10 June 2021
Upcoming events
Have you registered yet? Our upcoming seminar "Introduction to E-Resources" will be held online on the 6th and 9th July. This two-part online event has been adapted from UKSG’s successful and long-running one-day seminar and aims to present a practical introductory overview of all aspects of e-resources management, encompassing e-journals, e-books and bibliographic and full-text databases. The day will be led by Anna Franca, Edgehill University and Richard Bramwell, Ebsco. Details are here.
We also have the next event in our free webinar series: "Back to the Future: Lessons learned from the Jisc OA Textbook project" on June 17 at 13:00 BST. With eTextbooks high on library and publisher agendas and the controversy over costs and access raging, OA textbooks could be a solution. What are the considerations for initiating, and sustaining an open access textbook directly linked to teaching at one institution, but open to all? The 2014-2018 Jisc Institution as eTextbook Publisher project funded OA textbook pilots and created a toolkit. Liverpool published 2 titles, in a partnership with the Library and Liverpool University Press. In this webinar we will revisit the project and look forward, considering resource and expertise requirements for a sustainable OA textbook model. Full details are here.
You can register your interest for all of our events here.
UKSG 2022 - Glasgow, UK March 28-30
Don't forget to submit your presentation ideas!
Recent UKSG Insights articles
Game over: empower early career researchers to improve research quality
Authors: Véronique De Herde, Mattias Björnmalm, Toma Susi
Abstract
Processes of research evaluation are coming under increasing scrutiny, with detractors arguing that they have adverse effects on research quality, and that they support a research culture of competition to the detriment of collaboration. Based on three personal perspectives, we consider how current systems of research evaluation lock early career researchers and their supervisors into practices that are deemed necessary to progress academic careers within the current evaluation frameworks. We reflect on the main areas in which changes would enable better research practices to evolve; many align with open science. In particular, we suggest a systemic approach to research evaluation, taking into account its connections to the mechanisms of financial support for the institutions of research and higher education in the broader landscape. We call for more dialogue in the academic world around these issues and believe that empowering early career researchers is key to improving research quality.
Full text: http://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.548
Dissemination of applied research to the field: attitudes and practices of faculty authors in social work
Authors: Kimberly Pendell, Ericka Kimball
Abstract
In applied research disciplines like social work, there is a clear disconnect between the production and dissemination of research and the access and use of research in practice. This research/practice divide is particularly problematic for practitioners required to work within evidence-based or research-informed frameworks. To explore this issue, we conducted a nationwide survey and qualitative interviews with social work faculty regarding their research dissemination attitudes and practices, especially to non-academic audiences. The survey and interviews provide data on faculty dissemination methods, attitudes toward gold and green open access and promotion and tenure considerations. Results demonstrate that faculty are primarily engaged with traditional publishing models and much less engaged with dissemination to non-academic audiences. Faculty are skeptical of open access journals, avoid article processing charges and are only minimally engaged with institutional repositories. Faculty are conflicted regarding the dissemination of their research, especially in the context of promotion and tenure. Shifting dissemination outside of non-academic audiences would require increased confidence in open access, support for the creation of practitioner-focused materials and prioritizing the impact of research on practice.
Full text: http://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.546
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