Millennial researchers in a metric-driven scholarly world: An international study

Abstract The study Investigates the attitudes and practices of early career researchers (ECRs) in regard to citation-based metrics and altmetrics, providing the findings in the light of what might be expected of the millennial generation and in the context of what we already know about researchers in today’s ‘culture of counting’ governed scholarly world. The data were gathered by means of an international survey, informed by a preceding, 3-year qualitative study of 120 ECRs from 7 countries, which obtained 1,600 responses. The main conclusions are: 1, citation indicators play a central and multi-purpose role in scholarly communications; 2, altmetrics are not so popular or widely used, but ECRs are waking up to some of their merits, most notably, discovering the extent to which their papers obtain traction and monitoring impact; 3, there is a strong likelihood that ECRs are going to have to grapple with both citation-based metrics and altmetrics, mainly in order to demonstrate research impact; 4, the Chinese are the most metric using nation, largely because of governmental regulations.

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investigadores junior españoles y su implicación en la ciencia abierta

Anales de Documentación ◽

10.6018/analesdoc.470671 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 24 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Blanca Rodríguez-Bravo ◽

David Nicholas

Keyword(s):

Critical Factor ◽

Open Science ◽

Early Career ◽

Attitudes And Practices ◽

Early Career Researchers ◽

Precarious Situation

El objetivo es indagar en las actitudes y prácticas de los jóvenes investigadores españoles hacia la ciencia abierta. Se analiza su interés por compartir en abierto publicaciones y datos, por colaborar con otros investigadores y stakeholders, por difundir su investigación y por perseguir el impacto de los resultados científicos. La metodología se fundamenta en entrevistas y encuestas dirigidas a Early Career Researchers (ECRs) españoles. Los resultados muestran el interés de los investigadores noveles por la ciencia abierta, pero también la necesidad de reconocimiento de las acciones implicadas en ella como requisito para su consolidación entre investigadores en situación precaria. La financiación es también un factor crítico a considerar. The aim is to investigate the attitudes and practices of Spanish Early Career Researchers (ECRs) towards open science. Their interest in sharing openly publications and data, in collaborating with other researchers and stakeholders, in disseminating their research and in looking for results’ impact is analyzed. The methodology is based on interviews and surveys directed to Spanish Early Career Researchers (ECRs). The results show the interest of novice researchers in open science, but also the need for recognition of the actions involved in it as a requirement for its consolidation among researchers in a precarious situation. Funding is a critical factor to be considered as well.

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How is open access publishing going down with early career researchers? An international, multi-disciplinary study

El profesional de la información ◽

10.3145/epi.2020.nov.14 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

David Nicholas ◽

Hamid R. Jamali ◽

Eti Herman ◽

Jie Xu ◽

Chérifa Boukacem-Zeghmouri ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Open Access ◽

Career Progression ◽

Early Career ◽

Open Access Publishing ◽

Openness To Change ◽

Advantages And Disadvantages ◽

Early Career Researchers ◽

Scholarly Communications ◽

The Subject ◽

The Many

This study explores early career researchers’ (ECRs) appreciation and utilisation of open access (OA) publishing. The evidence reported here results from a questionnaire-based international survey with 1600 participants, which forms the second leg and final year of a four year long, mixed methods, longitudinal study that sought to discover whether ECRs will be the harbingers of change when it comes to scholarly communications. Proceeding from the notion that today’s neophyte researchers, believed to hold millennial values of openness to change, transparency and sharing, may be best placed to power the take-up of OA publishing, the study sought to discover: the extent to which ECRs publish OA papers; the main reasons for their doing or not doing so; and what were thought to be the broader advantages and disadvantages of OA publishing. The survey data is presented against a backdrop of the literature-based evidence on the subject, with the interview stage data providing contextualisation and qualitative depth. The findings show that the majority of ECRs published in OA journals and this varied by discipline and country. Most importantly, there were more advantages and fewer disadvantages to OA publishing, which may be indicative of problems to do with cost and availability, rather than reputational factors. Among the many reasons cited for publishing OA the most important one is societal, although OA is seen as especially benefiting ECRs in career progression. Cost is plainly considered the main downside.

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Early career researchers and their authorship and peer review beliefs and practices: An international study

Learned Publishing ◽

10.1002/leap.1283 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 33 (2) ◽

pp. 142-152 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Hamid R. Jamali ◽

David Nicholas ◽

Anthony Watkinson ◽

Abdullah Abrizah ◽

Blanca Rodríguez‐Bravo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Peer Review ◽

International Study ◽

Early Career ◽

Beliefs And Practices ◽

Early Career Researchers

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The impact of the pandemic on early career researchers: what we already know from the internationally published literature

El profesional de la información ◽

10.3145/epi.2021.mar.08 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Eti Herman ◽

David Nicholas ◽

Anthony Watkinson ◽

Blanca Rodríguez-Bravo ◽

Abdullah Abrizah ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Work Life ◽

Early Career ◽

Pertinent Literature ◽

Early Career Researchers ◽

Research Activities ◽

Analytic Review ◽

Scholarly Communications ◽

The Impact ◽

Development Prospects

In order to take account of the impact of the pandemic on the already changing scholarly communications and work-life of early career researchers (ECRs), the 4-year long Harbingers study was extended for another two years. As a precursor to the study (featuring interviews and a questionnaire survey), currently underway, an analytic review of the pertinent literature was undertaken and its results are presented here. The review focuses on the challenges faced by ECRs and how these compare to the ones more senior researchers have to tackle. In the examination of the literature three general questions are posed: Q1) What are the identifiable and forthcoming impacts of the pandemic-induced financial pressures felt in the Higher Education sector on ECRs’ employment and career development prospects? Q2) What are the identifiable and forthcoming pandemic-associated disruptions in the pace/focus/direction of the research undertaking? Have any disruptions been predicted to exert an impact on ECRs’ research activities, and if so, with what scholarly consequences? Q3) How is the work-life of ECRs shaping up under the virus-dictated rules of the ‘new normal’ in the research undertaking? What challenges, if any, arise from the changes in practices identified, and what might their potential consequences be for ECRs? The broad conclusion of the study is that the literature leaves little room for doubt: junior researchers are already disproportionally affected by and bear the burden of the ongoing pandemic-incurred hardships and they are likely to remain similarly impacted when more trials, still unfolding, materialise.

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Early career researchers: observing how the new wave of researchers is changing the scholarly communications market

Revue française des sciences de l’information et de la communication ◽

10.4000/rfsic.4635 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

David Nicholas ◽

Chérifa Boukacem-Zeghmouri ◽

Blanca Rodríguez-Bravo ◽

Anthony Watkinson ◽

Marzena Świgon ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Early Career ◽

New Wave ◽

Early Career Researchers ◽

Scholarly Communications

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Competing Meanings of International Experiences for Early-Career Researchers: A Collaborative Autoethnographic Approach

10.35542/osf.io/a6xug ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Yusuke Sakurai ◽

Sae Shimauchi ◽

Yukiko Shimmi ◽

Yuki Amaki ◽

Shingo Hanada ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Academic Career ◽

International Study ◽

Early Career ◽

Personal Network ◽

Conceptual Tool ◽

Research Experiences ◽

Community Culture ◽

Early Career Researchers ◽

Japanese Higher Education ◽

International Experiences

Although there is a pressing demand for international experience for early career researchers (ECRs), the meaning of this experiences arising from their day-to-day work responsibilities is still unclear. Accordingly, using our emic reflections for this autoethnographic study, we—five Japanese ECRs with years of international experiences—collaboratively explored how we made sense of our international experiences, that is, our distinct capital attained from international study and research experiences. We used Identity Trajectory as a conceptual tool to widely capture ECRs’ key experiences and sense-making. Our reflective conversations resulted in five major themes: (1) global personal network, (2) communicative competence, (3) scholarly community culture, (4) scholarly ambition and (5) pedagogical application. We consistently valued our attained capital, but simultaneously recognised dilemmas while engaging in our work. Lack of institutional support was critical, preventing us from using our international experiential capital and further developing as internationally active researchers. This study offers insights for those who may consider an academic career in Japan after returning from international sojourns and for policymakers promoting the internationalisation of Japanese higher education. Studies such as this one also contribute to the exploration of the value of international experiences for researchers in different contexts.

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Early Career Researchers between Predatory Publishing and Academic Excellence: The Views and Behaviours of the Millennials

Foresight and STI Governance ◽

10.17323/2500-2597.2021.1.56.65 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 56-65

Author(s):

David Nicholas ◽

◽

Eti Herman ◽

Anthony Watkinson ◽

Jie Xu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Open Access ◽

Building Blocks ◽

Early Career ◽

Open Access Publishing ◽

Academic Excellence ◽

Predatory Journals ◽

Early Career Researchers ◽

Arts And Humanities ◽

Scholarly Communications ◽

Predatory Publishing

The paper draws on evidence of predatory publishing obtained from the 4 year-long Harbingers research study of the changing scholarly communication attitudes and behaviour of early career researchers (ECRs). The project featured longitudinal interviews for its first 3 years with 116 ECRs researching science and social sciences who came from China, France, Malaysia, Poland, Spain, UK and USA. The interview data provided the building blocks for a questionnaire survey in the 4th year, which obtained 1600 responses from a global audience, which included arts and humanities ECRs and those from Russia. These studies investigated predatory publishing as part of general questioning about scholarly communications, in other words, in context. The main finding from the interview study were: 1) ECRs generally do not publish in predatory journals; 2) they only allude to them lightly and mainly in the context of open access publishing; 3) they no longer acquaint all open access publishing with predatory journals. The questionnaire found that, as in the case of the interviews, complaints that open access is low quality publishing are diminishing, however, this positivity has been partly offset by increased concerns about the dangers of predatory journals.

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