A new report Communicating knowledge: how and why UK researchers publish
and disseminate their findings
<http://www.rin.ac.uk/communicating-knowledge>  published by the
Research Information Network (RIN) and JISC shows how researchers are
concerned by what they perceive as mixed messages about the channels
they should use to communicate their research findings. The report
highlights the need for more consistent and effective guidance from
funders and higher educational institutions. If they wish to encourage
researchers to disseminate their work through a variety of channels as
well as in high-status journals, they must give stronger and more
positive messages about how those channels will be valued when it comes
to assessing researchers' performance they must give stronger and more
positive messages about how those channels will be valued when it comes
to assessing researchers' performance.

 

The rise in investment in research over the last ten years has been
accompanied by an increasing emphasis on measuring, assessing and
evaluating research, its outputs and impact. Commissioned by the RIN in
conjunction with JISC, this report investigates how researchers'
perceptions of how they are being assessed affects their decisions on
when, where and how to publish and disseminate their findings.  It
demonstrates the significant variations between researchers in different
disciplines not only in the dissemination channels they use, but also in
their patterns of collaboration (and how they acknowledge the
contributions that members of a team have made), and in how they decide
cite the work of others.

 

All these patterns of behaviour are changing, in part as a result of
technological developments. And there are signs that the citation
practices, for example, of younger researchers are different from those
of their more senior colleagues. But the readiness with which outputs in
the form of scholarly journal articles can be assessed and measured has
underpinned their increasing dominance over all other forms of
publication and dissemination. Researchers' perceptions and
understanding of the messages they receive from funders and from
universities may often be mistaken, but they influence what researchers
publish and how, and they give rise to real concerns. Many researchers
see a damaging tension between their desire to communicate via channels
which enable them to reach and influence their intended audiences -
often beyond academia - as rapidly as possible, and the pressures to
publish in high-status journals. Changes in assessment procedures,
whether via the Research Excellence Framework (REF) or from other
sources, will change researchers' behaviour further. Many are already
considering citing their colleagues' work more often.

 

The report provides important evidence for funders and policy makers, as
well as for the research community, in the continuing consultations
about the future mechanisms for assessing research performance. It also
shows that it is necessary for this to be an ongoing process to keep
monitoring the changes in technology and research practices. It is
important that changes in those mechanisms are based on a detailed
understanding of both the behaviours and the motivations of researchers
across the full range of disciplines and subjects.

The report and a briefing are available at
www.rin.ac.uk/communicating-knowledge 

A short podcast interviewing Michael Jubb, Director of the RIN and Neil
Jacobs, Programme Manager Information Environment at JISC is also
available at
www.jisc.ac.uk/news/stories/2009/09/podcast88communicatingknowledge.aspx


 

------------

Sarah Gentleman

Communications Officer

Research Information Network

96 Euston Road

London NW1 2DB

 

telephone: 020 7412 7241 

 

Follow me on Twitter http://twitter.com/research_inform

RIN Facebook group
http://en-gb.facebook.com/pages/City-of-London-United-Kingdom/Research-I
nformation-Network/29441497954 

 

email: [log in to unmask] 

website: www.rin.ac.uk <http://www.rin.ac.uk/>  

 

 

Listen to our podcasts at www.rin.ac.uk/podcasts 

 

 


The contents of this email are sent in confidence for the use of the intended recipients only. If you are not one of the intended recipients, please do not take action on it or show it to anyone else, but return this email to the sender and delete your copy of it.
 
Find the Research Information Network online at http://www.rin.ac.uk/