This study examines the role of learned societies as publishers in Finland based on bibliographic information from two Finnish databases. We studied the share of learned societies' peer-reviewed publication channels (serials with ISSNs and book publishers with distinct ISBN roots) and outputs (journal articles, conference articles, book articles, and monographs) in Finland. We also studied the share of learned societies' open access (OA) publications. In 2018, there were 402 peer-reviewed publication channels in Finland. In 2011-2017, the number of peer-reviewed publications from scholars working in Finnish universities and published in Finland was 17,724. Learned societies publish around 70% of these channels and publications, mostly in the fields of humanities and social sciences.

The aim of this study was to find out what is historians' taskbased information interaction like in digital environments. The study was based on TBII framework [20]. The research was conducted in real-life setting using interview and shadowing. The following task process types were identified: (i) searching secondary sources, (ii) reading and making notes, (iii) collecting and processing data, (iv) analyzing and (v) writing. We found that IR interfaces were not always optimal for historians' use, and that the interfaces should support the expression of information needs better. The data processing consumes a lot of historians' time and they could benefit from designing better tools. We also found out that task process types have an effect on how digital tools or data are being used. Therefore, the context in which the tool or data is being used, should be taken into account when designing tools for historians.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine what types of task information media scholars need while gathering research data to create new knowledge.Design/methodology/approachThe research design is qualitative and user-oriented. A total of 25 media scholars were interviewed about their research processes and interactions with their research data. The interviews were semi-structured, complemented by critical incident interviews. The analysis focused on the activity of gathering research data. A typology of information (task, domain and task-solving information) guided the analysis of information types related to data gathering, with further analysis focusing only on task information types.FindingsMedia scholars needed the following task information types while gathering research data to create new knowledge: (1) information about research data (aboutness of data, characteristics of data, metadata and secondary information about data), (2) information about sources of research data (characteristics of sources, local media landscapes) and (3) information about cases and their contexts (case information, contextual information). All the task information types should be considered when building data services and tools to support media scholars' work.Originality/valueThe paper increases understanding of the concept of task information in the context of gathering research data to create new knowledge and thereby informs the providers of research data services about the task information types that researchers need.

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Learned societies are important actors in the scientific community along with other organisations, such as universities and research institutes. However, only fragmented research exists on their current forms of operation. The operating environment of learned societies is in change with the objective to move towards open scientific publishing. The aim of this study was to collect information on learned societies operating in Finland, and their organisation and activities. The research was conducted in cooperation of the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies (TSV) and Tampere University. In 2018, TSV had a membership of 278 societies and four academies. The exact number of learned societies in Finland is unknown, as not all learned societies are members of the Federation. This study examined the role of learned societies as academic publishers in Finland. Two Finnish publication databases were used in the analysis (the Publication Forum’s publication register and the VIRTA publication information service). TSV’s member societies published 54% of Finnish publication channels and 56% of the Finnish peer-reviewed publications produced by Finnish universities in 2011–2017. The corresponding share of other learned societies was 16%. The activities of TSV’s member societies were studied more broadly with a survey questionnaire and interviews. TSV’s member societies (282) were sent an online survey, which gained 115 responses (a response rate of 41%). In addition, seven respondents that represented different learned societies were interviewed. The majority of the questionnaire respondents stated that the main objective of the society they represented was to promote a specific academic discipline and field of research. The most common sources of income for the societies were membership fees and publishing subsidy from TSV. Volunteer work plays a major role in the activities of learned societies, as an average of 70% of work was done without remuneration. The most common benefits for the members of the learned societies were the opportunity to participate in the society’s events, a newsletter and a discount/exemption from participation fees for events or journal subscription fees. More than 60% of the respondents were concerned about a decline in their society’s membership. Typical activities of the societies were the organisation of seminars and other academic events, societal influencing and publishing. Approximately 70% of the societies’ publications were in Finnish. About a quarter of the societies stated that they supported research in some way (e.g. by funding research). 90% of the respondent societies maintained contact with other Finnish societies and 74% with foreign or international societies. Other typical cooperation partners included universities, other higher education institutions and research institutes. More than 40% of the societies plan to launch new activities in the future. Many activities, like publishing and organising seminars, will remain core functions. The societies see that, in the future, it is important to invest more in support for young researchers, digital communication, interdisciplinarity, cooperation and international activities. Based on this study, it can be concluded that learned societies play an important role in the Finnish scientific community both as publishers and actors in society. Therefore, it is important to resolve the issues of open publishing to avoid jeopardising the financial capability of learned societies.