: This article uses the results of a thesis to analyse the changing structure of access services to scientific and technical information in French university libraries, and corresponding changes in the role of Inter-Library Loan services. These changes have mainly occurred with the growing integration of electronic resources in collections and an overhaul of the services on offer. Given the specific features of access systems to scientific information and the wide range of users in the various sections of university libraries, we will be attempting a detailed analysis of the situation in the French university network.
Résumé La diffusion de la revue scientifique dans les domaines STM s’inscrit aujourd’hui dans un contexte où cohabitent quatre modèles représentés par des couleurs : le « Blanc » pour le payant, le « Vert » pour les archives ouvertes, le « Doré » pour les revues en libre accès et enfin le « Gris » pour les données de la recherche. Ce « tableau en couleurs » est le résultat, encore mouvant de mutations qui opèrent au sein de l’édition de la revue scientifique STM et qui intègre les acteurs du Web et de la communication.
This article seeks to understand the e-journal search patterns of STM (science, technology, and medicine) researchers from the French academic network by studying how researchers seek, read, and use articles on the ScienceDirect platform. The methodology combines two approaches. The first approach is quantitative and is based on statistical data concerning search activities on ScienceDirect between January 2008 and April 2009. The second approach is qualitative and is based on semi-directed interviews of researchers authorized to access ScienceDirect. The researchers' information-seeking activities on ScienceDirect follow two complementary usage logics. On the one hand, they follow search and discovery itineraries, and, on the other hand, they implement continuous and recurrent access mechanisms. In both cases, the researchers' searching behaviours on ScienceDirect are similar to their behaviours on the Web. This study concerns a previously unpublished large-scale analysis of STM searching behaviours. Furthermore, the mixed methodology used allows the results to be compared and, thus, the clearest and most objective interpretation to be obtained.
This conference on open science is covering many aspects of strategic relevance to build the future of Europe, a future based on knowledge leading to more opportunities for younger generations to express their talent in attractive research careers, be it in universities, research organisations or industry. Some sessions will be dedicated to discussing the assessment of research and researchers' performance, which affects their behaviours. This debate is timely and justified.Most researchers are used to measuring in their labs when collecting and processing data. Scientists have to measure with accuracy to produce reliable and verifiable results. The Nobel laureate Richard Feynman started one of his famous lectures challenging his students about the complexity introduced over the centuries by using different measurement units. Measuring research and researchers' performance is of a different nature and more complex in many ways. It has direct impact on people and a far-reaching policy dimension for the European Research Area. We therefore agree on the need to ensure objectiveness and fairness as guiding principles and we can use assessment methodologies to support broader policy objectives, considering that we live in times of change, including in the scientific methods and the public perception of the role of science.Research processes are in constant evolution, accelerated by the current pandemic and the transition to a resilient, green and digital economy and an inclusive society. The variety of activities making increased use of advanced technologies puts us in a situation where research deliverables are richer and not limited to delivering and counting publications. Modern science delivers other outputs, mostly digital, like datasets, software, algorithms or protocols, and it delivers highly skilled people through specialised education and mentoring. Multidisciplinary collaborations are required to address new scientific questions arising from increased complexity and that is another aspect of this evolution. More and more researchers from different domains, from biology and physics to economics, anthropology or humanities, work together in the boundaries of areas of knowledge.
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