Ian Rowlands

Science journal editors’ views on publication ethics: results of an international survey

Background: Breaches of publication ethics such as plagiarism, data fabrication and redundant publication are recognised as forms of research misconduct that can undermine the scientific literature. We surveyed journal editors to determine their views about a range of publication ethics issues. Methods: Questionnaire sent to 524 editors-in-chief of Wiley-Blackwell science journals asking about the severity and frequency of 16 ethical issues at their journals, their confidence in handling such issues, and their awareness and use of guidelines. Results: Responses were obtained from 231 editors (44%), of whom 48% edited healthcare journals. The general level of concern about the 16 issues was low, with mean severity scores of <1 (on a scale of 0–3) for all but one. The issue of greatest concern (mean score 1.19) was redundant publication. Most editors felt confident in handling the issues, with <15% feeling “not at all confident” for all but one of the issues (gift authorship, 22% not confident). Most editors believed such problems occurred less than once a year and >20% of the editors stated that 12 of the 16 items never occurred at their journal. However, 13%–47% did not know the frequency of the problems. Awareness and use of guidelines was generally low. Most editors were unaware of all except other journals’ instructions. Conclusions: Most editors of science journals seem not very concerned about publication ethics and believe that misconduct occurs only rarely in their journals. Many editors are unfamiliar with available guidelines but would welcome more guidance or training.

The politics of global atmospheric change

Part 1 Theory: the problem of international regime formation the proposed model. Part 2 Ozone layer depletion: science economics equity. Part 3 Global warming: science economics equity.

Consumer perceptions of “green power”

This study examines the relationship between consumers’ perceptions of the environmental impact of different energy resources and consumers’ stated willingness‐to‐pay a premium for “green power” (electricity generated by more environmentally‐friendly means). Those developing green power products can choose to include any number of energy resources in their offerings. Given this, information about potential purchasers’ preferences is extremely valuable. To investigate this further, a total of 480 residents of Waterloo Region, a community in southern Ontario (Canada), were surveyed. The aforementioned relationship was investigated using chi‐square tests and analysis of variance procedures. Significant differences between those who stated a willingness to pay a large premium for green power and those who stated a willingness to pay only a small (or no) premium for green power were found for three of 11 energy resources investigated – namely, nuclear power, large‐scale hydropower and natural gas. Therefore, these energy resources are not as popular among the most environmentally‐mobilized section of the consumer market as general surveys would suggest. A variety of managerial implications are drawn from the results. Future directions for research are also offered.

E-textbook use, information seeking behaviour and its impact: Case study business and management

This paper evaluates the e-book usage and information seeking and reading behaviour of thousands of business and management students. Comparisons are made with students in other subjects. The data largely come from the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)-funded National e-Books Observatory (NeBO) project as well as the JISC User Behaviour Observational Study. The main sources of data were: a) transactional logs obtained from the MyiLibrary platform regarding 127 UK universities; b) questionnaire data for more than 5000 students and staff at these universities; c) hard-copy library circulation and retail sales data; and d) focus groups held with 50 staff and students from selected universities. The main findings were that e-textbooks can prove to be extremely popular and widely used, mainly for obtaining snippets of information and for fact finding. The main reason for using e-textbooks was ease of access and convenience.

Scholarly e-books: the views of 16,000 academics : Results from the JISC National E-Book Observatory

Purpose – This study, a part of JISC‐funded UK National E‐Books Observatory, aims to find out about the perspective of students and academics, the main e‐book users, on e‐books. Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides an analysis of two open‐ended questions about e‐books, contained in a UK national survey conducted between 18 January and 1 March 2008. The survey obtained a response from more than 20,000 academic staff and students; 16,000 free‐text responses were obtained to these two questions. Findings – The study discloses that convenience associated with online access along with searchability was the biggest advantage of e‐books. The study shows a potential market for e‐textbooks; however, e‐books have yet to become more student‐friendly by improving features such as printing and screenreading. Originality/value – This is the biggest survey of its kind ever conducted and it improves ones knowledge of what the academic community thinks of e‐books.

Journal diffusion factors: a new approach to measuring research influence

This paper introduces a new bibliometric tool, the journal diffusion factor. An argument is presented that the bibliometric indicators commonly used to measure the quality of research (journal impact factor, immediacy index and cited half‐life) offer little insight into the transdisciplinary reception (thus the wider influence) of journals. The journal diffusion factor describes a neglected dynamic of citation reception and is intended as a complementary partial indicator for research evaluation purposes, to be read alongside existing well‐established indicators.

Google Generation II: web behaviour experiments with the BBC

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on continuing research undertaken on the way the Google Generation behave on the internet and to compare this with an earlier highly publicised study by the papers authors.Design/methodology/approach – This research use a televised practical experiment and a remote web global test incorporating search, working memory and multi‐tasking experiments.Findings – The Google Generation appears to behave very differently from older generations. By their own admission they are less confident about their searching prowess and this is also demonstrated by the fact that they viewed fewer pages, visited fewer domains and undertook fewer searches. Also, tellingly, their search statements were much more the product of cut and paste. The Google Generation also have poorer working memories and are less competent at multi‐tasking, both of which may have implications for researching in an online environment.Originality/value – The paper introduces of multi‐tasking and cognit...

Student digital information‐seeking behaviour in context

Purpose – This study provides evidence on the actual information‐seeking behaviour of students in a digital scholarly environment, not what they thought they did. It also compares student information‐seeking behaviour with that of other academic communities, and, in some cases, for practitioners.Design/methodology/approach – Data were gathered as part of CIBERs ongoing Virtual Scholar programme. In particular log data from two digital journals libraries, Blackwell Synergy and OhioLINK, and one e‐book collection (Oxford Scholarship Online) are utilized.Findings – The study showed a distinctive form of information‐seeking behaviour associated with students and differences between them and other members of the academic community. For example, students constituted the biggest users in terms of sessions and pages viewed, and they were more likely to undertake longer online sessions. Undergraduates and postgraduates were the most likely users of library links to access scholarly databases, suggesting an import...

The changing scholarly communication landscape: An international survey of senior researchers

This survey reports on the behaviour, attitudes, and perceptions of 5,513 senior journal authors on a range of issues relating to the scholarly communication system.

PATTERNS OF AUTHOR COCITATION IN INFORMATION POLICY: EVIDENCE OF SOCIAL, COLLABORATIVE AND COGNITIVE STRUCTURE

This paper presents the findings of an author cocitation study in the field of information policy. Cocitation frequencies for 21 leading authors over the period 1972–1997 were obtained from the multidisciplinary databaseSocial Sciences Citation Index. The raw cocitation counts were transformed into a matrix of Pearson correlation profiles and subsequently visualised using multidimensional scaling techniques. An initial interpretation of the structure of the field of information policy was attempted, drawing on a range of non-bibliometric evidence. The results of a customised postal questionnaire to the data subjects themselves supports the present writers allocation of the authors into thematic clusters. These results suggest that the social, collaborative and intellectual structure of information policy scholarship are highly convergent.