nep-sog New Economics Papers
on Sociology of Economics
Issue of 2015‒06‒20
two papers chosen by
Jonas Holmström
Axventure AB

  1. Scholarly Publication and Collaboration in Brazil: The Role of Geography By Otávio J. G. Sidone; Eduardo A. Haddad, Jesús P. Mena-Chalco
  2. Quo Vadis German Scholarly Communication in Economics? By Mazarakis, Athanasios; Peters, Isabella

  1. By: Otávio J. G. Sidone; Eduardo A. Haddad, Jesús P. Mena-Chalco
    Abstract: Brazilian scholarly outputs have had rapid growth that was accompanied by an expansion of domestic research collaboration. In this paper, we identify spatial patterns of research collaboration in Brazil, as well as measure the role of geographical proximity in determining the interaction among Brazilian researchers. Using a database comprised of over one million researchers and seven million publications registered in the Brazilian Lattes Platform, we collect and consolidate information on inter-regional research collaboration in terms of scientific co-authorship networks among 4,615 municipalities over the period between 1992 and 2009, which enabled a range of data analysis unprecedented in literature. The effects of geographical distance on collaboration are measured for different knowledge areas under the estimation of spatial interaction models. The main results suggest strong evidence of geographical deconcentration of collaboration in recent years with an increased participation of authors in scientifically less traditional regions, such as South and Northeast Brazil. Additionally, the distance still is significant in determining the intensity of knowledge flows in scientific collaboration networks in Brazil since the increase of 100 kilometers between two researchers implies the average reduction on 16% of the probability of collaboration and there is no evidence that its effect has diminished over time, although the magnitude of such effects varies among networks of different knowledge áreas.
    Keywords: Scientific collaboration; spatial analysis; spatial interaction models; diffusion process
    JEL: O33 C21 R12
    Date: 2014–12–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spa:wpaper:2014wpecon30&r=sog
  2. By: Mazarakis, Athanasios; Peters, Isabella
    Abstract: In this paper we study the situation of scholarly communication in Economics and Business Studies in Germany. We combine findings from an online survey, focus group interviews and a panel discussion. Some of the results of the survey are that economists at German universities and research institutes most frequently use the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, content sharing services, video and image hosting services as well as video conferencing systems. In a professional context, economists primarily use highly specialized tools such as learning management and reference management systems. Almost one in three German economists is active in academic and professional networks such as ResearchGate or Xing (Siegfried et al. 2015). Focus group interviews and panel discussion reveal that social media content and platforms are mainly used passively but acknowledged for serendipitously finding interesting research papers. They are also valuable for staying up-to-date on the discussion of current economic issues. Scholarly communication and scientific discourse with colleagues from Economics and Business Studies does, however, not yet take place essentially on social media platforms.
    Keywords: scholarly communication,social media,usage behaviour,Germany
    JEL: A11 I23
    Date: 2015
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esconf:110679&r=sog

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