scholarly journals Open Access: what's in it for me as an early career researcher?

2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (04) ◽  
pp. C04 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy Pontika
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Societal Impact ◽  
Online Research ◽  
Research Results ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Good Reputation ◽  
Early Career Researcher ◽  
Research World

When entering the research world, Early Career Researchers (ECRs) may encounter difficulties building a good reputation for their research, its quality and the research results. Open access is the movement that could assist ECRs to: (a) widely disseminate their scholarly outputs, (b) demonstrate the research and societal impact of their work and, (c) organise online research portfolios that can be accessed by all researchers, as well as prospective employers.

scholarly journals Striving for societal impact as an early-career researcher: Reflections on five common concerns

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sascha Friesike ◽  
Leonhard Dobusch ◽  
Maximilian Heimstädt
Keyword(s):  
Academic Community ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Opportunity Costs ◽  
Societal Impact ◽  
Impact Measurement ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Early Career Researcher ◽  
Current Impact ◽  
Research Facilities

Many early-career researchers are motivated by the prospect of creating knowledge that is useful, not just within but also beyond the academic community. Although research facilities, funders and academic journals praise this eagerness for societal impact, the path towards such contributions is by no means straightforward. In this article, we address five common concerns faced by early-career researchers when they strive for societal impact. We discuss the opportunity costs associated with impact work, the fuzziness of current impact measurement, the challenge of incremental results, the actionability of research findings, and the risk of saying something wrong in public. We reflect on these concerns in light of our own experience with impact work and conclude by suggesting a ‘post-heroic’ perspective on impact, whereby seemingly mundane activities are linked in a meaningful way.

Fast, Free, and Targeted

2016 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 537-549 ◽  
Author(s):  
Itamar Shatz
Keyword(s):  
Early Career ◽  
Retention Rates ◽  
Online Research ◽  
Large Samples ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Potential Source ◽  
The Social ◽  
Current Article ◽  
Conducting Research ◽  
Untapped Resource

Recruiting participants is a necessary step in many studies. With the advent of online research techniques, scientists are looking for new places where participants can be recruited online, in order to overcome the limitations of current sources and avoid the issues associated with sample overuse. The social media website “Reddit” is a potential source for recruitment, as it allows for free and rapid data collection from large samples, while enabling researchers to target specific populations when needed. The ability to recruit for free is especially important because it enables students and early career researchers, for whom even low recruitment costs can be prohibitive, to benefit from the opportunity of conducting research that they otherwise would not be able to. The current article therefore aims to bring this prospective, untapped resource to the attention of the research community. The article discusses current online recruitment sources and their limitations, provides an overview of Reddit, validates its use for research purposes, examines participation data from previous studies which recruited through Reddit, highlights its advantages and limitations as a participant pool, and suggests guidelines that can improve recruitment and retention rates for scientists looking to use Reddit for their research.

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

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.

OpenCon2014 in Washington DC, November 2014. Early Career Researchers and Open Access Advocacy

2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 14-16
Author(s):  
Matt Gallagher
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Narrative Approach ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Experience Levels ◽  
The Right ◽  
Academic Resources

Purpose – This paper aims to give an overview of OpenCon 2014, organized by the Right to Research Coalition, SPARC (The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) and an organizing committee of students and early career researchers from around the world that took place between the 14th and 17th of November 2014 in Washington DC. Design/methodology/approach – A narrative approach was used to describe events. Findings – OpenCon 2014 is an exciting new conference that targets early career librarians and researchers who are involved with and/or interested in aspects of the open-access movement. It is attempting to galvanize the upcoming generation of scholars to demand more of traditional publishing models by bringing together a selective group that spans diverse interests and experience levels. Originality/value – This report outlines the author's takeaways and opinions concerning the events of the conference, as well as identifies some of the themes and issues that were relevant to librarians in research institutions.

scholarly journals Early Career Researchers’ Experiences of Post-Maternity and Parental Leave Provision in UK Politics and International Studies Departments: A Heads of Department and Early Career Researcher Survey

2020 ◽  
pp. 147892992091036
Author(s):  
Sadiya Akram ◽  
Zoe Pflaeger Young
Keyword(s):  
Parental Leave ◽  
Job Insecurity ◽  
Early Career ◽  
International Studies ◽  
Career Trajectory ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Early Career Researcher ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

Supporting increasing equality and diversity in the recruitment and retention of Early Career Researchers from the widest pool of talent available is high on the agenda of universities and policy makers. Notwithstanding this, the demanding nature of academic careers has a disproportionate effect on Early Career Researchers, who may face indirect obstacles in their career development particularly following a period of maternity or parental leave. Our research seeks to expose the nexus of challenges, from job insecurity to the pressures of raising new families that Early Career Researchers face during this critical juncture in their career trajectory. Focusing on Politics and International Studies Departments in the United Kingdom, we document the institutional mechanisms that exist to support Early Career Researchers returning from maternity and parental leave through a Heads of Department and an Early Career Researcher survey to gain an understanding of needs and the impact of institutional measures. Adopting a feminist institutionalist analysis, we map gendered outcomes in the university, through formal and informal rules, which mitigate against those Early Career Researchers taking maternity and parental leave. We end by identifying specific measures which would help to ensure that the university is more supportive of Early Career Researchers taking maternity and parental leave.

scholarly journals On the value of preprints: an early career researcher perspective

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarvenaz Sarabipour ◽  
Humberto J Debat ◽  
Edward Emmott ◽  
Steven Burgess ◽  
Benjamin Schwessinger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Peer Review ◽  
Peer Review Process ◽  
Life Sciences ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Journal Publication ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Brand Recognition ◽  
Public Record ◽  
Rapid Dissemination ◽  
Early Career Researcher

Peer-reviewed journal publication is the main means for academic researchers in the life sciences to create a permanent, public record of their work. These publications are also the de facto currency for career progress, with a strong link between journal brand recognition and perceived value. The current peer-review process can lead to long delays between submission and publication, with cycles of rejection, revision and resubmission causing redundant peer review. This situation creates unique challenges for early career researchers (ECRs), who rely heavily on timely publication of their work to gain recognition for their efforts. ECRs face changes in the academic landscape including the increased interdisciplinarity of life sciences research, expansion of the researcher population and consequent shifts in employer and funding demands. The publication of preprints, publicly available scientific manuscripts posted on dedicated preprint servers prior to journal managed peer-review, can play a key role in addressing these ECR challenges. Preprinting benefits include rapid dissemination of academic work, open access, establishing priority or concurrence, receiving feedback and facilitating collaborations. While there is a growing appreciation for and adoption of preprints, a minority of all articles in life sciences and medicine are preprinted. The current low rate of preprint submissions in life sciences and ECR concerns regarding preprinting needs to be addressed. We provide a perspective from an interdisciplinary group of early career researchers on the value of preprints and advocate the wide adoption of preprints to advance knowledge and facilitate career development.

scholarly journals Open Access Articles and Position Papers

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. iv-v
Author(s):  
Gerda Wielander
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Scholarly Communication ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Team Work ◽  
Editorial Team ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Alternative Models ◽  
Early Career Researchers

In addition to an overview of the issue, this article is a reminder that we are fully open access, free of charge, double-blind peer reviewed, and offer well-above-average editorial support, especially for early-career researchers. All of the editorial team work in a voluntary capacity. We are committed to finding alternative models of publishing, to reclaim the project of Open Access and key it to a different register of shared creativity and responsibility and work towards a more accessible, ethical, transparent, and creative form of scholarly communication. 

scholarly journals Citation analysis of Ph.D. theses with data from Scopus and Google Books

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Donner
Keyword(s):  
Citation Analysis ◽  
Citation Impact ◽  
Early Career ◽  
University Departments ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Quantitative Estimates ◽  
Departmental Level ◽  
Google Books ◽  
Early Career Researcher ◽  
Career Performance

AbstractThis study investigates the potential of citation analysis of Ph.D. theses to obtain valid and useful early career performance indicators at the level of university departments. For German theses from 1996 to 2018 the suitability of citation data from Scopus and Google Books is studied and found to be sufficient to obtain quantitative estimates of early career researchers’ performance at departmental level in terms of scientific recognition and use of their dissertations as reflected in citations. Scopus and Google Books citations complement each other and have little overlap. Individual theses’ citation counts are much higher for those awarded a dissertation award than others. Departmental level estimates of citation impact agree reasonably well with panel committee peer review ratings of early career researcher support.

scholarly journals “Wait for a permanent contract”: The temporal politics of (in)fertility as an early career researcher

2021 ◽  
pp. 239965442199485
Author(s):  
Sarah M Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Early Career ◽  
Rational Decision ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
The Future ◽  
Embodied Experiences ◽  
Early Career Researcher

The impetus for this intervention comes from my own experiences of advice to ‘wait for a permanent contract’ before trying to conceive a child. I contend that this considerate guidance, frequently given to Early Career Researchers, nonetheless re-inscribes a linear capitalist temporality, and that there is a need to resist this binding of the temporalities of (in)fertility to the metrics of the neoliberal academy. I suggest that to promote ‘waiting’ negates the nonlinear, everyday and intimate politics of our varied, embodied experiences of (in)fertility. It is also grounded within problematic assumptions: first, that waiting is linear; that we will arrive at a permanent job in the future, if we persist with the present; and second, that our (in)fertility is known to us, that we are able to, and will, make a rational decision to conceive a child. These are pervasive assumptions with deeply personal implications. Moreover, they are compounded by the short-term contracts, and expectations of institutional mobility that characterise many experiences of UK academia. My hope for this piece is that it invites geographers to further explore embodied politics of (in)fertility.

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