Podcasts

Mixed messages - Researchers' perceptions of research assessment affects what they publish & why

17 September 2009

A new report Communicating knowledge: how and why UK researchers publish and disseminate their findings 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.