nep-sog New Economics Papers
on Sociology of Economics
Issue of 2021‒04‒26
three papers chosen by
Jonas Holmström
Axventure AB

  1. Digital Technologies for Open and Equitable Sharing of Scholarly Knowledge in India By Koley, Moumita; Bhattacharjee, Suchiradipta; Namdeo, Suryesh K.
  2. Remote talks: changes to economics seminars during Covid-19 By Marcus Biermann
  3. Joining the European Union as an advantage in science performativity. A quasi-experimental study By Giulio Marini

  1. By: Koley, Moumita; Bhattacharjee, Suchiradipta; Namdeo, Suryesh K.
    Abstract: Commercial publishers demand exorbitant prices for the access of journal articles either through subscription or article processing charges. In this digital era, when the cost of publishing is negligible, and the peer review process is voluntary, it’s unreasonable to put such a high access barrier. Under these circumstances, the commercial publishers' oligopoly can be challenged using digital technologies. In this article, we have explored the idea of using next generation technologies for an accessible and equitable knowledge dissemination process. Such platforms will automate the processes of identification of reviewers, communicating reminders and feedback, assignment of new reviewers in case of no response within stipulated time, and so on. The review process and intervention of the editor will be done in a doubly blind process to ensure transparency reducing favouritism and predatory publishing. Finally, the article will be published in an open domain for anyone to read and reuse the content with proper attribution. Moreover, the manuscripts in their published form will be in an interactive form instead of a pdf format, with download options in various formats as well. The platform, integrated with India’s upcoming national STI observatory and INDSTA platform will be especially useful in making it an interactive repository of data and research evidence coming from all parts of the country. We believe the platform will be especially beneficial for young scholars and researchers in Tier II and Tier III institutions, and independent researchers who are most likely to fall prey to predatory publishers. This is a perspective paper on the possibilities of integrating advanced technologies in academic publishing to make research findings open access and reduce the financial burdens of publishing on authors, and to initiate a larger discussion on the technical details of the process.
    Date: 2021–04–19
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:mc8xr&r=
  2. By: Marcus Biermann
    Abstract: This paper documents the changing nature of seminars in economics organized by institutions worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of seminars held decreased by approximately 20 percent. The composition of seminar speakers changed significantly. Leading top economists in terms of overall output gave relatively fewer seminars, whereas the share of seminars held by top young economists increased. The share of seminars held by women increased in relative terms, but not in absolute terms. Moving from in person seminar delivery to online delivery of seminars caused a significant shift in the geography of knowledge dissemination. The distance between host and speaker institutions increased on average by 20 percent. The share of seminars held across countries' borders increased modestly by 2.9 per-cent.
    JEL: A1 F14 I23 O33
    Date: 2021–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1759&r=
  3. By: Giulio Marini (Quantitative Social Science, UCL Social Research Institute, London, UK)
    Abstract: The paper investigates the issue of increasing international co-authored publications, comparing countries that accessed the Europe-an Union (EU) in 2004 (EU04) against other Central-Eastern European Countries (othEast-ERA), adopting a scientometrical approach. This comparison is interesting to check whether to be part of the EU is dif-ferent from being part of the European Research Area (ERA) – being both entities aimed at fostering more international collaborations. The hypothesis is that EU might convey more opportunities for the sake of international publications, although ERA assures access to European funding schemes anyway. Analysing the census of internationally co-authored publications from 1995 to 2015, difference-in-differences regressions show that Countries that joined EU in 2004 performed better than other Central-Eastern ones. Implications for the public policies in science are discussed.
    Keywords: Scientometric; European Research Area, European Union, Funding Agency, Central Eastern Europe, international collaborations; difference-in-difference
    JEL: C55 C81 I23 O32 O35 O36 O38
    Date: 2021–04–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qss:dqsswp:2109&r=all

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