Research

The survey, funded and guided by Jisc and Research Libraries UK and conducted by Ithaka S+R, covers a range of areas: from how academics discover and stay abreast of research, to their teaching of undergraduates; how they choose research topics and publication channels, to their views on learned societies and university libraries, and their collections.

The Survey of Academics 2012 confirms that the open web is the first port of call for academics starting research. It also confirms that libraries have an important role to play in both surfacing open content on the web and ensuring open content is accessible through library systems.

Key findings include:

Access limitations – While 86% of respondents report relying on their college or university library collections and subscriptions, 49% indicated that they would often like to use journal articles that are not in those collections.

Use of open resources - If researchers can’t find the resources or information they need through their university library, 90% of respondents often or occasionally look online for a freely available version.

The Internet as starting point – 40% of researchers surveyed said that when beginning a project they start by searching the Internet for relevant materials, with only 2% visiting the physical library as a first port of call.

Following one’s peers – The findings suggest that the majority of researchers track the work of colleagues and leading researchers as a way of keeping up to date with developments in their field.

Emergence of e-publications – The findings show that e-journals have largely replaced physical usage for research, but that contrasting views exist on replacement of print by e-publications, where print still holds importance within the Humanities and Social Sciences and for in-depth reading in general.

The collection process is often a collaborative research effort and the IISH aims to become a trusted digital repository of data collections that are significant to social and economic history.

The “IISH Guidelines for preserving research data: a framework for preserving collaborative data collections for future research” is a study carried out in the framework of SURFfoundation’s SURFshare programme, focusing on how to determine what research data should be preserved for the long term and what data should not.

The purpose of the IISH Guidelines is to:

• provide a framework for the understanding and increased awareness of preservation requirements for research data collected by collaborations;
• provide concepts needed by non-archival entities (individual researchers, research collaborations, publishers) to be effective participants in the preservation process;
• suggest selection criteria for the long-term preservation of research data;
• provide a framework for identifying requirements, use cases and data flows necessary for interfacing collaboratories and trusted digital repositories.

It represents an opportunity for sharing of experience amongst international specialists, users, researchers, decision-makers, and teaching staff from all over Europe. Moreover, it is a very good event to present and publish the latest results of research, development, and deployment of Information Technology in HEIs.

Riga Technical University, located in Riga, Latvia, will host the 19th EUNIS Congress.

Among others, the journal focuses on articles in the following fields of research: Research on learning and instruction in formal and informal contexts, multidisciplinary research on learning and learning environments, new theoretical and methodological approaches in learning sciences, insights into learning research from disciplines other than educational sciences or psychology (e.g., cognitive neuroscience, computer science, philosophy, sociology).

The journal particularly welcomes both short and long, brief, albeit rigorous, articles reporting on emerging theoretical, methodological and empirical approaches. Innovative/risk-taking research in the learning and educational sciences is encouraged. An outlet is provided for publishing in-depth studies, including articles involving a thoroughly elaborated theoretical framework, extensive qualitative data, or complex analytical techniques. As a consequence, also dynamic data material is welcomed in the journal, such as video's, photo's, and other dynamic data.

Furthermore, multidisciplinary research that draws from cognitive, philosophical, sociological, psychological and pedagogical theoretical paradigms is highly-valued. Indicatively, the following research is encouraged to submit its work to Frontline Learning Research:

Studies focusing on issues and ideas encountered in relatively new fields, lacking a long line of research. This lack of well-developed theoretical framings and of articulated theoretical constructs and ideas, provides an avenue for initiating useful and productive scientific discussion on a range of issues. These include internal inconsistencies, phenomena which appear inconsistent with the predictions derived from the corresponding theoretical framework and available empirical evidence, indicating flaws in underlying assumptions or premises.
Studies seeking to make connections between previously unconnected established lines of research so as to integrate different theoretical frameworks
Studies using an innovative research methodology that offers a different perspective on how to conceptualise and pursue certain research questions.