cultural patterns.Design/methodology/approachThis study was carried out by surveying 910 bank customers of the main banks in the UK and Spain. The hypotheses employed in this research were developed by contrasting the moderating role of uncertainty avoidance in the relationships between bank reputation and its antecedents, and were then tested through the use of partial least squares modelling.FindingsSignificant differences between British and Spanish bank customers were found with regard to the impact of innovation, workplace and leadership on bank reputation. However, the results obtained when considering uncertainty avoidance as a continuous moderator variable suggested that only the differences found as regards workplace and leadership were owing to this variable, thus providing empirical support for two out of the eight hypotheses developed on the basis of cultural theories.Originality/valueThis is the first study to analyse whether the relative importance of the antecedents of bank reputation differ with regard to customers’ uncertainty avoidance patterns, which is the cultural variable that is most closely linked in literature to customers’ banking decisions. This study contributes towards reputation research by showing that cultural differences in terms of uncertainty avoidance should be used with caution when establishing business guides for bank managers.

Importance-Performance Matrix Analysis of the Researcher’s Competence in the Formation of University-Industry Collaboration Using Smart PLS

This study empirically identified and investigated the importance and performance of researcher’s competence which serves as crucial stimuli in initiating university-industry collaborative activities in Malaysian research universities using Importance-Performance Matrix Analysis (IPMA). The findings are endorsed by the IPMA that the importance and performance of domain knowledge are high in contributing to sustainability entrepreneurship thus lead to the university-industry collaboration formation. It is also found that social capital and market knowledge are important but the performance of these areas required attention from the management to further enhance. Unexpectedly, it is suggested that the management should pay less attention to researcher reputation as this is the least priority area for improvement as demonstrated by the results generated by the IPMA. Essentially, the findings contribute to the benefit of the university leaders to understand the diversity of competence possessed by the academic researchers as valuable resources in spotting and seizing a business opportunity.

Drivers of referrals to a children's hospital neonatal-infant intensive care unit.

Evaluate the outreach program of a regional NICU for referral satisfaction, drivers and barriers, preferences for service methods, outreach communication, and education. To point out prevalence assessment of preferences, referral reasons, satisfaction and general feedback by regional neonatologists implemented by electronic survey using either multiple-choice or Likert scale questions. Survey questions were derived via consensus of the outreach program team. A 100% response rate was achieved from 136 neonatologists. Over 90% of the respondents indicated either increased or unchanged referral rates and answered "maybe" or "definitely satisfied" with the outreach program. Insurance, bed availability, excellence in subspecialty support, and communication from neonatologists were important referral factors. Research reputation was not a significant driver. Case conferences at referral hospitals and program newsletters were the preferred education methods. Advanced subspecialty services, communication with referring neonatologists, and access to the referral system are important drivers of satisfaction for referrals to our quaternary NICU.

Fitness Wearables

Fitness Wearables