The role of the Internet in informal scholarly communication

Abstract

The present analysis looks at how scientists use the Internet for informal scientific communication. It investigates the relationship between several explanatory variables and Internet use in a cross-section of scientists from seven European countries and five academic disciplines (astronomy, chemistry, computer science, economics, and psychology). The analysis confirmed some of the results of previous U.S.-based analyses. In particular, it corroborated a positive relationship between research productivity and Internet use. The relationship was found to be nonlinear, with very productive (nonproductive) scientists using the Internet less (more) than would be expected according to their productivity. Also, being involved in collaborative R&D and having large networks of collaborators is associated with increased Internet use. In contrast to older studies, the analysis did not find any equalizing effect whereby higher Internet use rates help to overcome the problems of potentially disadvantaged researchers. Obviously, everybody who wants to stay at the forefront of research and keep upto-date with developments in their research fields has to use the Internet. stress the interrelatedness of traditional (face-to-face, phone) and computer-mediated communication, they also expect that the new technology provides the technological basis for changing relationships, for "a movement from tightly-bounded, highly-structured bureaucracies to social networks with amorphous boundaries and shifting sets of work relationships" (Koku et al., p. 1772). Hilgartner (1995 proposes that new biomolecular databases also give birth to "new communication regimes." Several others see the "collaboratory" as a new form of large-scale collaboration with a virtual lab in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], 1998). Opposing these views, Gläser (2003) argues that the Internet leaves the social structure of scientific communities unchanged, but reforms their work practices. In particular, he points to the possibility of a new and more rapid communalization of knowledge production related to the publication (and possibly production) of raw data. However, further analyses are necessary to broaden the empirical knowledge on how the Internet is used for communication and how this relates to social structures in science. Hence, the present analysis attempts to deepen and improve our understanding of how the Internet is currently used in different scientific communities. In particular, it explores the characteristics of Internet proponents and resistors. Is there a digital divide between younger and older, male and female, established and less-known scientists? What is the relationship between research productivity and Internet use and how does collaborative research affect it? Is there still a gap between the social sciences and the natural sciences? Do the patterns of informal scientific communication differ between countries? As the Internet is primarily a technology that facilitates the transmission of information, we will ...

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