Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Factors Influencing Undergraduate Use Of E-Books: A Mixed Methods Study, Devendra Potnis, Kanchan Deosthali, Xiaohua Zhu, Rebecca Mccusker

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Academic libraries invest millions of dollars to make electronic resources available to students for free. However, free access might not necessarily result in students’ sustained interest in and use of e-books. This interdisciplinary, mixed methods research investigates the factors influencing the intention of 279 undergraduate students to use e-books at a land-grant university in the southern US. Structural equation modeling of the survey responses suggests that organizational environment for information technology, external locus of control, subjective norm, perceived enjoyment (i.e., joyfulness), and information technology features play a significant role in influencing the intention of students to use e-books. Based on …

New Web Services That Help Authors Choose Journals, Amy Louise Forrester, Bo-Christer Björk, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

The motivations for an author to choose a journal to submit to are complex and include factors relating to impact and prestige, service quality, and publication costs and policies. Authors require information about multiple characteristics of journals that may be difficult to obtain. This article compares and contrasts the new author-oriented journal comparison tools and services that have emerged to assist researchers in this important step of the scholarly publishing process. Many of these tools combine factors to provide full web-based manuscript submission decision tools, however all have limitations that reduce their usefulness.

Imagining A Gold Open Access Future: Attitudes, Behaviors, And Funding Scenarios Among Authors Of Academic Scholarship., Carol Tenopir, Elizabeth D. Dalton, Lisa Christian, Misty K. Jones, Mark Mccabe

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

The viability of gold open access publishing models into the future will depend, in part, on the attitudes of authors toward open access (OA). In a survey of academics at four major research universities in North America, we examine academic authors’ opinions and behaviors toward gold OA. The study allows us to see what academics know and perceive about open access models, their current behavior in regard to publishing in OA, and possible future behavior. In particular, we gauge current attitudes to examine the perceived likelihood of various outcomes in an all-open access publishing scenario. We also survey how much …

Survey Of Scholarly Reading (Finland), Carol Tenopir, Lisa Christian, Elina Late

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

An survey of academics and phd students in Finland asked respondents a series of questions based on their scholarly reading behavior. For example, how they accessed scholarly publications and where the obtained them, reading format, and numbers of publications read per month. Respondents were also asked about their social media habits.

What Motivates Authors Of Scholarly Articles? The Importance Of Journal Attributes And Potential Audience On Publication Choice., Carol Tenopir, Elizabeth Dortch Dalton, Allison Fish, Lisa Christian, Misty K. Jones, Mackenzie Smith

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

In this article we examine what motivations influence academic authors in selecting a journal in which to publish. A survey was sent to approximately 15,000 faculty, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers at four large North American research universities with a response rate of 14.4% (n = 2021). Respondents were asked to rate how eight different journal attributes and five different audiences influence their choice of publication output. Within the sample, the most highly rated attributes are quality and reputation of journal and fit with the scope of the journal; open access is the least important attribute. Researchers at other research-intensive …

Open Peer Review: An Innovation In Scientific Publishing, Peiling Wang, Manasa Rath, Michael Deike, Wu Qiang

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

This research observes the emerging open peer review journals. In scientific publishing, transparency in peer review is a growing topic of interest for online journals. The traditional blind refereeing process has been criticized for lacking transparency. Although the idea of open peer review (OPR) has been explored since 1980s, it is only in this decade that OPR journals are born. Towards a more open publishing model, the peer review process--once accessible only to the editors and referees—is now available to public. The published article and its review history are being integrated into one entity; readers can submit or post comments …

Inequalities Creating Economic Barriers To Owning Mobile Phones In India: Factors Responsible For The Gender Digital Divide, Devendra Potnis

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

In India, men own around 70% of mobile phones, creating a gender digital divide for the most widely owned information and communication technology (ICT) in the world. This study investigates the factors responsible for the inability of 245 female slum-dwellers in India earning less than $2 a day to own a mobile phone. Open, axial and selective coding of survey responses shows that socio-cultural, economic, demographic, psychological, communication-related, and health related inequalities in the lives of the respondents create eight economic barriers precluding respondents from owning some of the least expensive mobile phones worth $15 or so on installments of …

Identifying Key Steps For Developing Mobile Applications And Mobile Websites For Libraries, Devendra Potnis, Reynard Regenstreif-Harms, Edwin Cortez

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Mobile applications and mobile websites (MAMW) represent information systems that are increasingly being developed by libraries to better serve their patrons. Due to a lack of in-house IT skills and the knowledge necessary to develop MAMW, a majority of libraries are forced to rely on external IT professionals, who may or may not help libraries meet patron needs but instead may deplete libraries’ scarce financial resources. This paper applies a system analysis and design perspective to analyze the experience and advice shared by librarians and IT professionals engaged in developing MAMW. This paper identifies key steps and precautions to take …

Open Peer Review In Scientific Publishing: A Web Mining Study Of Peerj Authors And Reviewers, Peiling Wang, Sukjin You, Manasa Rath, Dietmar Wolfram

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Purpose: To understand how authors and reviewers are accepting and embracing Open Peer Review (OPR), one of the newest innovations in the open science movement.

Design: This research collected and analyzed data from the Open Access journal PeerJ over its first three years (2013-2016). Web data were scraped, cleaned, and structured using several Web tools and programs. The structured data were imported into a relational database. Data analyses were conducted using analytical tools as well as programs developed by the researchers.

Findings: PeerJ, which supports optional OPR, has a broad international representation of authors and referees. Approximately 73.89% …

Research Data Services In Academic Libraries: Data Intensive Roles For The Future., Carol Tenopir, Dane Hughes, Suzie Allard, Mike Frame, Ben Birch, Lynn Baird, Robert J. Sandusky, Madison Langseth, Andrew Lundeen

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Objectives: The primary objectives of this study are to gauge the various levels of Research Data Service academic libraries provide based on demographic factors, gauging RDS growth since 2011, and what obstacles may prevent expansion or growth of services. Methods: Survey of academic institutions through stratified random sample of ACRL library directors across the U.S. and Canada. Frequencies and chi-square analysis were applied, with some responses grouped into broader categories for analysis. Results: Minimal to no change for what services were offered between survey years, and interviews with library directors were conducted to help explain this lack of change. Conclusion: …

Trustworthiness And Authority Of Scholarly Information In A Digital Age: Results Of An International Questionnaire, Carol Tenopir, Kenneth Levine, Suzie Allard, Lisa Christian, Rachel Volentine, Reid Boehm, Frances Nichols, David Nicholas, Hamid R. Jamali, Eti Herman, Anthony Watkinson

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

An international survey of over 3600 researchers examined how trustworthiness and quality are determined for making decisions on scholarly reading, citing, and publishing and how scholars perceive changes in trust with new forms of scholarly communication. Although differences in determining trustworthiness and authority of scholarly resources exist among age groups and fields of study, traditional methods and criteria remain important across the board. Peer review is considered the most important factor for determining the quality and trustworthiness of research. Researchers continue to read abstracts, check content for sound arguments and credible data, and rely on journal rankings when deciding whether …

The Role Of Trust And Authority In The Citation Behaviour Of Researchers., Clare Thornley, Anthony Watkinson, Dave Nicholas, Rachel Volentine, Hamid R. Jamali, Eti Herman, Suzie Allard, Kenneth Levine, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

This paper reports on an interview-based citation behaviour study, part of a wider study of trust in information resources, investigating why researchers chose to cite particular references in one of their publications. Their motivations are explored, with an emphasis on whether they regarded the reference as an authoritative and trustworthy source, and, if so, to what extent and why. Method. Semi-structured critical incident interviews were carried out with eighty-seven researchers from the UK and the USA. Analysis. The answers were analysed using qualitative techniques and then grouped under descriptive headings of the types of reasons for citation provided. These were …

Librarians Do Research Too!, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Every year librarians and information professionals are advancing the field of Library and Information Science with research into new models, processes and services. LIS professionals are also contributing on research projects within the various academic disciplines and research units they support.

Are you interested in joining their ranks?

Librarians Do Research Too! is a 25-page ebooklet for LIS professionals who want to start their own research projects. This Library Connect Blueprint for Success provides inspiration, guidance and resources from a leading LIS researcher.

Pay It Forward: Investigating A Sustainable Model Of Open Access Article Processing Charges For Large North American Research Institutions Survey Instrument, Carol Tenopir, Betsy D. Dalton, Misty K. Jones

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

A survey of faculty, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers at four large North American research universities (n = 2021) asked respondents to rate how eight different journal factors and five different audiences influence their choice of publication output.

Beyond Downloads: Digital Usage Of Scholarly Articles Survey Instrument, Carol Tenopir, Suzie Allard, Lisa Christian

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

An international survey of academics and scholars from 69 countries (n=1000) asked respondents a series of questions based on their download, saving, and sharing of scholarly articles.

Scholarly Article Seeking, Reading, And Use: A Continuing Evolution From Print To Electronic In The Sciences And Social Sciences, Carol Tenopir, Donald W. King, Lisa Christian, Rachel E. Volentine

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Electronic journals are now the norm for accessing and reading scholarly articles. This article examines scholarly article reading patterns by faculty in five US universities in 2012. Selected findings are also compared to some general trends from studies conducted periodically since 1977. In the 2012 survey, over threequarters (76%) of the scholarly readings were obtained through electronic means and just over half (51%) of readings were read on a screen rather than from a print source or being printed out. Readings from library sources are overwhelmingly from e-sources. The average number of articles read per month was 20.66, with most …

Applying Information Science Lens For Advancing Critical Research On It Adoption: Insights From Continued Usage Of Mobile Phones By Poor Women In Rural India, Devendra Potnis

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Critical research on IT adoption dominated by cognitive models grounded in psychology and communication is always in search of new theoretical perspectives to understand, explain, and interpret social issues. Since information plays an important role in IT adoption, this study applies an information science lens to investi-gate the factors affecting the continued usage of mobile phones in rural India. Analysis of interviews with 22 women earning less than a dollar day reveals the influence of social, economic, cognitive, technological, and information-related factors on their continued usage of mobiles. Micro- and meso-level socioeconomic motives and active information-seeking behavior emerge as the …

Beyond Access To Information: Understanding The Use Of Information By Poor Female Mobile Users In Rural India, Devendra Potnis

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Digital inclusion research has focused overwhelmingly on access to information. But access to information by itself is of limited value unless the intended beneficiary has the capacity to use it. It is the use of information that delivers the benefits. However, in ICT for development literature, there is little empirical work on the process by which use of information delivers benefits. This study fills the gap by studying information use by poor female mobile phone users in rural India. It identifies six stages in the information use process and models them.

Addressing Data Collection Challenges In Ict For Development Projects, Devendra Potnis

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

This paper equips researchers for addressing a wide range of data collection challenges experienced when interacting with marginalized communities as part of ICT4D projects in developing countries. This secondary research categorizes data collection challenges reported in multiple disciplines, and summarizes the guidance from the past literature to deal with the challenges. The open, axial, and selective coding of data collection challenges reported by the past literature suggests that it is necessary to manage scope, time, cost, quality, human resources, communication, and risks for addressing the data collection challenges. This paper illustrates the ways to manage these seven dimensions using (a) …

To Boldly Go Beyond Downloads: How Are Journal Articles Shared And Used?, Carol Tenopir, Gabriel Hughes, Christian Lisa, Suzie Allard, David Nicholas, Anthony Watkinson, Hazel Woodward, Peter Shepherd, Robert Anderson

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

With more scholarly journals being distributed electronically rather than in print form, we know that researchers download many articles. What is less well known is how journal articles are used after they are initially downloaded. To what extent are they saved, uploaded, tweeted, or otherwise shared? How does this reuse increase their total use and value to research and how does it influence library usage figures? University of Tennessee Chancellor’s Professor Carol Tenopir, Professor Suzie Allard, and Adjunct Professor David Nicholas are leading a team of international researchers on a the project, “Beyond Downloads,” funded by a grant from Elsevier. …

The Four Pillars Of Scholarly Publishing: The Future And A Foundation., Jarrett Ek Byrnes, Edward B. Baskerville, Bruce Caron, Cameron Neylon, Carol Tenopir, Mark Schildhauer, A.E. Budden, Lonnie Aarssen, Christopher Lortie

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Scholarly publishing has embraced electronic distribution in many respects, but the tools available through the Internet and other advancing technologies have profound implications for scholarly communication beyond dissemination. We argue that to best serve science, the process of scholarly communication must embrace these advances and evolve. Here, we consider the current state of the process in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) and propose directions for this evolution and potential change. We identify four pillars for the future of scientific communication: (1) an ecosystem of scholarly products, (2) immediate and open access, (3) open peer review, and (4) full recognition for …

Measuring And Applying Data About Users In The Seton Hall Library, Rachel E. Volentine, Lisa Rose-Wiles, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

We present data on how faculty and students at Seton Hall University use scholarly articles and books, how the library can present its findings to stakeholders, and how librarians can learn from these findings to better meet user needs. The data were gathered using questionnaire surveys of university faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students as part of the IMLS Lib-Value project and based on Tenopir and King Studies conducted since 1977. Many questions used the critical incident of the last article and book reading to enable analysis of the characteristics of readings, in addition to characteristics of readers. Seton Hall’s …

Academic Librarians And Research Data Services: Preparation And Attitudes, Carol Tenopir, Robert Sandusky, Suzie Allard, Ben Birch

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Research funding bodies recognize the importance of infrastructure and services to organize and preserve research data, and academic research libraries have been identified as locations in which to base these research data services (RDS). Research data services include data management planning, digital curation (selection, preservation, maintenance, and archiving), and metadata creation and conversion. We report the results of an empirical investigation into the RDS practices of librarians in US and Canadian academic research libraries, establishing a baseline of the engagement of librarians at this early stage of widespread service development. Specifically, this paper examines the opinions of the surveyed librarians …

Scholarly Reading And The Value Of Academic Library Collections: Results Of A Study In Six Uk Universities., Carol Tenopir, Rachel Volentine, Donald W. King

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Measuring the use, outcomes and value of the library’s role in scholarly reading helps demonstrate the value library collections bring to scholarship. The Scholarly Reading and the Value of Library Resources project, funded by JISC Collections, measured the value and outcomes to academic staff members from access to scholarly publications. Six higher education institutions in the UK participated in the 2011 survey of scholarly reading. Over 2,000 academic staff members responded to the survey, which asked questions about reading of scholarly articles, books and other materials. Respondents read from a variety of materials, an average of 22 articles, seven books …

Data Curation Education In Research Centers Poster, Christopher Eaker, Erica Johns, Kayla Siddell

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

The volume of scientific data is growing exponentially across all scientific disciplines. Competent information professionals are needed to sort, catalog, store, and retrieve this data for future research and education requirements. In response to this need, the goal of the Data Curation Education in Research Centers (DCERC) project is to develop curriculum to educate information science students in the critical field of scientific data curation. Three masters degree students at University of Tennessee (UT) and three doctoral students at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign are completing year one of the program. Each brings to the field of data curation skills …

Communicating In The 21st Century Workplace: A Theory Of Communication Nexus, Kenneth Levine, Suzie Allard, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

The workplace is evolving into the communication nexus; a central connection point for messages among workers. Naturalistic observations of 69 workers in four U.S. high-tech firms identified three themes: (1) frequency of communication, (2) availability and use of multiple communication channels, and (3) need for instantaneous communication. A new theory of the organizational workplace as a communication nexus is presented here to explain new organizational communication phenomena and predict organizational communication in the contemporary workplace.

Building Effective Ontology For Semantic Web: A Discussion Based On Practical Examples, Tianmu Zhang

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

The study aims to investigate semantic web and create useful ontology as a teaching and educational tool for others interested in learning more about Semantic web. This paper discussed several emerging issues about the semantic web and ontology building. This paper combines ontology implementation examples with research topics to identify current issues and potential solution in both application and theoretical level. It concludes that although semantic web and ontology technology are not mature enough currently, there is a clear tendency for them to be integrated into various applications to exert synergies.

The Changing Communication Patterns Of Engineers, Kenneth Levine, Suzie Allard, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

In the 21st-century workplace, communicating information effectively is essential for organizational success. It is only with a proper understanding of the power of communication-and the multiple channels through which information is sent-that problem solving, creativity and innovation are fostered. As workers face increasing demands on their time, they are finding new and unique ways to use technology in order to communicate. Further, for the communication to be effective, workers must understand cultural differences and overcome cultural barriers, as for many in the high-tech industry, the workplace is now global. In the global environment, meetings are common, but due to distance, …

Data Sharing By Scientists: Practices And Perceptions, Carol Tenopir, Suzie Allard, Kimberly L. Douglass, Arsev Umur Aydinoglu, Lei Wu, Eleanor Read, Maribeth Manoff, Mike Frame

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Background: Scientific research in the 21st century is more data intensive and collaborative than in the past. It is important to study the data practices of researchers – data accessibility, discovery, re-use, preservation and, particularly, data sharing. Data sharing is a valuable part of the scientific method allowing for verification of results and extending research from prior results. Methodology/Principal Findings: A total of 1329 scientists participated in this survey exploring current data sharing practices and perceptions of the barriers and enablers of data sharing. Scientists do not make their data electronically available to others for various reasons, including insufficient time …

Data Sharing By Scientists: Practices And Perceptions., Carol Tenopir, Suzie Allard, Kimberly L. Douglass, Arsev Aydinoglu, Lei Wu

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Scientific research in the 21st century is more data intensive and collaborative than in the past. It is important to study the data practices of researchers - data accessibility, discovery, re-use, preservation and, particularly, data sharing. Data sharing is a valuable part of the scientific method allowing for verification of results and extending research from prior results.

A total of 1329 scientists participated in this survey exploring current data sharing practices and perceptions of the barriers and enablers of data sharing. Scientists do not make their data electronically available to others for various reasons, including insufficient time and lack of …