Scholarly Communication Trends Research Articles

Embracing New Trends in Scholarly Communication: From Competency Requirements in the Workplace to LIS Curriculum Presence

INTRODUCTION Scholarly communication has undergone dramatic change in the digital era as a result of rapidly evolving digital technology. It is within this context of evolving scholarly communication that this paper reports on an inquiry into (1) the extent to which university libraries in South Africa are actively embracing new and emerging trends in scholarly communication; and (2), the extent to which LIS school curricula in South Africa are responding to new and emerging scholarly communication competencies required in university libraries. METHODS This qualitative study, located within an interpretivist epistemological worldview, was informed by the Operational Elements of Scientific Communication aspect of Khosrowjerdi’s (2011) Viable Scientific Communication Model. Data was collected using summative content analysis of university library job advertisements over a four-year period; South African university libraries’ organizational organograms; and course descriptions available on the websites of South Africa’s LIS schools. RESULTS & DISCUSSION A review of job advertisements and organograms shows that on the whole university libraries in South Africa are embracing the new and emerging trends in scholarly communication, but some university libraries are performing better than others in adopting emerging scholarly communication services such as RDM, digital humanities, or research landscape analysis. Course description analysis provides evidence that LIS schools’ curricula, as per global trend reported in the literature, do not seem to be keeping pace with developments in scholarly communication. CONCLUSION The ambivalent nature of an evolving scholarly communications field with unclear definitions and boundaries necessitates professional practitioners who are adaptable and open to change as well as an LIS education curriculum that is in constant review to seamlessly embrace an evolving field propelled by advancing digital technologies.

The Coverage of Library and Information Science Literature in Web of Science

The main objective of this study is to explore scholarly communication trends in the field of Library and Information Science Literature. A total of 28056 records from Web of Science database, Library and Information Science collected from 1989 to 2017, were analyzed. It examines based on its publication output in Library and Information Science during 1989-2017, based on several parameters, including the country annual average growth rate, global publication share, national publication output, etc. The study uses 29 years (1989- 2017) publications data in Library and Information Science drawn from Web of Science Database.

Scholarly communication trends in the digital age

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate scholars’ attitudes toward informal publishing and dissemination to provide a view of the challenges and advantages of using such channels. Although considerable research has been carried out in relation to peer-reviewed scholarly publishing, relatively few studies have investigated the adoption of informal scholarly communication platforms in the scholarly publishing process. Design/methodology/approach – The paper deployed a grounded theory approach using semi-structured interviews as a qualitative research tool. A theoretical sample of 40 researchers in 4 universities were interviewed to gather data regarding informal publishing, platforms, factors that affect the researchers’ decision and the use of informal channels in dissemination. Findings – Results of the interviews suggest that there is an increasing trend among researchers toward informal publishing and dissemination throughout the scholarly communication cycle. The paper shows that there are three types of scholars who are involved in the scholarly communication process: conventional, modern and liberal scholars. Each of these scholars carries different beliefs regarding the scholarly communication process. Research limitations/implications – This paper was conducted on a relatively small sample of academic researchers, and therefore, the results cannot be easily generalized into a wider community of scholars. Originality/value – The paper provides insight into informal scholarly publishing practices using a grounded theory approach. This approach helped to capture the changes in both scholarly publishing practices and the adoption of informal techniques among the scholarly community.

Open Access Status of Nano ELSI Research: Determining Availability of a Core Collection of Research for a Disciplinary Repository

INTRODUCTION The development and maintenance of a disciplinary repository is a high cost, long-term project; therefore, it is important to investigate the feasibility of the proposed resource. This paper explores whether an emerging discipline can support the development of a disciplinary repository by evaluating the availability of scholarship and scholarly communication trends within the nanotechnology and emerging technology ethical, legal, and societal issues research (Nano ELSI) domain. METHODS In this study, journal articles produced through Spring 2013 by two large National Science Foundation Centers for Nanotechnology and Society at the University of California Santa Barbara and Arizona State University are evaluated for both potential and actual availability through open access publishing and author self-archiving. RESULTS While only 14% of articles in this collection have been published openly in open access or hybrid open access journals, over two thirds (85%) have been published in journals that support author self-archiving of some version of the manuscript in institutional or disciplinary repositories. The actual full-text open availability of 48% of total articles in the set demonstrates that there is a strong inclination among this community to share research products. CONCLUSION The availability of a core collection of materials and an understanding of scholarly communication conventions within the domain support the development of a centralized resource.

Successful Scholarly Communication at a Small University: Integration of Education, Services, and an Institutional Repository at Valparaiso University

Beginning in 2011, the Christopher Center Library Services (CCLS) unit at Valparaiso University (VU) started implementing new scholarly communication services utilizing two different components: (1) the education and training of library staff in scholarly communication trends and issues; and (2) the implementation of ValpoScholar, VU's institutional repository (IR) and its associated services. These components allowed for new skills to be developed, new services to be delivered, and the library's digital collections to grow with minimal impact to existing services. This model may provide a framework for other small institutions interested in adding scholarly communication services to their existing library services.

Collection Directions: The Evolution of Library Collections and Collecting

This article takes a broad view of the evolution of collecting behaviors in a network environment and suggests some future directions based on various simple models. The authors look at the changing dynamics of print collections, at the greater engagement with research and learning behaviors, and at trends in scholarly communication. The goal is to provide context within which libraries can discuss changing patterns of investment across collection categories. The authors argue that the network is reconfiguring not only individual academic libraries but also the whole library system, as reduced transaction costs facilitate the unbundling of functions and their consolidation in network platforms and with other external service providers.

The university press: trends, initiatives and collaborations over the past several years

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine recent trends that have affected university presses (UPs). The increased reliance on digital resources and fiscal constraints within higher education has forced UPs to re-evaluate their position with the scholarly communication system. Responses include an increased focus on partnerships, new forms of publication, changing business models and better meeting customers’ needs. Design/methodology/approach – The authors have reviewed publications on UPs from the past five years and added their viewpoints on current and future trends. Findings – UPs must adapt to resource scarcity and current trends in scholarly communication to remain viable. Practical implications – Both UPs and academic libraries may gain insights on how to meet the needs of researchers and scholars within a changing environment. Originality/value – This paper summarizes and evaluates a broad spectrum of research on UPs.

Language in Social Science Databases: English Versus Non-English Articles in JSTOR and Scopus

This article examines social science language trends in scholarly communication by looking at JSTOR and Scopus bibliographic data between 1996 and 2012. The results reveal that these two databases contain nearly 90 percent English-language publications. According to our analysis, Scopus continues to add more non-English peer-reviewed content while JSTOR totals are declining. To frame this discussion, the data are considered with reference to larger scholarly communication trends in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. This study will be relevant for librarians who are interested in non-English scholarly publishing and collection development.

Serials from the Other Side: An Editorial Perspective on Current Trends in Scholarly Communication

The panel session for the 22nd North Carolina Serials Conference brought together perspectives from current and former journal editors about their careers and changes in the publishing industry. Moderated by Patricia Hudson, David Goldfield discussed his experience with the Journal of Urban History; Elaine Hubal talked about her experience with the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology; and Priscilla Wald discussed her experience as editor of American Literature. A question and answer session followed the presentation.

Sustainability: Scholarly repository as an enterprise

AbstractEDITOR'S SUMMARYThe expanding need for an open information sharing infrastructure to promote scholarly communication led to the pioneering establishment of arXiv.org, now maintained by the Cornell University Library. To be sustainable, the repository requires careful, long term planning for services, management and funding. The library is developing a sustainability model for arXiv, based on voluntary contributions and the ongoing participation and support of 200 libraries and research laboratories around the world. The sustainability initiative is based on a membership model and builds on arXiv's technical, service, financial and policy infrastructure. Five principles for sustainability drive development, starting with deep integration into the scholarly community. Also key are a clearly defined mandate and governance structure, a stable yet innovative technology platform, systematic creation of content policies and strong business planning strategies. Repositories like arXiv must consider usability and lifecycle alongside values and trends in scholarly communication. To endure, they must also support and enhance their service by securing and managing resources and demonstrating responsible stewardship.

How Shall We Sing in A Strange Land?

This paper considers some significant trends in scholarly communication over the past generation. It questions the real nature of the much-cited ‘crisis’ within the arts and social sciences, and examines some of the institutional motors that have driven specific publication behaviours. The paper assesses the divergent impact of the Digital Revolution in different disciplinary and regional contexts, and the strengths (and some potential drawbacks) of Open Access modes of publication beyond the sciences. It concludes with an assertion of the publisher activities that genuinely add value, and which scholarly presses must prioritize and emphasize publicly if they are to survive.

Open Access Publishing in Business Research: The Authors’ Perspective

Open access (OA) publishing is now accepted as an integral part of the emerging trends within scholarly communication. Business librarians, like their subject specialist colleagues in other disciplines, are increasingly called upon to interpret scholarly communication trends to their faculty. This study surveys 1,293 business faculty from American schools of business accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Issues explored include business faculty publishing practices within the discipline and how these affect academic advancement, obtaining articles for their own research, electronic publishing, self-archiving, and their perceptions about OA publishing generally.

Citing and reading behaviours in high-energy physics

Contemporary scholarly discourse follows many alternative routes in addition to the three-century old tradition of publication in peer-reviewed journals. The field of High-Energy Physics (HEP) has explored alternative communication strategies for decades, initially via the mass mailing of paper copies of preliminary manuscripts, then via the inception of the first online repositories and digital libraries. This field is uniquely placed to answer recurrent questions raised by the current trends in scholarly communication: is there an advantage for scientists to make their work available through repositories, often in preliminary form? Is there an advantage to publishing in Open Access journals? Do scientists still read journals or do they use digital repositories? The analysis of citation data demonstrates that free and immediate online dissemination of preprints creates an immense citation advantage in HEP, whereas publication in Open Access journals presents no discernible advantage. In addition, the analysis of clickstreams in the leading digital library of the field shows that HEP scientists seldom read journals, preferring preprints instead.

Motivations for URL citations to open access library and information science articles

We define the URL citations of a Web page to be the mentions of its URL in the text of other Web pages, whether hyperlinked or not. The proportions of formal and informal scholarly motivations for creating URL citations to Library and Information Science open access journal articles were identified. Five characteristics for each source of URL citations equivalent to formal citations were manually extracted and the relationship between Web and conventional citation counts at the e-journal level was examined. Results of Google searches showed that 282 research articles published in the year 2000 in 15 peer-reviewed LIS open access journals were invoked by 3,045 URL citations. Of these URL citations, 43% were created for formal scholarly reasons equivalent to traditional citations and 18% for informal scholarly reasons. Of the sources of URL citations, 82% were in English, 88% were full text papers and 58% were non-HTML documents. Of the URL citations, 60% were text URLs only and 40% were hyperlinked. About 50% of URL citations were created within one year after the publication of the cited e-article. A slight correlation was found between average numbers of URL citations and average numbers of ISI citations for the journals in 2000. Separating out the citing HTML and non-HTML documents showed that formal scholarly communication trends on the Web were mainly influenced by text URL citations from non-HTML documents.

Scholarly communication trends — voices from the vortex: a summary of specialist opinion

ABSTRACTThe views of specialists (academics, librarians, publishers and information scientists) on trends in scholarly communications were canvassed by means of structured questions. A greater commonality of views was found than might have been expected.