Scholarly Communication – Page 2

Audio & Moving Image Digitization Librarian at University of Michigan

The Audio & Moving Image Digitization Librarian is a full-time Librarian position versed in A/MI digitization and metadata standards. This position will expand our audio and moving image preservation program by providing technical expertise to an expanding roster of formats, update our metadata practices, overhaul our workflows, and work closely with stakeholders to support their preservation and access needs. This position will also organize and guide the work of the A/MI technician, oversee the work of interns or other temporary staff, and provide training and project management for specific projects as needed.

https://tinyurl.com/ybzmrk9u

"Mapping Research Data Landscape in Africa Using the re3data and Data Citation Index"

Despite the efforts made by most African countries in incubating the practice of research data sharing, little is known on the status of the research data sphere in the African landscape. This study was conducted to establish the status of research data and research data repositories (RDRs) in Africa. Specifically, the study intended to identify the country-wise contributions in terms of research data and research data repositories, trends of publication of research data by African countries, content type and the nature of research data repositories hosted by African countries. The study applied the quantitative research approach. The registry of research data repositories (re3data), which is the prominent worldwide registry for the research data repository, and the data citation index (DCI) hosted by the Web of Science were used in this study. Re3data and DCI index research data repositories and datasets respectively, from almost all the countries around the world. The study identified parameters that were extracted from re3data and DCI using the browse and search facilities. The extracted data were recorded into Google Sheets, refined, and analysed using MS Office Excel. The study found little contribution from the African countries regarding research data and research data repositories to re3data and DCI. The study found further that, despite the presence of a few repositories, most of them had restricted access to external users. This study concludes that African countries are still having a lot to do for the research data practices to be fully incubated. The study suggests that governments and other stakeholders should improve the facilitating conditions, including establishing relevant policies and infrastructures for the practice to be fully embraced.

https://doi.org/10.1177/02666669241284239

Clemson University at Digital Collections Archivist

Clemson University Libraries seeks an innovative, collaborative, and service-oriented Digital Collections Archivist. This faculty member will provide leadership and expertise in the collection, transfer, storage, description, and preservation of born-digital and digitized materials, including developing workflows, policies, and procedures that help staff carry out these tasks. The Digital Collections Archivist works across manuscript collections and the university archives on digital archiving projects.

https://tinyurl.com/46psafum

"The ‘Publish or Perish’ Mentality Is Fuelling Research Paper Retractions – And Undermining Science"

In the past decade, there have been more than 39,000 retractions, and the annual number of retractions is growing by around 23% each year.

Nearly half the retractions were due to issues related to the authenticity of the data. For example, in August the United States Office of Research Integrity found that Richard Eckert, a senior biochemist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, faked data in 13 published papers. Four of these papers have been corrected, one has been retracted and the remainder are still awaiting action.

Plagiarism was the second most common reason research papers were retracted, accounting for 16% of retractions. . . .

However, the use of fake peer reviewers has increased tenfold over the past decade. There has also been an eightfold rise in publications linked to so-called “paper mills”, which are businesses that provide fake papers for a fee.

In 2022, up to 2% of all publications were from paper mills.

The prevailing reward system in academia often prioritises publication quantity over quality. When promotions, funding, and recognition are tied to the number of papers published, scientists may feel pressured to cut corners, rush experiments, or even fabricate data to meet these metrics.

Initiatives such as the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment are pushing for change. This initiative advocates for evaluating research based on its quality and societal impact rather than journal-based metrics such as impact factors or citation counts.

https://tinyurl.com/4c2pjem9

Paywall: "Creating and Evaluating MARC 21 Bibliographic Records Using ChatGPT"

The findings demonstrated that although ChatGPT was promising as an assisting tool for human catalogers, it struggled with complex bibliographic patterns and nuanced cataloging rules. Notable errors were observed in various fields, such as primary and additional authorized access points, title statements, edition statements, publication details, and series statements, highlighting areas for improvement.

https://tinyurl.com/mtj4e8cz

Developing and Aligning Policies on Research Software: Recommendations for Research Funding and Research Performing Organisations

These recommendations contribute to a more robust policy framework for research software, recognising the important role of software in research. The document highlights research software as an emerging element of open science policies and practices, and makes recommendations to research funding and research performing organisations on developing and aligning policies related to research software based on existing good practices and other resources.

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13740999

"’Does It Feel like a Scientific Paper?’: A Qualitative Analysis of Preprint Servers’ Moderation and Quality Assurance Processes"

In recent years, preprints—i.e., scholarly manuscripts that have not been peer reviewed or published in a journal—have emerged as a major source of research communication and a critical component of open science. However, concerns have been raised about preprints’ potential to facilitate the spread of flawed or misleading research due to the lack of quality control performed by preprint servers. Yet, there is limited knowledge of how servers currently vet incoming content and how this impacts the openness and diversity of scholarly content. In this paper, we examine preprint servers’ moderation processes, the intentions underpinning them, and their potential effects through a qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews with 14 key preprint server personnel. We find a wide range of moderation processes, which vary depending on specific server contexts and needs and are motivated by a desire to prevent the spread of misinformation and protect trust in preprints and servers. Participants repeatedly emphasized the difference between their moderation processes and peer review, but in practice often applied similar criteria for delineating scientific from unscientific content. Moreover, moderation processes often relied on trust cues, such as article formats or author affiliations, as proxies for research quality, potentially introducing similar biases as have been found in traditional journal peer review. We discuss implications for the diversity of preprint content and authors, as well as the future of preprint servers within an evolving scholarly communication ecosystem.

https://doi.org/10.31222/osf.io/mp6ky

"People Cannot Distinguish GPT-4 from a Human in a Turing Test"

We evaluated 3 systems (ELIZA, GPT-3.5 and GPT-4) in a randomized, controlled, and preregistered Turing test. Human participants had a 5 minute conversation with either a human or an AI, and judged whether or not they thought their interlocutor was human. GPT-4 was judged to be a human 54% of the time, outperforming ELIZA (22%) but lagging behind actual humans (67%). The results provide the first robust empirical demonstration that any artificial system passes an interactive 2-player Turing test. The results have implications for debates around machine intelligence and, more urgently, suggest that deception by current AI systems may go undetected. Analysis of participants’ strategies and reasoning suggests that stylistic and socio-emotional factors play a larger role in passing the Turing test than traditional notions of intelligence.

https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.08007

Paywall: "An Experiment with the Use of ChatGPT for LCSH Subject Assignment on Electronic Theses and Dissertations"

The authors employed ChatGPT to generate subject headings for electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) based on their titles and abstracts. The results suggest that LLMs such as ChatGPT have the potential to reduce the cataloging time needed for assigning subject terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) for ETDs as well as to improve the discovery of this type of resource in academic libraries.

https://doi.org/10.1080/01639374.2024.2394516

"Resistance and Collaboration Within the Panoptivarsity: Differing Views of ORCID in Ireland"

The results demonstrate a clear difference in perceptions concerning ORCID, with library staff being very positive and uncritical, even arguing for mandatory adoption. Although some academics were using ORCID IDs in a performative manner, most were suspicious of, or resigned to their use. Concerns about ORCID ranged across various issues including employer surveillance, a lack of institutional autonomy and its inappropriateness for the sector.

https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-07-2024-0184

Repository Service Manager at Stanford University

The Repository Service Manager has a primary role in the promotion, delivery and continual improvement of Stanford Digital Repository (SDR) services for the Stanford community. They will join a team of digital library service managers, product owners, systems analysts, data scientists, and project managers in DLSS, the department within Stanford Libraries responsible for developing and delivering library technology in support of teaching and research at Stanford.

The SDR is a large-scale digital repository designed, developed, and operated by Stanford Libraries. In production for nearly two decades, the SDR currently holds over 5 million objects of all content types, preserved for long term scholarly access.

https://tinyurl.com/4ftruj85

"The Living Library: A Process-Based Tool for Open Literature Review, Probing the Boundaries of Open Science"

In this paper, we present a new tool for open science research, the Living Library. The Living Library provides an online platform and methodological framework for open, continuous literature reviewing. As a research medium, it explores what openness means in light of the human dimension and interpretive nature of engaging with societal questions. As a tool, the Living Library allows researchers to collectively sort, dynamically interpret and openly discuss the evolving literature on a topic of interest. The interface is built around a timeline along which articles can be filtered, themes with which articles are coded, and an open researcher logbook that documents the development of the library. The first rendition of a Living Library can be found via this link: https://eduvision-living-library.web.app/, and the code to develop your own Living Library can be found via this link: https://github.com/Simon-Dirks/living-library.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-024-00964-z

Electronic Resources Liaison Librarian at University of Pittsburgh

The Electronic Resources Liaison Librarian reports to the Head of Electronic Resources and is responsible for managing the lifecycle of electronic resources, including databases, eBooks, serials, streaming media, and the like. The incumbent is responsible for developing and overseeing assessment strategies and conducting ongoing assessments of electronic resource acquisitions and transformative agreements; working with vendors and library subject liaisons to demonstrate and trial new resources; reviewing license agreements to ensure they have appropriate terms; and with library liaisons to publicize agreements and license terms, including OA publishing agreements.

https://tinyurl.com/b7eah74v

"Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats: A Comprehensive SWOT Analysis of AI and Human Expertise in Peer Review"

Instead of casting blame [about peer review failures], we must ask ourselves the critical questions: Are we equipping our peer reviewers with the right tools to succeed in an increasingly complex landscape? How can AI be harnessed not as a burden, but as a true ally in maintaining the integrity of research? Are we prepared to re-think the roles within peer review? Can we stop viewing AI as a threat or as a problem and instead embrace it as a partner—one that enhances human judgment rather than complicates it?

https://tinyurl.com/4p5pr6k6

Software Quality Assurance Specialist at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

As a member of a highly collaborative team within the University Libraries’ Software Development department, the Software Quality Assurance Specialist designs and implements automated and manual software quality assurance processes to support technology and infrastructure for University Libraries services and collections. The core goal for this position is to improve software quality across our portfolio by implementing consistent processes aimed at proactively identifying functional, interface, security, and other issues during development and maintenance. This person also learns and applies robust software development and diagnostic practices, including automated testing, software documentation, peer review, and the creation and maintenance of software testing environments and dashboards.

https://tinyurl.com/yan8m6wp

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"‘It Is Obscenely Fast’ — Biggest Rival to Nvidia Demos Million-Core Super AI Inference Chip That Obliterates the DGX100 with 44GB of Super Fast Memory and You Can Even Try It for Free"

Patrick Kennedy from ServeTheHome saw the product in action at the recent Hot Chips 2024 symposium, noting, “I had the opportunity to sit with Andrew Feldman (CEO of Cerebras) before the talk and he showed me the demos live. It is obscenely fast. The reason this matters is not just for human to prompt interaction. Instead, in a world of agents where computer AI agents talk to several other computer AI agents. Imagine if it takes seconds for each agent to come out with output, and there are multiple steps in that pipeline. If you think about automated AI agent pipelines, then you need fast inferencing to reduce the time for the entire chain.”

https://tinyurl.com/5bdv4rxj

"Tweeting and Retweeting Scientific Articles: Implications for Altmetrics"

Despite differences in extent of engagement of users, original tweets and retweets to scientific publications are considered as equal events. Current research investigates quantifiable differences between tweets and retweets from an altmetric point of view. Twitter users, text, and media content of two datasets, one containing 742 randomly selected tweets and retweets (371 each) and another with 5898 tweets and retweets (about 3000 each), all linking to scientific articles published on PLoS ONE, were manually categorized. Results from analyzing the proportions of tweets and retweets indicated that academic and individual accounts produce majority of original tweets (34% and 55%, respectively) and posted significantly larger proportion of retweets (41.5 and 81%). Bot accounts, on the other hand, had posted significantly more original tweets (20%) than retweets (2%). Natural communication sentences prevailed in retweets and tweets (63% vs. 45%) as well as images (41.5% vs. 23%), both showing a significant rise in usage overtime. Overall, the findings suggest that the attention scientific articles receive on Twitter may have more to do with human interaction and inclusion of visual content in the tweets, than the significance of or genuine interest towards the research results.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-024-05127-8

Paywall: "Application-Based Big Data Development Framework for Health Sciences Libraries"

It presents a theoretical framework of the performance-based evaluation system for health institutes’ libraries in the digital environment. The health sciences libraries’ systematic approach was judged based on the five main components (data culture, organisational infrastructure, responsibilities, skills and technology competence) of big data analytics (BDA). . . . The study proposed a need for skilled professionals with the knowledge and experience both professionally and technically. Finally, the study proposed a model that will help to measure the organisation’s ability to analyse vast amounts of data to empirically validate the association concerning big data analysis and analytical practices in health libraries.

https://doi.org/10.1111/hir.12545

"Women and Men in Library and Information Science Scholarship: Authorship Trends from 2003 to 2021"

Library and information science (LIS) has long consisted of more women than men, at least in sheer numbers of library employees, but men are the primary authors of library literature. This study explores LIS literature published between 2003 and 2021 to identify if there are differences in the publishing patterns of women and men. The authors used content analysis to code the entire sample to identify overall subject trends after authors were categorized as women or men by mainly automated methods, using two R packages, genderize and ssa. The results show that there are overall inequities when compared to the profession as whole between the publishing rates of women and men in LIS, as well as differences in publication patterns by subjects and within specific journals. Shifts in subjects over the period under investigation did not increase the percentage of women publishing in the selected LIS journals. The authors conclude more research needs to be conducted to determine the cause of inequities in publishing not just among women and men, but all underrepresented voices in LIS.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2024.102939

E-resources Librarian at Abertay University

In this role, you will manage and optimize library systems such as Alma, Primo, Leganto, and Rialto, overseeing the resource lifecycle of subscription and one-time resources. You’ll implement and maintain secure authentication methods for electronic resources, ensuring seamless access for our users. A significant part of your work will involve conducting data analysis and reporting to inform collection development and demonstrate the value of our resources to stakeholders.

https://tinyurl.com/7psb3jd9

"Ten Simple Rules for Recognizing Data and Software Contributions in Hiring, Promotion, and Tenure"

The ways in which promotion and tenure committees operate vary significantly across universities and departments. While committees often have the capability to evaluate the rigor and quality of articles and monographs in their scientific field, assessment with respect to practices concerning research data and software is a recent development and one that can be harder to implement, as there are few guidelines to facilitate the process. More specifically, the guidelines given to tenure and promotion committees often reference data and software in general terms, with some notable exceptions such as guidelines in [5] and are almost systematically trumped by other factors such as the number and perceived impact of journal publications. The core issue is that many colleges establish a scholarship versus service dichotomy: Peer-reviewed articles or monographs published by university presses are considered scholarship, while community service, teaching, and other categories are given less weight in the evaluation process. This dichotomy unfairly disadvantages digital scholarship and community-based scholarship, including data and software contributions [6]. In addition, there is a lack of resources for faculties to facilitate the inclusion of responsible data and software metrics into evaluation processes or to assess faculty’s expertise and competencies to create, manage, and use data and software as research objects. As a result, the outcome of the assessment by the tenure and promotion committee is as dependent on the guidelines provided as on the committee members’ background and proficiency in the data and software domains.

The presented guidelines aim to help alleviate these issues and align the academic evaluation processes to the principles of open science. We focus here on hiring, tenure, and promotion processes, but the same principles apply to other areas of academic evaluation at institutions. While these guidelines are by no means sufficient for handling the complexity of a multidimensional process that involves balancing a large set of nuanced and diverse information, we hope that they will support an increasing adoption of processes that recognize data and software as key research contributions.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1012296

Oxford University Press: "Commit to Open: A New Initiative to Support Open Access for Books"

We are pleased to announce a new initiative to support open access for books, Oxford Scholarship Online: Commit to Open. . . .

Commit to Open aims to secure funding from libraries and institutions for 30 monographs to be published open access, ensuring that their digital editions are freely available, globally and in perpetuity.

There are three collections of 10 books available for libraries to support:

Support new voices: The landscape of academic publishing can often present particular challenges for those just starting their career. To nurture this community, we have a collection available where every book is written by an early career researcher. The titles in this collection are diverse, feature several titles on topics relating to under-represented groups, and cover eight different academic disciplines.

Humanities: This showcases the vitality and variety of our publishing across the Humanities. These books cover topics including the cross-pollination of ideas via missionaries, the cultural influences on music and music genres, and the flow of religious ideas and identities around the Mediterranean in both the ancient and modern worlds.

Law & Social Sciences: This collection has a strong focus on marginalized groups, with books on current controversies in development studies, incarceration systems, and voters from ethnic minorities and the LGBT community. It also features titles on radical ideas such as what we owe to animals and how states can exist without armed forces. If we reach our funding targets by March 2025, we will publish all 30 titles open access. If we receive a proportion of our target, we will make the corresponding proportion of the titles open access, with the remaining titles made available for purchase.

Pricing:

The price for a single collection is £2,500 / $3,500. If you commit financially to all three collections, you will receive a 10% discount.

The goal for our two subject-based collections is to reach a total of £122,500 (the equivalent to 10x our standard book processing charge). For our collection of books supporting authors who are Early Career Researchers we have a smaller goal of £73,500 (the equivalent to 6x our standard book processing charge).

Books that publish open access within this pilot will be excluded from any of our Oxford Scholarship Online purchasable collections and subscriptions — meaning you won’t be paying twice.

https://tinyurl.com/3jbvem2y

Digital Archives Relocation (DAR) Project Support Officer at Parliamentary Archives (Term)

The scope of DAR includes the migration of collections data and digital collections to The National Archives (TNA) systems, the transfer of web archiving collections and functions to TNA, the review and transfer of Parliamentary Archives’ web content, and the establishment of future processes to enable the continuing transfer of digital records from Parliament to TNA.

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"Policies on Artificial Intelligence Chatbots among Academic Publishers: A Cross-Sectional Audit"

Methods This study performed a cross-sectional audit on the publicly available policies of 163 academic publishers, indexed as members of the International Association of the Scientific, Technical, and Medical Publishers (STM). . . .

Results A total of 56/163 (34.4%) STM academic publishers had a publicly available policy guiding the authors’ use of AI chatbots. No policy allowed authorship accreditations for AI chatbots (or other generative technology). Most (49/56 or 87.5%) required specific disclosure of AI chatbot use. Four policies/publishers placed a complete ban on the use of AI tools by authors.

https://tinyurl.com/y4xhwbhe

Digital Publishing and Repository Librarian at Indiana University Indianapolis

The Digital Publishing and Repository Librarian reports to the Director of the Center and works closely with colleagues within the Center and across the Library to support the open dissemination of research. The Center is a highly collaborative and motivated group of individuals focused on changing IU Indianapolis’s culture to adopt more open access knowledge practices through a variety of initiatives, services, and advocacy work.

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