To Boldly Go Beyond Downloads (Carol Tenopir and Gabriel Hughes)

To Boldly Go Beyond Downloads How Are Journal Articles

Shared And Used ?

Carol Tenopir

University of Tennessee

Gabriel Hughes

Elsevier

Charleston, November 2014

Beyond Downloads - background to the research

Gabriel Hughes PhD

VP Analytics, Elsevier

Twitter : @gabehughes

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What is usage anyway ?

Read

Eureka !

Usage measured as downloads is a proxy for value

derived through reading

I need a paper

about X

Download

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Context : internet data volumes are growing rapidly

IDC’s ‘Digital Universe’ estimates all digital data created, replicated, and

consumed each year, globally

Growth in

connection speeds,

capacity and

technology

solutions -

• Email

• Public networks

• Private networks

• Cloud storage

• Peer to peer

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We infer that the proxy value of downloads is likely diverging

Reading

(real usage)

Downloads

(measured usage)

Given the changing way in which we all consume, store and

share all types of content, the relationship between downloads

and readership is unlikely to be static

Mediated by changing

internet based storage

and sharing technology

Time

Usage

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Our research suggests article sharing is

widespread & growing

We commissioned a commercial survey in early 2014 in which

65%* agreed they “access or share articles from a shared folder or

platform” an increase of +6% against the same response to a

survey in early 2013.

*n = 611, global sample 2%

6%

7%

12%

21%

48%

Other

Via platforms available to general public

Via a platform for registered users

Within institute

Within department

Within research workgroup

“I share or access articles via a shared platform…

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Article access is the main benefit of sharing

4%

15%

16%

43%

45%

56%

0% 20% 40% 60%

I can read articles that can't usually be accessed

Articles can be accessed quickly

Annotation and comments can be shared within a work group

It’s easy to organize an article database/groups

Other

Articles can be accessed easily

What functionalities offered by these sharing

platforms do you find especially useful?

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Article access motivates sharing behaviour

o Entitlement is not main the motivation - most are already entitled.

o Researchers use file and data sharing tools to for convenience and

mobile and remote work.

Thoughts of the nature and value of sharing

Sharing happens at many levels, from small private

groups to full public sharing

o Researchers collaborating in private groups share insights, notes,

and also articles. Private sharing ranges from invitation-only groups,

to departmental networks, internal repositories.

o Public sharing is typically by authors showcasing their work.

Downloading & sharing have different types of benefit

o Downloading from the full corpus offers the widest access.

o Shared articles have the unique benefit of being specifically selected

in context of a common research activity.

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Elsevier is funding independent academic

research by Dr Carol Tenopir at the University

of Tennessee, world leading expert on

academic usage behaviour.

We need help to understand sharing

• Project aims to examine how researchers download and

store materials as well as how and why they share

content. The project completes in April 2015. Results will

be published for the wider community and for COUNTER.

• We need a common understanding of how real article

usage relates to downloading, storing and sharing. This is

essential for addressing measurement implications.

Center for Information and Communication Studies

Beyond Downloads:

How Are Journal Articles Shared and Used?

Carol Tenopir

Professor, School of Information Sciences,

University of Tennessee

[email protected]


Beyond Project COUNTER

• Secondary usage

• Sharing without

downloading


Formal sharing methods


Informal sharing methods


Interviews / Focus Groups

Two main types of sharing

1.

2.

Most participants who

share, uploaded their own

work into institutional or

subject repositories.



Academics share material to further scientific and

academic discovery, to promote their own or someone

else’s work, and to fulfill an information need.



• “Bootleg” sharing (e.g., email, print,

internal network): the most frequently

mentioned method of sharing.

• Twitter: the most frequently mentioned

social media tool for sharing.

• Dropbox: the most frequently mentioned

method used for sharing with collaborators.


Most commonly share with …

colleagues

researchers

students


Almost all participants viewed sharing their own

work positively.

I would be

delighted

if my work

was

known by

more.

Having your work shared

is a stamp of how you are

measured and evaluated.

If they’re

reading a

published

researched

article they may

then end up

citing it or

influencing their

future work, so I

don't see why it

would be any

problem.


Sharing of work by others may be altruistic…

I’ll have people contact me separately,

people outside of the United States and

internationally who don’t have

access…And I feel very comfortable, and

I don’t know if I should, but I feel

comfortable sharing my work.

…generally I have some people

outside the country when they have

difficulty accessing articles, so I can

give them some satisfaction and if

they cannot find they ask me

sometimes I send them a pdf.


A few reported reservations regarding sharing.

You don't even

think [that]

usually you are

breaking

copyright laws.

You’re just

thinking, “Well,

I’m just trying to

be academic. I’m

trying to promote

this, or whatever.

…so you are published in a

journal so now do I have a

right to … put it in my CV, to

put a link? I have a pdf of it -

but can I share that? So

there is a lot of stuff this

brings about intellectual

property rights.


Survey • Population: researchers internationally

• Aim: to examine download behavior and

to estimate amounts of sharing and

calculate averages that take into

account: • Multiple ways to share

• Differences in discipline


Survey questions examine

• Download & post-download behavior

• Different methods of sharing

• Perceptions of sharing behavior in regards to

technology, embargo periods, and copyright

Differences in sharing & download behavior for

research & teaching

• Differences based on discipline, years in

academia/research, level of education, &

geographic location.


Overall, the project aims to: • define ways to measure non-download usage of digital

content both within and outside institutional firewalls

• evaluate the relationship between COUNTER usage and

usage of digital articles obtained through other means

• develop practical ways to estimate total digital article

usage from known downloads and non-download usage

• initiate discussion across the publisher, STM research,

and library communities regarding these issues


Stay tuned for further

results!

Carol Tenopir

[email protected]

Education

To Boldly Go Beyond Downloads (Carol Tenopir and Gabriel Hughes)