Graham Bullock and Nicholas Wilder
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the comprehensiveness of competing higher education sustainability assessments. Higher education institutions (HEIs) have been increasingly…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the comprehensiveness of competing higher education sustainability assessments. Higher education institutions (HEIs) have been increasingly communicating their sustainability commitments to the public. To assist the public in evaluating these claims, a broad range of actors have assessed the sustainability of HEIs.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses an evaluation framework (the GRI-HE) consisting of criteria developed by the Global Reporting Initiative and the Association of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future to analyze the comprehensiveness of nine publicly-available frameworks that have been used to assess HEI sustainability.
Findings
While finding that in general these assessments are not comprehensive and particularly lack coverage of the social and economic dimensions of sustainability, the paper identifies the Pacific Sustainability Index and Sustainability Tracking and Assessment Rating System (STARS) as the most comprehensive assessments in the sector.
Research limitations/implications
This study does not assess the quality of the match to the GRI-HE’s criteria, only whether they match to a reasonable degree. The analysis highlights areas where each HEI sustainability assessment framework can add criteria and improve their comprehensiveness and validity. Future research should explore the causes and relative importance of the gaps in these frameworks.
Originality/value
The paper provides a valuable discussion and demonstration of the use of comprehensiveness as a proxy metric for the validity of sustainability assessments. This analysis is the first detailed, comprehensive and transparent analysis of HEI sustainability assessments based on a broad-based and widely accepted set of criteria.
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Faramarz Soheili, Ali Akbar Khasseh and Afshin Mousavi-Chelak
The purpose of this paper is to identify the top researchers in information behaviour (IB) based on ideational and social influence indicators.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the top researchers in information behaviour (IB) based on ideational and social influence indicators.
Design/methodology/approach
The population included papers on IB indexed in the Web of Science from 1980 to 2015. UCINET and Bibexcel were the tools used for measuring the ideational and social influence indicators. The correlations among the study variables were measured by applying SPSS and LISREL.
Findings
There was a significant relationship between IB researchers’ productivity and performance, and between ideational influence and social influence. The structural equation modelling showed that a researcher with top placement in his/her co-authorship network can gain higher ideational influence. In total, it seems that the single and traditional criteria are increasingly replacing new and integrative ones in measuring researchers’ scientific influence in fields including IB studies. Results have shown that based on total scores of the studied indicators, Spink, A., Nicholas, D., Ford, N., Huntington, P., Wilson, T.D., and Jamali, H.R. gained the high scores.
Originality/value
The current study used an integrative method based on influence indicators to identify the influential researchers in IB studies. None of the few studies done using bibliometric methods in the realm of IB has investigated the ideational and social influence indicators altogether.
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The purpose of this paper is to comment on recent trends in UK information strategy which aim to further the development of a coherent national “author pays” open access (APOA…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to comment on recent trends in UK information strategy which aim to further the development of a coherent national “author pays” open access (APOA) research publication system.
Design/methodology/approach
A description of APOA national policy initiatives, which is put into a wider context by looking at some economic analyses of the principles underlying this form of open access. This is in turn followed by the author's own conclusions, which synthesise these two perspectives.
Findings
It is not at all clear that the economics of APOA are well enough understood to guarantee that the original aim of open access – to deal with unaffordable serials price inflation – will be achieved by a large scale move towards a national APOA system in the UK. An enhanced, nationally coordinated move geared towards establishing APOA on a proper footing would be a bold experiment, and, as such, it might not fully achieve its aims. In recognition of this possibility, it would be worth considering the establishment of a similar, enhanced, UK‐wide programme for the development of purely repository‐based open access materials, to be developed in parallel with an APOA system, as an insurance policy in case the author pays model does not realise its full potential.
Research limitations/implications
This paper does not give any clear description of the nature of an enhanced, UK‐wide repository‐based open access programme. Further investigation would be required to ascertain if this suggestion is feasible. It may be the case that existing national initiatives aimed at supporting the growth of open access subject and institutional repositories have exhausted the potential for coordinated UK‐wide development of this strand of the open access movement.
Practical implications
The insights provided give some idea of the practical difficulties of taking forward APOA systems on a national basis.
Originality value
This paper combines views taken from a variety of different sources in the hope that a fresh perspective on the issue of APOA is made available to the reader.
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Ashay Desai and Ananda Mukherji
Vertical integration across three different types of economies and selected industries is studied to trace historical, political, and economic influences on the evolution of…
Abstract
Vertical integration across three different types of economies and selected industries is studied to trace historical, political, and economic influences on the evolution of vertically integrated structures. Specifically, the focus in this article is on the industrial development that took place in Germany, the UK, Japan and the USA. The role of a domestic market, colony markets, and attempts to become a dominant colonizer all play a significant role in the development of various industries, and the efficiency levels that they attained. The role of government, the level of international competition, and other integration drivers salient in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are also discussed. A broad view of structural and contextual forces provides a better understanding of why certain industries chose to integrate the way they did.
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In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of…
Abstract
In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.
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Chinese began to arrive in Florida at the turn of the 20th century. Currently there are more than fifty thousand Chinese living in Florida. This article provides information…
Abstract
Chinese began to arrive in Florida at the turn of the 20th century. Currently there are more than fifty thousand Chinese living in Florida. This article provides information resources for scholars and students of Chinese studies, and for people interested in the history of Chinese Americans and Southeast regional studies. It consists of archive papers, books, journal and newspaper articles and Internet resources containing information on Florida and China. The list is arranged by authors’ last names when available.
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To highlight and offer guidance on good practice in web accessibility within the context of the United Kingdom government's agendas of social inclusion, widening access to…
Abstract
Purpose
To highlight and offer guidance on good practice in web accessibility within the context of the United Kingdom government's agendas of social inclusion, widening access to education and the modernisation of public services.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on the most current data available from the Department for Education and Skills, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, and performance reports from the Cabinet Office. Conclusions on the current and future directions of government strategy are drawn from analysis of policy documents and statements, as well as from the data sets themselves. The paper makes reference to international web content standards and relevant legislation.
Findings
Argues that the accessibility of the online environment is essential in relation to the government's attempts to shape the UK into a socially inclusive knowledge economy.
Research limitations/implications
Focuses on the United Kingdom and draws conclusions from data sets from the Department for Education and Skills and the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service. Comparative studies could establish the relationship between web accessibility and government social and economic development policies in other countries.
Practical implications
Highlights the importance of accessibility on three levels (ethical, legal and commercial) and offers guidance on inclusive approaches to the design of online resources and services offered by the public, educational and commercial sectors.
Originality/value
Good practice in accessible web design is contextualised within social trends and specific government strategies.
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The purpose of this paper is to illustrate issues surrounding the Google Book settlement in 2009, and its relevance to libraries by general discussion and examples from library…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to illustrate issues surrounding the Google Book settlement in 2009, and its relevance to libraries by general discussion and examples from library practice.
Design/methodology/approach
A set of projections and speculations that are both conceptual and practical in nature, based on early reactions and comments about this development.
Findings
There are many philosophical and moral objections to the consequences of the Google Book settlement, and that the practical effects for academic libraries could be both positive and/or negative. The practical examples of such outcomes are designed to help clarify the implications for library and information practitioners and generate further debate.
Research limitations/implications
The fact that the Book settlement is a legal arrangement between parties in a civil court makes in depth research analysis of a public nature very difficult – which is in itself one of the main themes of the paper.
Practical implications
The teasing out of the real‐life consequences of the settlement are intended be helpful to the library practitioner.
Originality/value
This paper tries to offer an early insight into an important new development in information retrieval history from the point of view of academic librarians, in contrast to much contemporary comment, which has come from authors and rights holders.
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Serge Svizzero and Clement A. Tisdell
Possible reasons for using kites to kill gazelles are comprehensively reviewed in this article. Even though they are now well inventoried and documented, desert kites are still…
Abstract
Possible reasons for using kites to kill gazelles are comprehensively reviewed in this article. Even though they are now well inventoried and documented, desert kites are still not well understood, as exemplified by the recurrent controversies about their function and dating. According to the dominant view, kites were hunting structures used to drive and to mass kill large herds of wild ungulates, particularly gazelles. Although kites were intensively used during the Early Bronze Age, some of them could have been built and used before that. Beyond these issues, the cultural and socioeconomic aspects of the kites phenomenon are even less understood, and therefore, we focus on changing reasons for the long-lasting use of kites as hunting devices. We contend that the reasons why they were used during the period of utilization for hunting gazelles changed, in most cases, in response to socioeconomic development. It is hypothesized, for example, that, as a result of urban development, kites may have been increasingly (but not exclusively) used to kill gazelles to trade their products with urban communities and farmers, even though they had other uses as well which are also considered. The main hypothesis presented in this article enables diverse opinions about the types of uses and reasons for utilizing desert kites to be reconciled, including in particular varied reasons given in the literature about why they were used for killing gazelles.