Journal Publishing and E-journal Reading by Social Science Scholars in Taiwan

1
Journal Publishing and E-journal Reading
by Social Science Scholars in Taiwan

• Mei-Ling Wang
• Graduate Institute of Library, Information and
  Archival Studies
• National Cheng-chi University
• Emailmeilingw_at_nccu.edu.tw
• June 25, 2012

2
Outline

• Taiwan Journal Publishing
• Methodology of Study
• Social scientists E- journal Use Habits
• Social scientists E-journal Reading Behavior
• The importance of e-journals
• E-journal reading critical incidents
• E-journal article sources
• Reading environment, methods and process
• Reading value and personal information management
• Conclusion

3
The First Magazine Published in Taiwan

• Taiwans first magazine, ?????? (Taiwanese
  Industry Magazine), was published in1896 during
  the reign of the Qing dynasty.
• The Government of Republic of China later moved
  to Taiwan gradually developed journal publishing.

4
History of Journal Publishing in Taiwan

• The popularization of education, the lifting of
  the newspaper ban, and the Publication Law all
  contributed to the gradual development of journal
  publishing.
• In 1979, there were 1,600 of periodicals
  published in 2011 more than 5,000 journals were
  published.

5
Journals and Magazine Publishers Statistics
During 1996 to 2010 in Taiwan
6
Scholarly Journals in Taiwan

• The robust growth of scholarly journals in Taiwan
  has promoted the development of higher education
  and scientific research
• More than 1,200 Scholarly journals which are
  published by 200 universities and research
  institutes present rich and vigorous academic
  achievements in Taiwan.
• The 700 scholarly journals in the areas of the
  Humanities and Social Sciences best represent
  Taiwan's academic characteristics and academic
  achievements.

7
Journal Publications Transforming into
Information Systems

• Journals were entered into information systems
  beginning in 1970.
• the National Central Library produced the ROC
  Journal Article Index.
• In 1996, the NCL digitized 4,000 journal
  collections for the Distance Books Project.
• In 2000, the Airiti Co. built the first
  commercial Taiwanese electronic journal database
  - Chinese Journal Electronic Services.
• In 2009, the Airiti Co. built the Academic
  Citation database .

8
Three types of Electronic Journal Databases in
Taiwan

• Journal article index databases,
• Full text electronic journal databases,
• Journal Citation Index databases.

9
Research Background

• Social scientists use journal articles heavily in
  their research and teaching. Research into
  scholarly journal use and reading patterns in
  Europe and America has shown they have a
  particular liking for English e-journals.
• Few studies on Chinese journal use and reading
  have been carried out.
• Social scientists in Taiwan use and read
  scholarly journals both in English and in
  Chinese.
• They use and read electronic journals differently
  from scientists in the U.S. and Europe.

10
Purposes of the Study

• The study attempts to investigate the electronic
  journal article reading behavior of social
  scientists in Taiwan.
• To investigate the history of electronic journal
  publishing and databases
• To explore the importance of e-journals in social
  scientists research
• To explore the e-journal reading behavior of
  Taiwanese social scientists
• To find factors influencing e-journal article
  reading to allow comparisons to be made between
  the e-journal reading behavior of social
  scientists in Taiwan and in Western countries.

11
Research Methods

• A web-based in-depth questionnaire was designed
  to quantify social scientists scholarly journal
  use patterns e-journal reading environment and
  methods and e-journal reading value and
  information management.
• Critical incident technique was used to ask
  respondents to reply based on their most recent
  e-journal article reading experience and their
  use experience in the past month.

12
Framework of e-journal article reading behavior
for Social Scientists
13
Two Questionnaire Surveys

• Two questionnaire surveys were conducted from
  December,2011 to January, 2012, a total of 294
  valid questionnaires collected.
• In the first stage , the researcher sent
  questionnaires by mail to the 84 faculty members
  of eight Library and Information Science schools
  and got 51 returned questionnaires.

14
Web-based in-Depth Survey

• In the second stage, the web-based in-depth
  survey was carried out at National Cheng-Chi
  University in Taiwan in 2012.
• The target population was social science faculty
  members and researchers of National Cheng-Chi
  University in Taiwan.
• In the web-based survey of January 2012, 253
  questionnaire responses were collected at
  National Cheng-Chi University.

15
College Respondents 294
College of Social Science 111 37.8
College of Business 66 22.4
Library Information Science 51 17.3
College of Education 33 11.2
College of Law 17 5.8
College of Communication 16 5.4
16
Outline

• Taiwan Journal Publishing
• Methodology of Study
• Social scientists E- journal Use Habits
• Social scientists E-journal Reading Behavior
• The importance of e-journals
• E-journal reading critical incidents
• E-journal article sources
• Reading environment, methods and process
• Reading value and personal information management
• Conclusion

17
Importance of E-journals

• 96 respondents in Taiwan regarded e-journals as
  important

College Social Science() Business () LIS() Education () Law() Communi() Total()
Very important 75(68.2) 43(67.2) 40(78.4) 24(72.7) 13(76.5) 8(50) 203(69.8)
Important 31(28.2) 15(23.4) 11(21.6) 8(24.2) 4(23.5) 6(9.4) 75(25.8)
No comment 4(3.6) 6(9.4) 0(0) 1(3) 0(0) 1(6.3) 12(4.1)
Unimportant 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) 1(6.3) 1(0.3)
Very Unimportant 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0)
Subtotal 110 64 51 33 17 16 291
18
E- journals Usage Proportions

• For 63 of respondents, e-journals accounted for
  more than 70 of journals used.
• Library and Information Science scholars heavily
  used e-journals.

Proportion Social Science() Business () LIS() Education () Law() Communication() Total()
25 or less 13(10.8) 8(12.1) 2(3.9) 3(6.1) 3(17.6) 2(12.5) 31(9.9)
2650 20(18) 5(7.6) 1(2) 1(3) 3(17.6) 1(6.3) 31(10.5)
5170 20(18) 6(9.1) 5(9.8) 8(24.2) 5(29.4) 2(12.5) 46(15.6)
7190 20(18) 18(27.3) 22(43.1) 9(27.3) 4(23.5) 7(43.8) 80(27.2)
91 or more 38(34.2) 29(43.9) 21(41.2) 12(36.4) 2(11.8) 4(25) 106(36.1)
Subtotal 111 66 51 33 17 16 294
19
Taiwan social scientists use the databases
Social Science() Business () LIS() Education () Law() Communication() Total()
Proquest 52(46.8) 43(65.2) 20(39.2) 23(69.7) 1(5.9) 10(62.5) 149(50.7)
Taiwan periodical index 64(57.7) 17(25.8) 29(56.9) 18(54.5) 12(70.6) 8(50) 148(50.3)
EBSCOHost 38(34.2) 35(53) 32(62.7) 25(75.8) 4(23.5) 11(68.8) 145(49.3)
Google 55(49.5) 33(50) 23(45.1) 20(60.6) 5(29.4) 7(43.8) 143(48.6)
CEPS 61(55) 13(19.7) 16(31.4) 12(36.4) 5(29.4) 8(50) 115(39.1)
JSTOR 53(47.7) 30(45.4) 12(23.5) 12(36.4) 4(23.5) 4(25) 115(39.1)
TSSCI 32(28.8) 12(18.2) 12(23.5) 17(51.5) 2(11.8) 1(6.3) 76(25.9)
WOS 14(12.6) 16(24.2) 20(39.2) 3(9.1) 1(5.9) 2(12.5) 56(19)
20
Number of Articles Read Within a Month

• Respondents read an average 14.47 articles per
  month, and read 174 articles per year.
• College of Education scholars read the most
  articles per month, 23.65, followed by College
  of Communications scholars at17.73 articles per
  month. LIS scholars read least.

Articles Social Science() Business () LIS() Education () Law() Communication() Total()
lt10 63(60) 39(68.4) 35(68.6) 17(54.8) 11(68.7) 11(73.3) 176(63.6)
11-15 12(11.4) 4(7) 3(5.8) 2(6.4) 0(0) 0(0) 21(7.6)
16-20 15(14.2) 7(12.2) 9(17.6) 4(12.9) 1(6.3) 1(6.6) 37(13.5)
21-25 1(0.9) 1(1.7) 0(0) 2(6.4) 0(0) 0(0) 4(1.5)
26-30 8(7.62) 3(5.2) 1(1.9) 2(6.4) 2(12.5) 1(6.6) 17(6.2)
gt30 6(5.7) 3(5.2) 3(5.8) 4(12.9) 2(12.5) 2(13.3) 20(7.3)
Subtotal 105 57 51 31 16 15 275
Average 13.53 12.91 11.43 23.65 15 17.73 14.47
21
Language of E-journals Read

• Analysis of e-journal critical incident article
  reading showed that 78.3 were in English.
• 21.7 were in Chinese.
• College of Business scholars read the most
  e-journals in English
• 60 of College of Law scholars read e-journals in
  Chinese

Language Social Science() Business () LIS() Education () Law() Communication() Total()
Chinese 19(38) 3(7.3) 5(12.5) 3(25) 3(60) 1(11.1) 34(21.7)
English 31(62) 38(92.7) 35(87.5) 9(75) 2(40) 8(88.9) 123(78.3)
Subtotal 28 29 43 32 21 4 157
22
Time Spent Reading Articles

• The average time spent reading an e-journal
  article was 88.55 minutes. Average annual reading
  time was 256.26 hours each year.
• Business School scholars spent 131 minutes to
  read one article Education scholars spent 100
  minutes Library and Information scholars spent
  66 minutes.

Time spent Social Science() Business () LIS() Education() Law() Comm. () Total()
lt10 mins 3(7.6) 1(2.7) 2(4.8) 1(8.3) 0(0) 1(12.5) 8(5.8)
1030mins 16(41) 10(27) 18(43.9) 6(50) 1(50) 2(25) 53(38.1)
3060mins 9(23.1) 8(21.6) 14(34.2) 2(16.6) 0(0) 2(25) 35(25.2)
60120mins 6(15.4) 4(10.8) 3(7.3) 1(8.3) 0(0) 2(25) 16(12.2)
120180mins 1(2.6) 6(16.2) 1(2.4) 0(0) 1(50) 0(0) 9(6.5)
gt180 minutes 4(10.3) 8(21.6) 3(7.3) 2(16.6) 0(0) 1(12.5) 18(12.9)
Subtotal 39 37 41 12 2 8 139
average 77.07mins 131.08mins 66.46mins 100mins 82.5mins 70.63mins 88.55mins
23
Reading Purposes

• The main reading purposes were writing papers,
  undertaking research projects, and writing
  research proposals.

Purposes Social Science() Business () LIS() Education() Law() Comm. () Total()
Writing papers 22(43.1) 22(53.7) 9(20) 3(25) 3(60) 5(55.6) 64(39.3)
Research 11(21.6) 7(17.1) 25(55.6) 6(50) 0(0) 1(11.1) 50(30.7)
Research proposal 13(25.5) 3(7.3) 7(15.6) 1(8.3) 2(40) 2(22.2) 28(17.2)
Teaching 1(2) 4(9.8) 3(6.7) 0(0) 0(0) 1(11.1) 9(5.5)
Others 1(2) 4(9.8) 1(2.2) 1(8.3) 0(0) 0(0) 7(4.3)
Symposium 2(3.9) 0(0) 0(0) 1(8.3) 0(0) 0(0) 3(1.8)
Classic paper 1(2) 1(2.4) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) 2(1.2)
Subtotal 51 41 45 12 5 9 163
24
Seeking Electronic Articles

• The main methods for seeking electronic articles
  were searching in journal databases and library
  catalogs. College of Communication and Business
  scholars were more likely to use search engines.

Method Social Science() Business () LIS() Education() Law() Comm. () Total()
Journal Database 10(20.4) 8(19.5) 28(62.2) 3(25) 1(20) 1(11.1) 51(31.7)
Library catalog 17(34.7) 16(39) 2(4.4) 6(50) 3(60) 4(44.4) 48(29.8)
Search engine 9(18.4) 12(29.3) 8(17.8) 1(8.3) 0(0) 3(33.3) 33(20.5)
Citations 7(14.3) 2(4.9) 3(6.7) 1(8.3) 0(0) 0(0) 13(8.1)
Colleagues 3(6.1) 3(7.3) 2(4.4) 1(8.3) 0(0) 0(0) 9(5.6)
Browsing journals 2(4.1) 0(0) 1(2.2) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) 3(1.9)
Others 1(2) 0(0) 1(2.2) 0(0) 1(20) 1(11.1) 4(2.5)
Subtotal 49 41 45 12 5 9 161
25
E-journal Article Sources

• The main sources of E-journal articles were
  library collections and search engines.

Source Social Science () Business () LIS() Education () Law () Comm. () Total()
Library collection 38(76) 34(82.9) 38(84.4) 11(91.7) 3(60) 5(55.6) 129(79.6)
Search engine 12(24) 7(17.1) 6(13.3) 1(8.3) 1(20) 3(33.3) 30(18.5)
Other 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) 1(20) 1(11.1) 2(1.2)
Personal subscription 0(0) 0(0) 1(2.2) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) 1(0.6)
Suttotal 50 41 45 12 5 9 162
26
Screen Browsing

• 87.3 of Taiwan's social science scholars browse
  electronic journals on the screen.
• They first view the content or title on the
  screen, and then decide whether to read or
  download the article. Social Sciences and
  Business college scholars like screen browsing

Screen browsing Social Science () Business () LIS () Education () Law () Comm. () Total()
Yes 50(94.3) 39(95.1) 30(66.7) 11(91.7) 5(100) 9(100) 144(87.3)
No 3(5.7) 2(4.9) 15(33.3) 1(8.3) 0(0) 0(0) 21(12.7)
Subtotal 53 41 45 12 5 9 165
27
Reading Environment

• Reading environments involve screen-based
  reading, print reading and the mixed methods
  mentioned above.
• Most respondents read on the screen more then
  read in print.

College Social Science () Business () LIS() Education () Law() Commni. () Total ()
Screen-based reading 22(42.3) 15(36.6) 13(28.9) 9(75) 3(60) 8(88.9) 70(42.7)
Print reading 14(26.9) 16(39) 20(44.4) 2(16.7) 0(0) 0(0) 52(31.7)
Mixed methods 16(30.8) 10(24.4) 12(26.7) 1(8.3) 2(40) 1(11.1) 42(25.6)
Subtotal 52 41 45 12 5 9 164
28
Reading Methods

• Of the four methods of journal reading, 31.9
  used repeated reading, 28.8 partial reading,
  27 complete reading, and 12.3 collocating
  reading. Most respondents read articles
  repeatedly.

Social Science() Business () LIS() Education() Law() Comm.() Total()
Repeated reading 20(39.2) 12(29.3) 12(26.7) 5(41.7) 0(0) 3(33.3) 52(31.9)
Partial reading 17(33.3) 12(29.3) 8(17.8) 5(41.7) 1(20) 4(44.4) 47(28.8)
Complete reading 9(17.6) 12(29.3) 17(37.8) 2(16.7) 2(40) 2(22.2) 44(27)
Collocating reading 5(9.8) 5(12.2) 8(17.8) 0(0) 2(40) 0(0) 20(12.3)
Subtotal 51 41 45 12 5 9 163
29
Reading Strategies

• More than half of respondents selected partial
  in-depth reading, followed by in-depth reading.
• Respondents from the College of Business, College
  of Law, and College of Communicate were least
  likely to choose in-depth reading.

Social Science() Business () LIS() Education () Law() Comm. () Total()
Partial in-depth reading 21(41.2) 29(70.7) 27(60) 8(72.7) 5(100) 7(87.5) 97(60.2)
In-depth reading 18(35.3) 5(12.2) 15(33.3) 2(18.2) 0(0) 0(0) 40(24.8)
Skimming 9(17.6) 6(14.6) 2(4.4) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) 17(10.6)
Browsing 3(5.9) 1(2.4) 1(2.2) 1(9.1) 0(0) 1(12.5) 7(4.3)
Subtotal 51 41 45 11 5 8 161
30
Reading Procedure

• Participants read electronic articles in order,
  including sequential reading, jump reading, and
  jump reading followed by sequential reading.
• Most of respondents first jump read and then read
  sequentially.

Social Science () Business () LIS() Education() Law() Comm. () Total()
First jump then sequential reading 25(49) 14(34.1) 17(37.8) 2(16.7) 2(40) 5(55.6) 75(46)
Sequential reading 20(39.2) 14(34.1) 17(37.8) 2(16.7) 2(40) 5(55.6) 60(36.8)
Jump reading 6(11.8) 8(19.5) 8(17.8) 4(33.3) 1(20) 1(11.1) 28(17.2)
Total 51 41 45 12 5 9 163
31
Satisfaction After Reading

• 90 of the social scientists surveyed reported
  feeling satisfied with reading e-journal
  articles. Social science scholars believe that
  electronic journals reading to help research

Social Science () Business () LIS() Education () Law() Comm.() Total()
Very satisfied 9(18) 9(22) 8(18.2) 3(25) 2(40) 1(11.1) 32(19.9)
Satisfied 35(70) 30(73.2) 31(70.5) 7(58.3) 3(60) 8(88.9) 114(70.8)
No opinion 5(10) 1(2.4) 5(11.4) 2(16.7) 0(0) 0(0) 13(8.1)
dissatisfied 1(2) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) 1(0.6)
Very dissatisfied 0(0) 1(2.4) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) 1(0.6)
subtotal 50 41 44 12 5 9 161
32
Annotating and Highlighting

• 86.9of scholars take notes or highlighting,
  56.3 marked on printed article, followed by
  25.6 who took handwritten notes.
• .

Social Science() Commerce() LIS() Education() Law() Comm. () Total()
Marking the printed article 27(54) 21(52.5) 32(72.7) 5(41.7) 2(40) 3(33.3) 90(56.3)
Taking handwritten notes on printed articles 17(34) 12(30) 9(20.5) 0(0) 2(40) 1(11.1) 41(25.6)
Marking the e-journal article 16(32) 8(20) 7(15.9) 2(16.7) 1(20) 5(55.6) 39(24.4)
Taking notes on e-journal articles 14(28) 8(20) 7(15.9) 3(25) 3(60) 1(11.1) 36(22.5)
No annotation 6(12) 6(15) 5(11.4) 2(16.7) 1(20) 1(11.1) 21(13.1)
Other 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0)
33
Personal Information Management

• 85 of the scholars engaged in personal
  information management behaviors. LIS scholars,
  law school scholars, doctoral students were more
  likely to download the paper or managing by
  computer.

Social Science() Commerce() LIS() Education () Law() Comm. () Total()
Downloading articles without managing them 21(42.9) 17(41.5) 18(40.9) 5(41.7) 2(40) 5(55.6) 68(42.5)
Download and manage articles on the computer 20(40.8) 17(41.5) 22(50) 3(25) 2(49) 3(33.3) 67(41.9)
No downloading and managing of articles 8(16.3) 7(17.1) 4(9.1) 4(33.3) 1(20) 1(11.1) 25(15.6)
Subtotal 49 41 44 12 5 9 160
34
Conclusions(contd)

• Four types of e-journal reading behavior of
  social scientists in Taiwan are shown in the
  study, including screen-based reading,
  screen-based collocating reading, screen-based
  partial reading, screen browsing and print
  reading.
• Most respondents agreed that e-journals are very
  important, none of them think they are
  unimportant, and the proportion using them was
  over 90. E-journals are the most common way for
  social scientists to read journal articles.
• The respondents read an average of 14.47 articles
  per month, and 173.64 articles per year
• The average spent time reading an article of
  social scientists in Taiwan was 88.55 minutes,
  and 256 hours per year.

35
Conclusions

• Social science scholars prefer to read a lengthy
  e-journal article published in English for nearly
  six years, except the Law School scholars, they
  prefer reading Chinese journals.
• Social science scholars read e- journal articles
  mostly from the Library by database searching.
• Social science scholars like screen browsing
  before reading e-journal , e-journal article
  screen reading more than print article reading
• Social science scholars read e-journals articles
  with various reading methods and reading
  strategies
• Most of Social science scholars were satisfied
  with the e-journals article reading and took
  notes , highlighted and managed by computer.

36
Conclusions(contd)

• There are differences in the electronic journal
  reading behavior s in accordance with Scholars
  different backgrounds.
• Some factors affect the reading behavior and
  satisfaction of e-journals , including paper
  length and language of electronic journal ,
  reading methods and strategies of scholars.

37
Future Research

• The future ongoing researches will focus on the
  point of view of cultural differences.
•  Further investigation of the electronic journal
  reading of social science scholars in mainland
  China and the United States , besides, e-books
  reading and use behavior will be carried out, in
  the hope that the new discovery in the digital
  reading behavior