1. Multidisciplinary and cosmopolitan: how openness influences the academic impact of a scholar’s research
The academic impact of a scholar's research remains of great importance to institutions, particularly business schools. Hyungseok (David) Yoon and Mustapha Belkhouja, in their post in the LSE Impact of Social Sciences Blog, report on research examining how scholars' openness to other disciplines and broader collaborations influences their academic impact, as determined by citation analysis.
The blog post says (quote): For established academics, the findings show that the more disciplines an individual has covered, the higher the academic impact. Unfortunately for early-career academics there is a peak in the benefits of multidisciplinary working, and passing this point (i.e. publishing in too many disciplines) can see the yearly citations fall. For early-career researchers at least, this scenario becomes rather like the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears – with academics on a quest to identify a level of multidisciplinary working that is "just right". Nevertheless, the benefits of multidisciplinary working should be promoted in order for academics to actively engage in tackling both research and societal challenges. Besides, for those who have experience working in different subject areas, the likelihood is that they will be better able and feel more comfortable communicating their research findings to a broader audience, a route that often leads to higher research and societal impact. Being open to multidisciplinary working can enhance curiosity, triggering a desire to learn more about different areas of research and provide the motivation to do so………(unquote)
The full entry can be read Here.
2. Patents: A new view of impact
Posted by Amy Rees and Cat Williams in the Altmetric Blog, this post introduces the new attention source tracked by Altmetric. It covers how Altmetric track patents, how to access the data and the new insights it uncovers.
The blog post says (quote): Altmetric's patent data is sent from IFI CLAIMS, via Dimensions. With the largest index of patents in the world, IFI CLAIMS is used by organisations large and small to understand and track patents globally - including the Google Patents index! The data Altmetric has integrated covers the years from 1994 to 2018 (inclusive), and represents patents from nine different patent offices: World Intellectual Property Organization; IP Australia; German Patent and Trade Mark Office; Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property; European Patent Office (EPO); United States Patent and Trademark Office; National Industrial Property Institute; Intellectual Property Office of the United Kingdom; and Netherlands Patent Office………(unquote)
The full entry can be read Here.
3. Helping researchers publish their work, not waste it: welcome to the EQUATOR Canada Publication School
While scientists will receive formal training in most aspects of the scientific process, learning best practices in publishing their work can often be left to trial and error. An article recently published in BMC Proceedings describes a course delivered by the EQUATOR Canada Publication School which looks to address this gap in training. In their post in the BioMed Central Blog, Jacqueline Galica and Nancy Butcher, tell us about the event and why training researchers with skills in Journalology is so important.
The blog post says (quote): The paper concludes that in light of the importance of academic publishing in the scientific process, there is a need to train and prepare researchers with skills in Journalology. The EQUATOR Canada Publication School – which was hosted for a second time in Spring 2018 at The Hospital for Sick Children – provides an example of a successful program that addressed the needs of researchers across career trajectories and provided them with resources to be successful in the publication process. This approach can be used, modified, or adapted by curriculum developers interested in designing similar programs, and could be incorporated into academic and clinical research training programs………(unquote)
The full entry can be read Here.
4. Libraries and Archives: A Humanities Take on Discovery
Discovery is a fraught concept. Scholars are interested in discovering libraries and archives as institutional producers of knowledge, not only using them as providers of resources. In her post in the Scholarly Kitchen Blog, Karin Wulf discusses three related ways that scholars are looking at libraries - and especially at special collections and archives - as a subject of study rather than a gateway.
The blog post says (quote): The American Philosophical Society, founded in 1743, maintains an extraordinary collection of Native American materials. Earlier this year, they announced a completely new Indigenous Subject Guide, funded with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, with a number of significant features. They have revised names used to describe indigenous languages and cultures in the collections, replacing old and often pejorative ones. They have not removed those entirely, but kept them as a record of the collecting history, "in order to reflect the history of how these terms were deployed." The guide also elevates and recognises the many indigenous knowledge producers who took part either in the past or the present in the creation of the materials. This is critical as often only donors or the researchers were associated with these materials, denigrating native knowledge and - again - reproducing some of the same hierarchies in the collecting and attribution………(unquote)
The full entry can be read Here.
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