Search

Using the population of all university professors (N = 13,479) in the province of Quebec, Canada, this article analyses the concentration of funding, papers and citations at the level of individual researchers. It shows that each of these distributions is different, citations being the most concentrated followed by funding, papers published and, finally, number of funded projects. Concentration measures also vary between disciplines; social sciences and humanities generally being the most concentrated. The article also shows that the correspondence between the elites defined by each of these measures is limited. In fact, only 3.2% of the researchers are in the top 10% for all indicators, while about 20% are in the top 10% for at least one of the indicators. The article concludes with a discussion of the causes of these observed differences and formulates a few hypotheses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is intended to begin a discussion about the need for a future text analysis software tool to model a number of aspects of text analysis as it is practised by critics who are not computing humanists, and that have been barely considered by most developers. It begins by putting this analysis in the context of Douglas Englebart's famous model of computer-human interaction expressed originally by his Augment system. It continues by examining a number of examples of how technology (ranging from 3 × 5 cards to topic maps) is currently used to support critical analyses, and points out that an important aspect of the critical process, which is recognized at least in part by the 3 × 5 card model but not by mainstream humanities computing methods, is the sense of critical analysis as a process rather than merely the presentation of a finished product. The paper finishes by examining some of the underlying concepts present in text-analysis tools used within the social sciences that attempt to deal with this temporal aspect of analysis, and proposes a need to examine the real practices of critics in the light of these issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we report on the application of Google Scholar (GS)-based metrics in the formal assessment of research programs. Involved were programs in the fields of Education, Pedagogical Sciences, and Anthropology in The Netherlands. Also, a comparative analysis has been conducted of the results based on GS and Web of Science (WoS). Studies critical of GS point at its reliability of data. We show how the reliability of the GS data for the bibliometric analysis of the assessment can be improved by excluding non-verifiable citing sources from the full secondorder GS citing data. The study of the background of these second-order sources demonstrates a broadening of the citing sources. The comparison of GS with WoS citations for the publications of the programs shows that it is promising to use GS for fields with lower degrees of coverage in WoS, in particular for fields that produce more diverse types of output than just research articles. Restrictions to the use of GS are the intensive manual data handling and cleaning, necessary for a feasible and proper data collection. We discuss wider implications of the findings for bibliometric analysis and for the practices and policies in research evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of how research contributes to society typically focuses on the study of those transactions that are mediated through formal legal instruments (research contracts, patent licensing and the creation of companies). Research has shown, however, that informal means of technology transfer are also important. This paper explores the importance of informal collaborations and provides evidence of the extent to which informal collaborations between researchers and non-academic partners take place informally in the social sciences and humanities (SSH). Data is obtained from two studies on knowledge exchange involving researchers working in the SSH area of the Spanish Council for Scientific Research. We show that informal collaborations not officially recorded by the organisation are much more common than formal agreements and that many collaborations remain informal over time. We explore the causes of such prevalence of informality and discuss its policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Recently, the need to contribute to the evaluation of the scientific, social, and political impact of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) research has become a demand of policy makers and society. The international scientific community has made significant advances that have transformed the impact of evaluation landscape. This article reviews the existing scientific knowledge on evaluation tools and techniques that are applied to assess the scientific impact of SSH research; the changing structure of social and political impacts of SSH research is investigated based on an overarching research question: to what extent do scholars attempt to apply methods, instruments, and approaches that take into account the distinctive features of SSH? The review also includes examples of European Union (EU) projects that demonstrate these impacts. This article culminates in a discussion of the development of the assessment of different impacts and identifies limitations, and areas and topics to explore in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies gender bias in early-stage academic evaluations in Italy and investigates whether this bias depends on various types of authorship in collaborative work across three academic fields: humanities, economics, and social sciences. We test our hypotheses via a factorial survey (vignette) experiment on a sample from the entire population of associate and full professors employed at Italian public universities in 2019. This is one of the few experiments conducted with university professors to consider hiring propensities in academia. Contrary to our general expectations, we do not find gender bias in relation to co-authorship in our general population of interest. However, the results provide some evidence that when the evaluator is a man, highly collaborative women academics in Italy receive less favourable evaluations of their qualifications compared to male colleagues with identical credentials. This gender bias is found in economics, a field where the conventions of co-authorship allow for greater uncertainty about individual contributions to a joint publication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes my experiences teaching a 28-hour course on the bacterial world for undergraduate students in the humanities and the social sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. This course was offered in the framework of a program in which students must obtain credit points for courses offered by other faculties to broaden their education. Most students had little biology in high school and had never been exposed to the basics of chemistry. Using a historical approach, highlighting the work of pioneers such as van Leeuwenhoek, Koch, Fleming, Pasteur, Winogradsky and Woese, I covered a broad area of general, medical, environmental and evolutionary microbiology. The lectures included basic concepts of organic and inorganic chemistry necessary to understand the principles of fermentations and chemoautotrophy, and basic molecular biology to explain biotechnology using transgenic microorganisms and molecular phylogeny. Teaching the basics of microbiology to intelligent students lacking any background in the natural sciences was a rewarding experience. Some students complained that, in spite of my efforts, basic concepts of chemistry remained beyond their understanding. But overall the students' evaluation showed that the course had achieved its goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In journalism research the past 20 years have seen a trend toward study of the communication process in its relation to society. Methodologically, increasing use has been made of the quantitative methods of the behavioral sciences, but by no means to the exclusion of the qualitative approach of the humanities. Rapid progress has been sparked by the growing availability of basic data, the development of research tools, and increasing institutional support for field research. Communication effect, however, remains a little understood area. For the purpose of this article, "journalism research" is defined as research on the printed media of mass communication. It is not being equated with research done in journalism schools; their research is not limited to print. Neither is it being equated with research on newspapers, which is usually considered to be the central subject matter of "journalism." The article talks about the broad sweep of research on newspapers, magazines, and books, in this country, during the 20 years which are spanned by the distinguished history of the "Public Opinion Quarterly."

This article explores the current literature on 'research impact' in the social sciences and humanities (SSH). By providing a comprehensive review of available literature, drawing on national and international experiences, we take a systematic look at the impact agenda within SSH. The primary objective of this article is to examine key methodological components used to assess research impact comparing the advantages and disadvantages of each method. The study finds that research impact is a highly complex and contested concept in the SSH literature. Drawing on the strong methodological pluralism emerging in the literature, we conclude that there is considerable room for researchers, universities, and funding agencies to establish impact assessment tools directed towards specific missions while avoiding catch-all indicators and universal metrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the adoption of holistic approaches in frailty research, particularly in examining the health and illness of older people. Other topics include the possible adoption of social sciences and humanities toolkits in identifying the social and biological factors in frailty and in designing effective interventions, as well as the emerging concept of intrinsic capacity in geriatric medicine.

The capacity to recognize the contribution of individual researchers and their organizational unit is likely to be at odds with the purpose of a national research assessment, due to the broader approach to identifying research strengths and its classification at disciplinary levels. The Australian research assessment exercise, Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA), is devised to determine research quality in this wider context. To explore the impact of research classification on the visibility of research contribution, this study analysed articles published by authors affiliated with two social sciences and humanities (SSH) fields--'education' and 'language, communication and culture'. Article classification was examined for agreement with the authors' affiliated organizational unit's field. The influence of national and international co-authorship on article classification was also examined. Articles were distributed across different classification categories and a substantial proportion did not match with the authors' organizational unit's field. National and international co-authorship by education-affiliated authors was found to be significantly associated with publishing outside their organizational unit's field. As the first investigation to focus on how research is distributed by the ERA's classification scheme when applied to journal articles by SSH authors, the study provides empirical evidence of the challenges involved in recognizing the contribution of organizational units. This work builds on the existing literature relating to classification and research evaluation and has the potential to inform research managers of the complexities in setting strategic research priorities based on ERA outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Books are a key channel in the scientific communication processes for researchers in Social Sciences and Humanities. Although the best way of assessing the monographs would involve its individualized reading, this method is practically unfeasible both in terms of cost and time. An indicator which could be used is the prestige of the publisher of monographs and it is essential to take into account the academy’s opinion to determine it. This article reports a survey launched to 11,647 lecturers and Spanish researchers, with a response rate of 26%, in which the respondents were asked to point those quality indicators they consider the most relevant for books as well as their opinion on the quality of publishers. As the main results, there are reported the top-rated publishers, as well as the characteristics which, according to the respondents’ opinion, determine their quality; among these characteristics, stands out the fact of counting with an assessment system with external reviewers. Regarding the list of publishers, it is also explained the indicator which allows its ranking. It is also defended the use of the results in the form of categorization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article aims at contributing to understanding the European Research Area (ERA), from the perspective of science policy coordination. It first looks at ERA as an evolution of European science policy, shaped by ideas as to what science policy is and should be, by its own history and by evolutions in national systems. The article argues that in a context of an apparently increasing concern with societal challenges and priority-setting, institutional developments in Europe mark a trend away from mission-oriented policies and towards diffusion-oriented policies. The article looks in detail at national structures, resources and programmes in social sciences and humanities which are subjected to the coordinating influence of a changing European policy landscape. As new elements in European policy increase the coordinating influence of the European level on the national, the article concludes on the way the differences in resources and structures affect the way different countries participate in the ERA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An overview of current scientific journals evaluation initiatives in Spain is presented. Most of these models are focused on social sciences and humanities journals because of their special features, and are targeted to research evaluation activities. Indicators developed in these systems are analysed, including the methodological difficulties that they entail and the relative merits of each in terms of efficiency. Moreover, the criteria used by the evaluation agencies in relation to scientific journals are examined. Finally, a model based on a diverse range of indicators on editorial quality, international visibility, peer review and impact is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research and development (R&D) is underestimated in services. This article combines deductive and inductive approaches to formulate a new definition of R&D. The proposed revision does not fundamentally alter the structure of the current OECD definition, which is only marginally amended by making explicit certain implicit or insufficiently highlighted characteristics. In particular, it emphasises the importance of the social sciences and humanities and of design and development or organisational engineering, the composite nature of projects, and so on. Our objective is to attain a certain 'psychological' threshold that would mark our emancipation from the inertia of the still dominant industrialist and technologist approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demonstrates that Ockham was concerned, except during a very brief period, categorically to reject the Lockean view that a universal is a quality of the mind distinct from the mental act. Objective being of Ockham's fictum theory; Analysis of pertinent topics and relevant issues; Implications on philosophical studies.

Presents several dissertations listed in the January-March 1988 issue of "Dissertation Abstracts International: The Humanities and Social Sciences." "Ohio Agriculture Since World War II"; "The Singing Plow"; "Farm Girl."

Presents a list of articles about humanities and social sciences. "The Southern Enclosure Movement," by Numan V. Bartley, published in the Fall 1987 issue of the journal "Georgia Historical Quarterly"; "The Rural Alahamian, A Journal of Progressive Agriculture and Improved Industry, 1872-1873," by Melodee J. French, published in the July 1987 issue of the journal "Alabama Review"; "Loyalist Style and the Culture of the Atlantic Seaboard," by Ann Gorman Condon, published in the Spring 1987 issue of the journal "Material History Bulletin."