Just an artifact? The concordance between peer review and bibliometrics in economics and statistics in the Italian research assessment exercise

During the Italian research assessment exercise (2004–2010), the governmental agency (ANVUR) in charge of its realization performed an experiment on the concordance between peer review and bibliometrics at an individual article level. The computed concordances were at most weak for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The only exception was the moderate concordance found for the area of economics and statistics. In this paper, the disclosed raw data of the experiment are used to shed light on the anomalous results obtained for economics and statistics. In particular, the data permit to document that the protocol of the experiment adopted for economics and statistics was different from the one used in the other areas. Indeed, in economics and statistics a same group of scholars developed the bibliometric ranking of journals for evaluating articles, managed peer reviews and formed the consensus groups for deciding the final scores of articles after having received the referee’s reports. This paper shows that the highest level of concordance in economics and statistics was an artifact mainly due to the role played by consensus groups in boosting the agreement between bibliometrics and peer review. Peer Review https://publons.com/publon/10.1162/qss_a_00172

Soluciones de arquitectura de la información en plataformas digitales editoriales: revisión comparativa de Taylor and Francis Online, SAGE Journals, PLOS One, MDPI y Open Research Europe

Digital publishing platforms are complex academic communication systems that must incorporate information architecture solutions to enable content access at various levels, including the whole publication and each individual article. In addition, to truly harness the advantages offered by the digital world, such platforms must also offer information discovery functions as well as access to information. The former can be implemented by using hypertextuality and, more specifically, links based on semantic similarity. We present herein a review of the various solutions provided in these regards by five important digital platforms. Resumen Las plataformas digitales editoriales son complejos sistemas de comunicación académica que deben incorporar soluciones de arquitecturas de la información para diversos niveles de acceso a los contenidos. Entre tales niveles destacan el de la publicación como un todo, y el de cada artículo individual. Además, para potenciar las genuinas propiedades del mundo digital, estas plataformas deben ofrecer funciones de descubrimiento de la información, y no solamente de acceso. Las primeras pueden implementarse gracias a la hipertextualidad y, más en concreto, gracias a enlaces basados en semejanza semántica. En este trabajo presentamos una revisión de las diferentes soluciones aportadas en estos elementos por cinco plataformas digitales de gran significación.

On the agreement between bibliometrics and peer review: Evidence from the Italian research assessment exercises

This paper analyzes the concordance between bibliometrics and peer review. It draws evidence from the data of two experiments of the Italian governmental agency for research evaluation. The experiments were performed by the agency for validating the adoption in the Italian research assessment exercises of a dual system of evaluation, where some outputs were evaluated by bibliometrics and others by peer review. The two experiments were based on stratified random samples of journal articles. Each article was scored by bibliometrics and by peer review. The degree of concordance between the two evaluations is then computed. The correct setting of the experiments is defined by developing the design-based estimation of the Cohen’s kappa coefficient and some testing procedures for assessing the homogeneity of missing proportions between strata. The results of both experiments show that for each research areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics the degree of agreement between bibliometrics and peer review is—at most—weak at an individual article level. Thus, the outcome of the experiments does not validate the use of the dual system of evaluation in the Italian research assessments. More in general, the very weak concordance indicates that metrics should not replace peer review at the level of individual article. Hence, the use of the dual system in a research assessment might worsen the quality of information compared to the adoption of peer review only or bibliometrics only.

Pilot Study of Online Information Seeking Behaviors of Low Literacy Latina Breast Cancer Survivors (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Internet searching has become an increasingly useful tool for seeking health information. However, it is largely textual in nature and written for high literacy populations. Therefore, low literacy and low health literacy Latinas are at a disadvantage in terms of searching online as well as processing online resources. Internet searching presents a problem, as low literacy populations tend to make mistakes while typing, ending up with misleading results lists. In addition, even if an appropriate result list is displayed, Low literacy Latinas may be challenged in their ability to process the information contained in any individual article from that list. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study is to explore and describe the search behaviors of Latina breast cancer survivors and their caregivers. We explore their preferences in the modality of the query (voice/text), as well as other factors that present difficulties when searching for, and processing health information online. METHODS We recruited 7 Latina breast cancer survivors, of which 3 brought their caregivers, totaling 10 women. We administered the HLiTT health literacy test, a demographic survey, and a breast cancer knowledge assessment to each participant. Next, we trained the participants on searching online with either a keyboard or voice. Then, we asked participants to find information about (a) maintaining good spirits after breast cancer; (b) affordability of breast cancer treatment; (c) general information about breast cancer and treatment options; and (d) any lingering issues they had around survivorship. Participants were allowed to search in English and/or Spanish. We video and audio recorded the computer activity of each participant/patient-caregiver (dyad) and coded it for search behaviors. RESULTS We found that there was a significant positive correlation between participants’ HLiTT scores, and the time spent on articles (R=0.78, P=0.04). We also found a strong, but non-significant correlation between highest educational level and reading aloud (R=-0.75, P=0.089). We also found a similar correlation between HLiTT scores and the ratio of time spent perusing results vs. reading individual articles (R=-0.64, P=0.12), indicating that higher HLiTT scorers spent more of their time with individual articles, while lower HLiTT scorers spent more time perusing result lists. We also found that on average, participants attempted 6 spoken searches (SD: 4.32) and only 2.8 written searches (SD: 3.48). However, in debriefing interviews they stated a preference for voice searches. CONCLUSIONS Health literacy, more so than educational level attained, may be highly correlated with an individual’s ability to consume health information. Low health literacy individuals were more inclined to browse result lists instead of selecting or reading an individual article. We found a preference for voice searching, which may indicate a need to compensate for potential written misspellings and grammatical errors that could appear in written queries. We also found that many low literacy patients read aloud to better understand content. Understanding search behaviors and information evaluation strategies of low literacy Latina breast cancer survivors is fundamental for designing useful interfaces for them to find relevant and reliable information online. CLINICALTRIAL N/A

RULES-PRINCIPLES OF CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS: LAW AND THEORY

The study aims to formulate the proposals aimed at optimizing the Chapter 2 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation (CPC of RF), which enshrines the principles of criminal justice. The authors of the given article examine the content of the rules-principles, i.e. legislative regulations that express and enshrine the principles of law. It is stated that we should distinguish the rules-principles and rules-beginnings, rules containing general permis-sions and prohibitions and rules-definitions because of the first receive development and logi-cal expression in the second. Attention is drawn to the fact that when discussing the nature of the court procedure we should bear in mind that principles make up the content exclusively of legal awareness. At the stage of drafting of the rules, the principles-ideas become regulatory and legal in nature. The developers of the CPC of the RF are criticized, as they did not take advantage of the scientifically valid system of principles of the criminal proceedings. The authors ask why among the rules-principles reflected in the Chapter 2 of the CPC of the Russian Federation, there was no place for many provisions, previously traditionally recognized as such; why the fundamental provisions of the regulation in other laws, including the Constitution of the Rus-sian Federation, were not enshrined in the CPC of the RF. Based on the analysis of the scien-tific literature and the provisions of the criminal procedure law, the authors conclude that one of the obvious omissions of the developers of the CPC of the RF is the non-inclusion of the provision on equality of all before the law and the court in the number of rules-principles. Objections were raised against the absence of other provisions in the CPC of the RF, previouslyconsidered fundamental for criminal proceedings, namely, publicity (officiality) of criminal proceedings, as well as comprehensiveness, completeness, the objectivity of investigation of all the circumstances of the case. Besides, the authors concluded that the contents of separate articles of Chapter 2 of the CPC of the RF, and, in fact, such independent principles, designated by the legislators as "Respect for the honour and dignity of the individual" (Article 9 of the CPC of the RF); "Immunity of the individual" (Article 10 of the CPC of the RF); "The sanctity of the dwelling" (Article 12 of the CPC of the RF); "The secrecy of correspondence, tele-phone and other negotiations, postal, telegraph and other communications" (Article 13 of the CPC of the RF) can be combined into one group, in Article 11 of the CPC of the RF "Protec-tion of human rights and freedoms in criminal proceedings”. Critical assessment is given to the content of Article 7 of the CPC of the Russian Federation, which is reduced to a formal prohibition for the court, prosecutor, investigator, investiga-tive body and interrogator to apply federal law or other rules contrary to the CPC of the Rus-sian Federation. The current version of Article 7 of the CPC, which enshrines the fundamental principle of legality in criminal proceedings, is inconsistent with modern theoretical views on the essence, content and meaning of the principle of legality in law. The authors conclude that the content of the rules-principles, their system, enshrined in Chapter 2 of the CPC of the Russian Federation, are imperfect and need to be adjusted under the fundamental theoretical developments.

Ergonomics and Ergonomic Analysis of Driving Education System by Personal Car with Supporting IT Â

The subject of the car education / training system, with IT support, was selected for research. The hypothesis was set: to analyze the theory and empiricism of the collected data and to determine the characteristics for the elements of the system and the influences among them. The necessary updating and reworking of the sample operation was made. A multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary science called Ergonomics and Ergonomic Analysis have been selected for this very complex research. First, all the individual parts of the system are presented right down to the theoretical facts, then the individual parts in the subsystem are presented, and finally the whole ergonomic system is presented. In the practical part of the article, many analyzes were performed on the basis of the vast amount of data collected, based on six characteristics. From mathematical statistics and probability theory, major analyzes were performed, including two types of different sample sizes, with cumulative and average values. The enormous scope requires multiple content publishing, where each individual article must have both parts, theoretical and practical. Concrete ideas and measures for implementation have been proposed. Practical parts are supported with IT. The article  is  aknowledgement to late B.Sc.Mech.Eng. Marijan Biščanić and prof. Ph.D. Dragutin Mikšić for their contribution.

No deal! Sweden cancelled agreement with Elsevier to stand up for Open Science

In this talk we highlight some results after the Swedish Bibsam consortium decided to cancel the agreement with scientific publisher Elsevier after 20 years as they couldn’t present a model that met the demands of the consortium. The requirements were immediate open access to all articles published in Elsevier journals by researchers affiliated to participating organisations as well as reading access to all articles in Elsevier’s journals. Bibsam also demanded a sustainable price model that enables a transition to open access publishing. We investigate the effects of this cancellation on Sweden’s largest technical university, the KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Method The study has two themes. First, we analyse the economics in earlier Bibsam-Elsevier agreements and what effects they have had for the budget and purchasing decisions made by the KTH Library. Second, we evaluate the response and the adapted behaviour of KTH researchers in the attempt to see if the cancellation has had severe negative effects for them. Results Our data collection gives an overview over the effects of the cancelled agreement at KTH. In particular, we observe how some of the money saved on the cancellation is used for individual article purchases and alternative services, thus lowering the effect of the cut-off. During our talk, we will also review some marketing strategies employed at KTH and Swedish libraries for making this cancellation process as smooth as possible. Limitations The short time period that has elapsed after the cancellation makes it difficult to see any long-time trends. The limited time frame also affects the validity of the researchers’ responses. Moreover, it is difficult to tell how the results from a case study from one university can be generalised to a global setting.

Advanced perspectives on financialised urban infrastructures

This Special Issue attempts to clarify how urban infrastructure is being funded, financed and governed. In this commentary, I seek to engage the topic of the Special Issue as a whole – infrastructure financialisation and its governance – albeit through examples provided by individual article contributions. It is a collection emphasising the tangled interaction between public and private, urging a view of financialisation beyond the binary states vs. markets, and highlighting the multiple actors with multiple agendas at play. The articles provide richly detailed accounts of how the local state remains active, participatory and deeply – if not daily – involved in infrastructure financialisation, even/especially when finance is at its most influential. Not without its limitations, three occlusions in this Special Issue present opportunities for future research, namely the need to: i) extend critical analyses of financialisation; ii) enhance related research on social infrastructure, operational phase processes and treatment of the global South; and iii) advance academic analysis of alternatives to infrastructure financialisation.

About Some Problems of Criminal liability Regulation for Terror Crimes

The article is devoted to the problem of criminal legal responsibility regulation for terror crimes. The authors analyze the legislative design of such crime compositions, provided by Ch. 24 of the current RF Criminal Code, first of all, the novels included in the Criminal Law in 2013 - 2017, the sanctions on criminal law norms, as well as the effectiveness of their implementation in practice. Critical remarks are made and proposals are introduced aimed at criminal legislation, as well as law enforcement practice improvement. The authors raise the problems of punishment imposition for committed crimes, in particular, criticize the legislator’s position on the imposition of less stringent sanctions for more dangerous forms of assistance to terrorists, and on the imposition of stricter sanctions for less dangerous forms of assistance to terrorism. Judicial practice is analyzed with the purpose to reveal the effectiveness of individual article provision application from RF Criminal Code. They performed the comparison of the criminal law revisions, and they analyzed the introduced changes. The authors make specific proposals to amend certain provisions of the criminal law, in particular, on the criminalization of responsibility for the financing of terrorism as an independent crime.