What kind of sources do I need? Critical search for information on the Web

Introduction. Previous studies have shown that students have a high confidence in search engines. This poses a significant risk in learning processes if students do not have critical skills for document selection. This study provides clues about the quality of the information sources that university students access in their internet searches, and highlights critical thinking as a key competence in personalised information searches. Method. A quasi-experimental study was conducted with a sample of fifty-eight university students who solved four information tasks. The sources were categorised according to the quality of their editorial process. Analysis. We stress the critical thinking in a realistic study regarding to both the interactions of university students with not enough validated sources and the type of information task working with. Results. The main finding of this study is that students mostly access to sources with a corporate publisher (52.9%) and alternative sources (40%). Consequently, the publisher type of the source is not related to the ranking elaboration. Conclusions. The greater access to information does not ensure the quality or veracity of it, confirming the need to promote the development of critical thinking.

Employment information needs and information behaviour of North Korean refugees

Introduction. The employment-related information needs and behaviour of North Korean refugees during their settlement in South Korea were analysed, and provisions that public libraries should consider when providing employment-related information to North Korean refugees were suggested. Method. Semi-structured group interviews were conducted with twenty-one North Korean refugees who had job-seeking experience or who wanted to be employed. Also, five public and NGO workers that aid the employment seeking process for employment support services to North Korean refugees provided field data on the services provided and characteristics of North Korean refugees’ information behaviour. Analysis. The results were examined using content analysis according to the factors of Dervin’s sense-making theory—situation, gap, and use. We used NVIVO 12 to extract codes from interview parts according to the factors. Results. The employment situation of North Korean refugees in South Korea can largely be categorised into two types: employment-related and education-related. The frequent subjects of employment information needs were job posting, vocational education, and career. Participants suffered from a lack of intellectual, psychological, and social accessibility. North Korean refugees were most likely to get information from interpersonal sources, the Internet, and public institutions. Conclusion. We developed a model of North Korean refugees’ information behaviour based on the findings and provided guidance for public libraries on serving job-seeking North Korean refugees.

Membership of the editorial boards of journals published by the predatory publisher OMICS: willing and unwilling participation

Introduction. OMICS is the largest and most successful predatory publisher, with numerous subsidiaries. In 2019 it was convicted of unethical publishing practices. Method. A numerical tally of OMICS's editorial listings was compiled across 131 nations. Names and affiliations were recorded for seven nations. A sample was surveyed to estimate the proportions of those aware and unaware of their listing, and of OMICS’s conviction. Analysis. Excel enabled compilation, absolute and proportional tallies and random selection. Results. OMICS has twenty subsidiaries and 26,772 editor (and editorial board) listings, 11,361 from just seven nations. Proportional to population, Greeks were most frequently represented on OMICS's editorial boards, followed by Americans, Singaporeans and Italians. In absolute terms, Americans were the most numerous. The survey found that more than half of the respondents were either unaware of their listing or were unwilling to be listed, and 26% were unaware of OMICS’s conviction. Conclusion. OMICS's editorial boards do not function as they do for respectable publishers, hence the information published in OMICS journals is unreliable. Academic alliances with OMICS are potentially damaging to academic careers and institutional reputations. Universities should develop policies dealing with predatory publishers in general and OMICS in particular.

Information behaviour of HIV patients during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Georgia

Introduction. In this study, we examined the information behaviour of people living with HIV during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Georgia. The research took place before COVID-19 vaccines were available. Methods. We conducted semi-structured interviews with fifteen participants. Analysis. The content of interviews was analysed for a priori and emergent themes and iteratively categorized. In addition, we used k-means clustering to identify the types of information users. Results. People living with HIV used government AIDS and CDC centres, primary care physicians, television, websites and their personal networks as their information sources. Some participants reported that receiving COVID-19 information increased their stress levels. Threats to their privacy and the fear of disclosing their HIV-positive status were identified as some of the barriers to seeking and sharing information they encountered. Three types of information users were identified: Netizens, Traditionalists and Lurkers. Conclusions. The findings of this study can be used to help design effective health communication campaigns and information systems for people living with HIV in general and to provide COVID-19 information in particular.

Open access scientific journals: an analysis of the Directory of Open Access Journals

Introduction. The research aims to analyse the publishers, countries of publication, citation indexes, article processing charges, and their inter-relations, in the journals that make up the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), a global directory that offers scientific information in immediate and exclusive open access. Method. Bibliographic, quantitative, and inferential study of 9,005 journals in the DOAJ, focusing on publishers, countries of publication, article processing charges, and citation indexes. Analysis. Calculation of absolute and relative frequencies, measurement of central tendency, chi-squared test, and Mann-Whitney U test using the R statistical software (version 3.2.4) with a 95% confidence interval. Results. Brazil is the country with the largest number of titles (10.9%), followed by the United Kingdom, which has a greater number of titles with article processing charges fees averaging US$ 1,474 for those that are DOAJ No Seal and US$ 862 for those that are certified DOAJ Seal. Europe has the greatest number of open access titles (47.6%). The Hindawi Publishing Corporation, Elsevier, De Gruyter Open, BioMed Central, and Springer are the publishers with the greatest number of journals and a higher presence in citation indexes (Journal Citation Reports and SCImago Journal Rank). DOAJ Seal journals are correlated and more likely to have article processing charges fees. Conclusions. In the consolidation of open access journals, commercial publishers and countries with a tradition of scientific publishing continue to gather the majority of journals. Thus, the oligopoly of commercial scientific publishers is maintained.

A holistic framework to examine the impact of user, organizational and data factors on the use of big data analytics systems

Introduction. More than 80% of big data projects have failed to meet project sponsors' expectations. This study adopts the technology-organization-environment model to provide a holistic framework to examine the key factors contributing to the success of business analytics projects. Method. The paper develops a survey questionnaire consisting of thirty items on eight constructs, based on previous studies from cognitive-experiential self-efficacy, information technology mindfulness, technology-organization-environment, and information systems success theories. A total of 236 actual users in twenty organizations participated in the study. Analysis. We employed structural equation modelling with partial least squares to test the proposed hypotheses. Results. Our analysis shows that openness to novelty, the rational cognitive thinking style, organizational compatibility, organizational readiness, and data connectivity have a positive effect on the active use of big data analytics systems. Data compatibility does not emerge as a strong antecedent for frequency or duration. The active use of these types of applications is a mediating factor that can significantly improve individual job performance. Our findings provide insights into the user’s relative value, as well as organizational and data factors that can be used to promote big data analytics systems in an organization. Conclusions. Our findings strongly suggest that such an integrative approach can help an organization understand the challenges of promoting big data analytics to use and improve employees' job performance.

Mapping science: tools for bibliometric and altmetric studies

Introduction. The study investigates whether online attention, carried out on social media or by video tutorials, affects the popularity of these tools in the research community. Method. We collected data from the Web of Science, Scopus, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, using web-scraping tools. Bibliometrics, altmetrics and webometrics were applied to process the data and to analyse Gephi, Sci2 Tool, VOSviewer, Pajek, CiteSpace and HistCite. Analysis. Statistical and network analyses, and YouTube analytics, were used. The tools’ interfaces were assessed in the preliminary stage of the comparison. The results were plotted on charts and graphs, and compared. Results. Social media and video tutorials had minimal influence on the popularity of different tools, as reflected by the number of papers within the Web of Science and Scopus where they featured. However, the small but constant growth of publications mentioning Gephi could be a result of Twitter promotion and a high number of video tutorials. The authors proposed four directions for further comparisons of science mapping software. Conclusions. This work shows that biblio- and scientometricians are not influenced by social media visibility or accessibility of video tutorials. Future research on this topic could focus on evaluating the tools, their features and usability, or the availability of workshops.

The effect of visualisation on user experience in recommender systems

Introduction. Measuring user experience, though natural in a business environment, is often challenging for recommender systems research. How recommender systems can substantially improve consumers’ decision making is well understood; but the influence of specific design attributes of the recommender system interface on decision making and other outcome measures is far less understood. Method. This study provides the first empirical test of post-acceptance model adaption for information system continuance in the context of recommender systems. Based on the proposed model, two presentation types (with or without using tag cloud) are compared. An experimental design is used and a questionnaire is developed to analyse the data. Analysis. Data were analysed using SPSS and SmartPLS (partial least squares path modeling method). Statistical methods used for the questionnaire on user satisfaction were a reliability analysis, a validity analysis and T-tests. Results. The results demonstrate that the proposed model is supported and that the visual recommender system can indeed significantly enhance user satisfaction and continuance intention. Conclusions. In order to improve the satisfaction or continuance intention of users, it is required to improve the perceived usefulness, effectiveness and visual attractiveness of a recommender system.

Undergraduate information literacy self-efficacy: a cross-sectional study of Cambodian provincial universities

Introduction. This paper examines the information literacy self-efficacy of undergraduate students at provincial universities in Cambodia, and to determine whether there are significant differences in information literacy self-efficacy in terms of sex, academic year, faculty and university. Method. We adapted the information literacy self-efficacy skills survey by Kurbanoglu and administered to 1,009 undergraduate students at three public provincial universities to measure their confidence on information literacy. Analysis. Descriptive and inferential statistics using independent sample t-test (t-test) and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyse the responses. Results. The results indicated that the information literacy self-efficacy of provincial universities in Cambodia was low as the mean scores were lower than the midpoint value of the original scale. Significant differences were also observed across the faculties and universities. This study revealed no significant difference of information literacy self-efficacy between male and female students. However, significant difference was observed between universities due to the performance of infrastructures and supporting funds. Conclusions. The findings indicated that undergraduate students at the provincial universities in Cambodia exhibited low confidence in information literacy. Policy making on information and communication technologies should be well implemented to provide practical skills to students from first to fourth year.

Mapping trending topics and leading producers in innovation policy research

Introduction. We investigate the most relevant innovation policy research themes, as well as the authors and journals that produce the most research in this field. Method. We used bibliometrics combining two main procedures: performance analysis and science mapping. Analysis. The 2,929 documents under analysis were gathered from the Web of Science Core Collection database considering all years up to and including 2019. Results. A wide range of bibliometric indicators were used to identify the most cited innovation policy studies, and the most productive and influential authors and journals. Also, bibliometric maps of keyword co-occurrence, authors co-citation and countries co-authorship were depicted to visualize relevant relationships. Conclusions. This study shows that the combination of bibliometric performance analysis and science mapping offers a tool for evaluators to complement qualitative analyses of a research field. We identified four main findings. First, the main innovation policy research themes are based on three pillars: innovation systems and business, science and knowledge, and governance and sustainability transitions. Second, the leading authors in innovation policy work at institutions in Europe. Third, authors working at institutions in countries with a common or similar language, culture or innovation policy tend to collaborate. Fourth, the top journals in innovation policy reveal an increasing influence of sustainable development and transitions within this field.