Information sites for professional scientometrics community: The overview of the Third Scientific Conference “Scientometrics, bibliometrics, open data and publications in science”

The authors review the papers delivered at the Third Scientific Conference “Scientometrics, bibliometrics, open data and publications in science” held within the framework of the Sixth World Professional Forum “The Book. Culture. Education. Innovations” (“Crimea–2021”) (June 5–13, 2021, Republic of Crimea, Russian Federation). The Conference key topics discussed at its three sessions were: trends in sci-tech development, scientometric studies of scientific periodicals, as well as case studies and regional research through scientometric tools. The hot topics in Russian scientometrics are specified, including applied studies of bibliometric analysis for assessment of researchers, organizations, countries and journals, as well as of science migration streams, and theoretical development of new indicators of or search for scientometric frontiers. Within the practical part of the conference, The Basics of Bibliometrics crash course was offered to the participants. It comprised essential knowledge, competences and skills of work with science citation databases. The need for the more intensive exchange of knowledge within the Russian emerging scientometrics community to expand competences, to strengthen communication between those assessing and being assessed is substantiated. These would contribute not only scientometrics but the Russian science on the whole.

Latin American Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: A Historical Perspective

This special issue seeks to appreciate the long-term study of SMEs as key players in the Latin American economies, with contributions on six countries: Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Chile. This is a representative sample of the Latin American subcontinent’s diversity when it comes to economy size, population, and inequality index. The articles presented spot key topics in the study of Latin American SMEs. This introduction focus on three central issues that arise from those articles: the role of public policies in SME emergence and development, the strategies pursued by these firms to adapt to environment changes, and the links between informality and SME creation.

Citation needed? Wikipedia bibliometrics during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic

Background With the COVID-19 pandemic’s outbreak, millions flocked to Wikipedia for updated information. Amid growing concerns regarding an “infodemic,” ensuring the quality of information is a crucial vector of public health. Investigating whether and how Wikipedia remained up to date and in line with science is key to formulating strategies to counter misinformation. Using citation analyses, we asked which sources informed Wikipedia’s COVID-19–related articles before and during the pandemic’s first wave (January–May 2020). Results We found that coronavirus-related articles referenced trusted media outlets and high-quality academic sources. Regarding academic sources, Wikipedia was found to be highly selective in terms of what science was cited. Moreover, despite a surge in COVID-19 preprints, Wikipedia had a clear preference for open-access studies published in respected journals and made little use of preprints. Building a timeline of English-language COVID-19 articles from 2001–2020 revealed a nuanced trade-off between quality and timeliness. It further showed how pre-existing articles on key topics related to the virus created a framework for integrating new knowledge. Supported by a rigid sourcing policy, this “scientific infrastructure” facilitated contextualization and regulated the influx of new information. Last, we constructed a network of DOI-Wikipedia articles, which showed the landscape of pandemic-related knowledge on Wikipedia and how academic citations create a web of shared knowledge supporting topics like COVID-19 drug development. Conclusions Understanding how scientific research interacts with the digital knowledge-sphere during the pandemic provides insight into how Wikipedia can facilitate access to science. It also reveals how, aided by what we term its “citizen encyclopedists,” it successfully fended off COVID-19 disinformation and how this unique model may be deployed in other contexts.

Social Responsibility of Mining Companies at a Time of COVID-19: Dear Shareholders!

This paper examines annual reports (ARs) of multinational mining companies Glencore, Rio Tinto and BHP framed by the challenge of COVID-19 in 2020. We apply a linguistic analysis to screening the letters of chairmen and CEOs that encapsulate an ideology of mining, prioritize the message of sustained and prospective financial success, and display commitment to employees and communities. Using critical discourse analysis, we explore how corporations involved in destructive activities managed to mask the nature of their conduct and promote positive PR when expected to document an on-the-ground involvement with employees and local communities due to the global pandemic. We accounted for the ideology of mining natural resources, the central message foregrounded in the reports, the selection and distribution of key topics and keywords, and relexicalization of critical concepts and descriptions. The CDA revealed “smart management” of COVID-19 aimed to hide facts related to the destruction of the environment and to manipulate people in exchange for education, financial rewards and social improvement. The critical contribution of our paper is that the COVID-19 crisis became an opportunity for corporations to display resilience as well as to manage, dominate and render local populations dependent and vulnerable.

Enhancing Tools for Sustainable Health Communication within Covid-19

The paper provides short commentary on key features of public health communication during the current pandemic. The paper contains empirical analysis of field data from international, regional, and local national sources related to the industry, institutions, research in the field of study. The thematic content analysis through the computer-based coding served as the background investigation method. The study provides preliminary data on the key topics within official communication on health care issues during COVID-19, explores challenges to communication on health issues during COVID-19, identifies possible tools for sustainable health communication in the current COVID-19 pandemic, and outlines tentative recommendations to foster sustainable communication on health issues during the pandemic.

A Topic Modeling Analysis of Nursing Handoff Studies

This study used topic modeling to analyse key topics of nursing handoff research. Six topics were identified. The findings indicate that future studies should implement the standardization of handoff tools and the use of bedside handoff, and evaluate their effects on patient safety outcomes.

Working memory and language: An overview of key topics

Given these obvious gaps in the research literature, we thus set out to compile this comprehensive handbook, with the goal in mind to fill up all these lacunae from previous research. Furthermore, we also aim for theoretical ingenuity and empirical robustness in our individual chapter reviews and devote independent sections to key areas of foundational theories, including working memory models and measures in cognitive psychology, as well as incorporating working memory within well-established linguistic theories and processing frameworks. As far as we know, much of these have not been done before. As such, we are hoping that the comprehensive coverage of key topics in all these essential areas in our handbook will benefit researchers and students not just from psychology and linguistics, but also readers from all other related fields of cognitive sciences to draw insights and inspirations from the chapters herein.

Microbial Life on the Surface of Microplastics in Natural Waters

Major water-polluting microplastics (for example, polyethylene, polypropylene and others) have lower density than water. Therefore, they are concentrated in the neustonic layer near the water-air interface altogether with dissolved or colloidal natural organic matter, hydrophobic cells and spores of bacteria. This can cause environmental and public health problems because the floating micro- and nanoparticles of plastics could be coated with biofilm of hydrophobic and often putative pathogenic bacteria. Biofilm-coated microplastics are more attractive for consumption by aquatic animals than pure microplastics, and that increases the negative impacts of microplastics. So, impacts of even small quantities of microplastics in aquatic environments must be accounted for considering their accumulation in the micro-layer of water-air interphase and its interaction with bacterioneuston. Microorganisms attached to the surface of microplastic particles could interact with them, use them as substrates for growth, to change properties and biodegrade. The study of microbial life on the surface of microplastic particles is one of the key topics to understanding their role in the environment.