Social networks and scientific communication: A Review study

This study aims to emphasize the importance of developing the scientific communication system in line with the successive technological developments. Thus, this theoretical study deals with the concept of scientific communication in regard to various related points. These points are: the elements of communication, the types and forms of scientific communication, the concept of social networks, the emergence and development of social networks, the types of social networks. It also considers the most popular social networking sites, the use of social networks in scientific communication, knowledge of the advantages of using social networks in scientific communication, the obstacles to scientific communication within social networks, ways to overcome these obstacles, the role of free access in developing the process of scientific communication in the digital environment, the role of social networks and the free access usag in supporting scientific communication during the pandemic of Covid-19. Finally, this study found a variety of social networking services that support the process of scientific communication, which must be used, and to overcome any obstacles that may result from the use of these networks.

Reader Comments Agentive Power in COVID-19 Digital News Articles: Challenging Parascientific Information?

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has triggered an enormous stream of information. Parascientific digital communication has pursued different avenues, from mainstream media news to social networking, at times combined. Likewise, citizens have developed new discourse practices, with readers as active participants who claim authority. Based on a corpus of 500 reader comments from The Guardian, we analyse how readers build their authorial voice on COVID-19 news as well as their agentive power and its implications. Methodologically, we draw upon stance markers, depersonalisation strategies, and heteroglossic markers, from the perspective of discursive interpersonality. Our findings unearth that stance markers are central for readers to build authority and produce content. Depersonalised and heteroglossic markers are also resorted, reinforcing readers’ authority with external information that mirrors expert scientific communication. Conclusions suggest a strong citizen agentive power that can either support news articles, spreading parascientific information, or challenge them, therefore, contributing to produce pseudoscientific messages.

Quran, name, and scientific communication

The objective of this study is to investigate the views of the Qur'an about the origin of the name and its position in relation to language and the development of science. The research model is literature research utilizing the sources collection (heuristic), source criticism, interpretation, and writing. The findings of this study are: (1) the Qur'an states that Allah SWT gives teachings about the names to the Prophet of Adam As; (2) These names correlate with the language because they are composed of the names that have been introduced to the Prophet Adam As; (3) The name and language are two sides of money; (4) Names, languages, and concepts can further be the main capital that humans have to develop scientific communication.

The Scientific Communication Process in Homoeopathic Toxicology

The present chapter evaluates the growth of literature of Toxicology in Homoeopathy. The Scopus database is used as source for the study. Data pertaining to toxicology in homoeopathy for the period 1963 to 2017 is retrieved and analyzed. The study reveals that toxicology literature grows rapidly in the later stages than in the earlier period. The United States of America is the leading contributors at the global level and India is in second position. Among the contributors, E.J. Calabrese, Professor of Toxicology, University of Massachusetts is the most prolific author for Toxicology in Homoeopathy literature. University of Kalyani and University of Massachusetts are the leading institutions, majority of the records are published in the journal ‘Homoeopathy', which is published from the USA and major contributions are in the subject domain ‘medicine' (65.4 per cent). Most frequently repeated keywords in toxicology of homoeopathy literature are: homoeopathy, humans, non-human, unclassified drug and animals.

Using Flipped Classes to Develop Scientific Communication and the Attitude Towards Technology Acceptance in Science Learning in Intermediate Schools

This study aimed for using flipped classroom to develop scientific communication and the attitude towards technology acceptance in science learning among intermediate school students. For this purpose, the quasi-experimental design with the experimental and the control group method was used. The sample involved (49) third intermediate stage students from two different schools in Wadi Al-Dawasir Governorate, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A list of written scientific communication levels suitable for intermediate school students and a procedural model for learning with flipped classes were presented. The study applied the scientific communication test and the technology acceptance in the science learning scale. The statistical analyses revealed that there were statistically significant differences between the means of the scores of the experimental and control group students in the scientific communication scale and the technology acceptance in the science learning scale in favor of the experimental group. Recommendations and suggestions were presented.

Hierarchies and Universal Inclusion in Scientific Communities

This chapter explains the genesis of inequalities and hierarchies in modern science. It studies the forms and mechanisms of scientific communication on the basis of which the social structures of science are built: publications, authorship, co- and multiple authorship, citations as units of information and as social rewards, peer review as evaluation of publications (and of projects and careers). This is a network of institutions that seems to guarantee universal access to participation in science to all those who fulfill basic conditions. But the chapter demonstrates how in all these institutional dimensions differences arise between successful and not equally successful participations. Success generates influence and social attractiveness (e.g. as a co-author). Influential and attractive participants are recruited into positions where they assess the achievements of others and thereby limit and control inclusion in publications, funding and careers. Equality at the start is transformed into hierarchies of control. Finally, the chapter asks for potential alternative control structures that transform a conservative hierarchy into decentralized ‘market’ controls that involve everyone in a more dynamic production and evaluation of scientific achievements.

Predatory Open Access Journals and Attainment of Educational Sustainable Development Goals in Africa

Putting into consideration the objective of the SDG 4, it would be important to note that the provision, access, and use of information resources such as open access (OA) journals is a sine qua non for quality education in Africa. Despite its importance to the education system, open access journals have been proliferated by predatory journals. Stakeholders in the OA movement and academia claim that predatory publishing is a big problem for scientific communication and could undermine development efforts. Hence, the increasing use of predatory open access journals could affect the attainment of SDGs in Africa; hence, there is the need to raise awareness to enhance the possibility of attaining the SDGs in Africa. This chapter will among others enumerate the possible havocs predatory open access journals can create and the setbacks on the attainment of SDGs in Africa. It will also spell out the necessary prospects of curtailing these havocs and setbacks towards providing quality-based information resources such as open access journals to the education societies in Africa.

Evidentiary function of systematic reviews of scientific literature: Epistemological foundations and methodological derivatives

The author analyzes implicit epistemological assumptions of the modern systematic reviews of scientific literatures that usually are left unconsidered or problematized. The foundations for building the image of scientific communication as representative, clearly cut and easily analyzed reflection of efficient search for and spread of truth which approaching is characterized by increased explorers’ consent. Generalization of this communication brings the evidential effect to advance argument in scientific discussions. However, a series of conditions for adequate conversion and «migration» of published conclusions into the conclusions of systematic review has to be provided to preserve evidential effect in summarizing analysis. The essential components of systematic reviewing methodology comprise: setting the task of obtaining quantified results; selection criteria for unambiguous correspondence between the model of process under scientific investigation and totality of publications; representative observation of relevant publications and making conclusions based on comparative evidential effect of research and consent level achieved. The systematic reviews compliant with the above requirements make them a powerful instrument of evidence in the social sciences, biology and medicine.

Information and analytical center in the context of development of modern technology of scientific communication

The purpose of the article is to identify the specifics of the information and analytical center of a highereducational institution in the context of the development of modern technology of scientific communication in Ukraine. Methodology. The article uses a cognitive approach to the concept of “information and analyticalcenter”, which allowed us to identify its basic essential characteristics and determine the principles offunctioning and development of the information and analytical center as a project group, the activity of whichis aimed at the evolution of information support of domestic science and education, as well as the formationInformation culture skills of employees, students and faculty of universities. In the context of the specifics ofthe study, general scientific methods were applied, in particular, analogies, abstractions, system analysis, aswell as an informational, descriptive method and a theoretical generalization method. Scientific novelty. Thespecifics of the activities of the information-analytical center as a structural unit of the university; traced thetransformation of the library of a higher educational institution into an intellectual center; traditional andinnovative functions, directions, as well as methods of this project group, were identified and analyzed; Theperspective of the functioning of the university’s information and analytical center in the domestic socioculturalspace is described. Conclusions. A study of the specifics of the information and analytical center of a domestichigher educational institution of the XXI century revealed that the implementation of organizational andmethodological support and the use of innovative technologies in the process of managing the scientific andeducational activities of a university, in particular, the introduction of innovative methods and informationtechnologies, the formation of a register of structural units, scientific groups and individual scientists, aswell as calculating their ranking, cataloging journals, identifying groups of scientists with excellent potentialand competencies, etc., in order to optimize the management of the scientific potential of the university andincrease its rating and publication activity – a priority result for these project groups. The development ofmodern technologies of scientific communication on the basis of the information and analytical center ofa higher educational institution is positioned as a promising trend - libraries of domestic universities areconstantly improving their own services in order to develop information infrastructure, positive changes, andadequately provide research results.Keywords: information and analytical center, higher educational institution, science, modern technologies,publication activity.

Preprint articles as a tool for teaching data analysis and scientific communication

The skill of analyzing and interpreting research data is central to the scientific process, yet it is one of the hardest skills for students to master. While instructors can coach students through the analysis of data that they have either generated themselves or obtained from published articles, the burgeoning availability of preprint articles provides a new potential pedagogical tool. We developed a new method in which students use a cognitive apprenticeship model to uncover how experts analyzed a paper and compare the professional’s cognitive approach to their own. Specifically, students first critique research data themselves and then identify changes between the preprint and final versions of the paper that were likely the results of peer review. From this activity, students reported diverse insights into the processes of data presentation, peer review, and scientific publishing. Analysis of preprint articles is therefore a valuable new tool to strengthen students’ information literacy and understanding of the process of science.