HIVK03342U Scholarly Communication and science Studies, Constituent elective A2

Volume 2017/2018
Content

Actors, institutions and processes in scientific and scholarly communication. Actors include researchers, mediators (with, for example, peer reviewers and information specialists) and users. Institutions include, for example, publishers, libraries, journals, databases, disciplines and Cochrane centers. Processes include, for example, knowledge production, information seeking and retrieval, research evaluation, and information dissemination.   

The actors, institutions and processes are studied from different perspectives, including sociological, philosophical, science studies and bibliometric perspectives, but always with a specific focus on information studies. 

Among the concepts covered are the information chain, UNISIST model, digital media, Wikipedia, information quality, theories and traditions, (including Robert K. Merton' normative view and social epistemology) and their importance for the study of scholarly communication.

Learning Outcome

Competency objectives for the module

The module provides students with:

Knowledge and understanding of

  • Fields and fundamental principles of science studies,
  • Knowledge production of different sectors and domains including soci-etal sectors, research traditions and fields as well as the interaction between these sectors and their publication patterns and document forms,
  • Bibliometric models and methods for research analysis and studies of scholarly communication.

 

Skills to

  • Describe specific theories, methods and traditions within science stud-ies,
  • Perform bibliometric analyses of scholarly communication,
  • Analyse how knowledge is communicated from producers to users.

 

Competencies to

  • Discuss sociological and theoretical concepts of science in relation to concrete problems within scholarly communication,
  • Plan and perform bibliometric analyses of the production of knowledge and its network.

 

Academic objectives

Students are able to

  • Give a reflective account for sociological fields and fundamental prin-ciples of science and their significance for the production of knowledge and its use and influence,
  • Independently prepare and perform bibliometric analyses of a knowledge production and its later use,
  • Reflect on the theoretical and methodological strengths and weak-nesses in one’s own and other’s analyses of knowledge production and scholarly communication. 

Eksempler på litteratur der tænkes anvendt på kurset:

  • Cotta-Schønberg, Michael (2012). Forskningsbibliotekernes strategiske situation 2012. I: Viden i spil: Forskningsbibliotekernes funktioner i forandring. (21-66). Frederiksberg: Samfundslitteratur (or corresponding text in English) 
  • Hjørland, Birger (2016). Informetrics needs a foundation in the theory of science. In Cassidy Sugimoto (red.). Theories of Informetrics and Scholarly Communication (pp. 20-46) Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
  • Regazzi, John J. (2015). Big data, big science, and social acedemic networks. In Scholarly communications: A history from content as king to content as kingmaker (pp. 209-222). Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
  •  Willinsky, John & Moorhead, Laura (2014). How the rise of open access is altering journal publishing. In The future of the academic journal. 2nd. edition (pp. 195-222). Oxford: Chandos.
Class teaching, lectures, group work, and seminars based on the interests and projects of the participants.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Class Instruction
  • 56
  • Exam
  • 120
  • Preparation
  • 234,8
  • Total
  • 410,8
Individual
Continuous feedback during the course of the semester
Credit
15 ECTS
Type of assessment
Written assignment
Aid
All aids allowed
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
Exam period

Summer exam 2018

Re-exam

Same as the ordinary exam. August 2018