Researchers’ attitudes towards the use of social networking sites

A conceptual framework for motivation factors influencing researchers' use of academic web profiles

Purpose

This article provides insight into researchers' use of academic web profiles and an understanding of how the influencing factors highlighted in the literature interact with each other, affecting researchers' motivation to use web profiles.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on motivation theory and literature related to the use of online profile platforms and academic web profiles, the authors present a conceptual framework for motivation factors influencing researchers' use of academic web profiles. The authors use qualitative interviews with researchers to explore and enrich the conceptual framework.

Findings

The conceptual framework of researchers' motivation space shows the relationships and influences between internal and external motivation in connection to three main categories (Identity and professional goals, Organisation and guidelines, Platforms and technology) and 12 more specific aspects of motivation that all play a role in choices regarding academic online profiles and platforms. Personality also plays an important role in itself – and not always in support of professional goals or workplace guidelines.

Originality/value

The study shows that a holistic perspective is necessary to understand the high degree of complexity in terms of researchers' motivation to use academic online profiles, and the presented conceptual framework can be used to understand and activate motivation factors.

Hidden in the light: Scientists’ online presence on institutional websites and professional networking sites

The visibility of individual scientists and their academic performance plays a major role in gaining the creditability to get funded and to advance in academic positions. Therefore, web presences are increasingly used to boost one’s own visibility, disseminate research results and keep up to date with the research of others. However, previous reports show that these channels are not used equally by all scientists. Our study therefore investigates how faculty members ( N = 868) at all universities in Lower Saxony (Germany) in the disciplines of physics, biology and chemistry present themselves on institutional websites and professional networking sites. We find that online presentations on institutional websites are mostly rudimentary. In contrast, there are more informative self-presentations on professional networking sites for both established (professors) and less-established (only PhD holders) faculty members. Our figures confirm observations that scientists present themselves online, but less-established ones seem to find less-supportive environments in academic institutions.

Academic social networks metrics: an effective indicator for university performance?

Social networks have become popular among researchers and scientists. Specialized platforms for researchers offer many metrics and indicators which are used to evaluate various scientists and assess the strength of their impact. In this article the authors perform systematic comparison between the main university level ResearchGate (RG) metrics: total RG Score, number of publications, number of affiliated profiles and ARWU. A tool for acquiring the RG metrics of research units and a framework for calculating alternative university ranks was implemented and tested. As a point of reference the ranking system of the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU, 2019) was used. The authors used a web scraping technique to acquire data. Data analysis was based on Spearman's rho and multiple linear regression (MLR). Ten additional ranks were developed and compared with the benchmark ranking. The k-means clustering method was used to identify the groups of ARWU universities. The research results show that the metrics provided by specialized social networks can be used for the assessment of universities, however, an in-depth evaluation requires a more advanced procedure and indicators to measure many areas of scholarly activity like research, integration, application, teaching, and co-creation. Clustering method showed also that the distance between the ARWU universities measured in values of RG metrics are bigger for the top of the ranking. The university authorities should encourage researchers to use specialized social networks, and train them how to do it, to promote not only their own achievements, but also to increase the impact and recognition of their respective research units. At the end of the article some limitations of the method used and some practical recommendations for the university authorities were formulated.

Competitive exposure and existential recognition: Visibility and legitimacy on academic social networking sites

Over the past decade, academic social networking sites, such as ResearchGate and Academia.edu, have become a common tool in academia for accessing publications and displaying metrics for research evaluation and self-monitoring. In this conceptual article, we discuss how these academic social networking sites, as devices of evaluation that build on both traditional values, objects, and metrics in academic publishing and on social media logics and algorithmic metrics, come to fulfil a need in the current academic (publishing) ecosystem. We approach this issue by identifying key affordances that arise in the interaction between platform and user. We then position these affordances in relation to potential needs of academics in today’s publishing landscape by drawing on Hafermalz’s metaphor of the ‘fear of exile’, which provides an alternative way of understanding the importance of visibility in the networked world, as a combination of competitive exposure and existential recognition. We end by considering the grounds on which the platforms may be attributed some level of legitimacy. This is done in order to understand the inherent contradiction between the broad use of the platforms and the fact that their integrity has been questioned repeatedly. We seek an answer to a legitimacy for the platforms in the fact that a pragmatic, mutual benefit exists between them and the research community; a benefit that is enhanced by the audit society influencing current academia.

Using Social Media as a Research Tool for a Bespoke Web-Based Platform for Stakeholders of Children With Congenital Anomalies: Development Study

BACKGROUND

Limited research evidence exists on the development of web-based platforms for reciprocal communication, coproduction research, and dissemination of information among parents, professionals, and researchers. This paper provides learning and the outcomes of setting up a bespoke web-based platform using social media.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to explore the establishment of a web-based, multicontextual research communication platform for parents and stakeholders of children with congenital anomalies using social media and to identify associated research and ethical and technical challenges.

METHODS

The ConnectEpeople e-forum was developed using social media platforms with a stakeholder engagement process. A multilevel approach was implemented for reciprocal engagement between parents of children with congenital anomalies, researchers, health care professionals, and other stakeholders using private and invisible and public Facebook groups, closed Twitter groups, and YouTube. Ethical approval was obtained from Ulster University.

RESULTS

Nonprofit organizations (N=128) were invited to engage with an initial response rate of 16.4% (21/128). Of the 105 parents contacted, 32 entered the private and invisible Facebook groups to participate in the coproduction research. Public Facebook page followers rose to 215, a total of 22 posts had an engagement of >10%, and 34 posts had a reach of over 100. Webinars included requested information on childhood milestones and behavior. YouTube coverage included 106 ConnectEpeople videos with 28,708 impressions. Project information was obtained from 35 countries. The highest Facebook activity occurred during the early morning hours. Achievement of these results required dedicated time management, social media expertise, creativity, and sharing knowledge to curate valuable content.

CONCLUSIONS

Building and maintaining a multilayered online forum for coproduction and information sharing is challenging. Technical considerations include understanding the functionality and versatility of social media metrics. Social media offers valuable, easily accessible, quantitative, and qualitative data that can drive the reciprocal process of forum development. The identification and integration of the needs of the ConnectEpeople e-forum was a key driver in the dissemination of useful, meaningful, and accessible information. The necessary dedicated administration to respond to requests and posts and collate data required significant time and effort. Participant safety, the development of trust, and the maintenance of confidentiality were major ethical considerations. Discussions on social media platforms enabled parents to support each other and their children. Social media platforms are particularly useful in identifying common family needs related to early childhood development. This research approach was challenging but resulted in valuable outputs requiring further application and testing. This may be of particular importance in response to COVID-19 or future pandemics. Incorporating flexible, adaptable social media strategies into research projects is recommended to develop effective platforms for collaborative and impactful research and dissemination.

Trust in the academy: a conceptual framework for understanding trust on academic web profiles

Purpose

Institutional and commercial web profiles that provide biobibliographic information about researchers are used for promotional purposes but also as information sources. In the latter case, the profiles' (re)presentations of researchers may be used to assess whether a researcher can be trusted. The article introduces a conceptual framework of how trust in researchers may be formed based on how the researchers' experiences and achievements are mobilized on the profiles to tell a multifaceted story of the “self.”

Design/methodology/approach

The framework is an analytical product which draws on theories of trust as well as on previous research focused on academic web profiles and on researchers' perceptions of trust and credibility. Two dimensions of trust are identified as central to the theoretical construction of trust, namely competence and trustworthiness.

Findings

The framework outlines features of profile content and narrative that may influence the assessment of the profile and of the researcher's competence and trustworthiness. The assessment is understood as shaped by the frames of interpretation available to a particular audience.

Originality/value

The framework addresses the lack of a trust perspective in previous research about academic web profiles. It provides an analysis of how potential trust in the researcher may be formed on the profiles. An innovative contribution is the acknowledgement of both qualitative and quantitative indicators of trustworthiness and competence, including the richness of the story told about the “self.”

Should Google Scholar be used for benchmarking against the professoriate in education?

In the neoliberal environment of contemporary academia, an individual’s research rankings and outputs can shape their career security and progression. When applying for ongoing employment and promotional opportunities, academics may benchmark their performance against that of superior colleagues to demonstrate their performance in relation to their discipline. The H-index and citation rates are commonly used to quantify the value of an academic’s work, and they can be used comparatively for benchmarking purposes. The focus of this paper is to critically consider if Google Scholar be used for benchmarking against the professoriate in education, by weighting up issues of data reliability and participation. The Google Scholar profiles of full professors at top ranked universities in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America are analysed to explore how widespread Google Scholar use is in the education professoriate. Quartiles of impact are established in relation to H-index, with exploration of how gender is distributed across these quartiles. Limitations of using Google Scholar data are highlighted through a taxonomy of quality confounders, and the utility of Google Scholar as a legitimate tool for benchmarking against the professoriate in education is strongly challenged. As metrics continue to rise in their importance for academics’ job security and promotional prospects, reliance on metrics of dubious quality and uneven participation must be questioned.

Presencia, actividad, visibilidad e interdisciplinariedad del profesorado universitario de Documentación en los medios sociales: una perspectiva de género

Se estudia la presencia, actividad, visibilidad e interdisciplinaridad de 349 profesoras y profesores de Documentación en los medios sociales, para comprobar si existen diferencias entre los dos conjuntos. Las plataformas estudiadas incluyen ResearchGate (RG), Google Scholar Citations (GSC), y Twitter, y la población analizada corresponde al profesorado de 13 universidades españolas que ofertan formación en Biblioteconomía y Documentación. Los datos se recogieron entre abril y junio de 2018. Para las cuatro dimensiones de estudio se analizaron diferentes variables, incluyendo, entre otros, el número de documentos subidos a RG y el número de tweets, respuestas y retweets en Twitter para la actividad, y el porcentaje de documentos en acceso abierto y de documentos diferentes a los géneros tradicionales en RG y el número de seguidores y seguidoras por perfil en Twitter para la visibilidad. Los resultados apuntan a diferencias entre los dos colectivos, especialmente acentuadas en términos de visibilidad.

Changes in Scholarly Reading in Finland Over a Decade: Influences of E-Journals and Social Media

Nationwide surveys of researchers in Finland in 2007 and 2016 distributed with the assistance of FinELib, the Finnish national consortium, show that researchers use a growing range of sources to find and access scholarly articles and that some reading patterns are changing. The percentage of articles found by searching and browsing are decreasing, while researchers are using more social ways to locate articles. Research social networking sites are rated as important to their work. They read more on-screen, although still print some material out for final reading. Reading patterns for books are different, as researchers still rely more on printed books than e-books, in spite of an increase in e-book collections through their libraries. This study shows a continuous process of incremental change, enabled by changes in scholarly publishing, social networking, and library collection decisions. More changes can be expected, as researchers adopt systems and patterns that fit with their work patterns and make the finding, locating, and reading of scholarly materials easier. Libraries must both lead and adapt to these new reading patterns by providing links and access to a variety of journal services and by maintaining a balance of print and e-book collections.

“How to use it more?” Self-efficacy and its sources in the use of social media for knowledge sharing

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate sources of self-efficacy for researchers and the sources’ impact on the researchers’ use of social media for knowledge sharing. It is a continuation of a larger study (Alshahrani and Rasmussen Pennington, 2018).

Design/methodology/approach

The authors distributed an online questionnaire to researchers at the University of Strathclyde (n=144) and analysed the responses using descriptive statistics.

Findings

Participants relied on personal mastery experience, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion and emotional arousal for social media use. These elements of self-efficacy mostly led them to use it effectively, with a few exceptions.

Research limitations/implications

The convenience sample utilised for this study, which included academic staff, researchers and PhD students at one university, is small and may not be entirely representative of the larger population.

Practical implications

This study contributes to the existing literature on social media and knowledge sharing. It can help researchers understand how they can develop their self-efficacy and its sources in order to enhance their online professional presence. Additionally, academic institutions can use these results to inform how they can best encourage and support their researchers in improving their professional social media use.

Originality/value

Researchers do rely on their self-efficacy and its sources to use social media for knowledge sharing. These results can help researchers and their institutions eliminate barriers and improve online engagement with colleagues, students, the public and other relevant research stakeholders.

La paulatina adopción de ORCID para la mejora de la identidad digital de las revistas científicas españolas en acceso abierto

Este trabajo reflexiona sobre la necesidad de adoptar un identificador digital para autores o investigadores, el cual facilite el control de autoridades, así como parala actualización de la currícula y la determinación de métricas en la producción científica, concluyendo que el ORCID puede ser el indicador más recomendable en la actualidad. Teniendo en cuenta la importancia de las revistas científicas en la comunicación de los resultados de la investigación, se ha analizado el uso de este indicador en las publicaciones españolas editadas en acceso abierto, verificando como resultado una tendencia a propiciar el empleo del ORCID en estas publicaciones, debido a la facilidad de su adopción, a través de los sistemas de gestión editorial como OJS, su interoperabilidad y su presencia en las revistas de mayor impacto.