Wide-ranging statistical and literature reviews provide a framework for analysis. Interviews were conducted with a structured sample of senior researchers in a range of research fields and institutional settings. Findings were confirmed and extended in a series of workshops. Both interviews and workshops targeted the leading edge of research in order to shed light on the direction of development and future needs. They focused on why researchers do what they do, rather than simply on what they do, because it is only by understanding the evolving needs of leading researchers that we can effectively resource research activities in the future.
Analysis focuses on three key areas of research activity: communication and collaboration, information search and access, and dissemination and publication. The key questions posed are:
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How do researchers conduct their research, and how is that changing?
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What are their major information sources, and how are those sources changing?
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How do researchers access, use and manage information, and how is that changing?
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How do researchers use their sources in the creation of new content, and how that is changing?
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How do researchers communicate with colleagues and publish their findings, and how are scholarly communication activities changing?
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How do researchers use technology, especially Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), and how is it changing their activities?
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What are the implications of evolving research practices for those tasked with resourcing research and providing the necessary research information resources and communication infrastructures?
We find that there is a new mode of knowledge production emerging, changing research practices and bringing new information access and dissemination needs. Adjustments will be required to the existing research information and scholarly communication system to accommodate these changes, but new opportunities are emerging for more cost-effective and sustainable information access and dissemination. To fully realise these opportunities, however, it will be necessary to take a more holistic approach to the development of the research information infrastructure and scholarly communication system.
A new mode of knowledge production is emerging
A new mode of knowledge production has emerged over recent years, characterised by Gibbons et al. (1994) as Mode 2. With the emergence of Mode 2 research there is: increasing diversity in the location of research activities; an increasing focus on interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary research; an increasing focus on problems, rather than techniques; greater emphasis on collaborative work and communication; and greater emphasis on more diverse and informal modes of communication.
The existing research information infrastructure has evolved over many years, during which traditional disciplinary Mode 1 research has been the dominant mode of knowledge production. Consequently, the existing infrastructure is better suited to the traditional than the new mode of knowledge production. The key to developing research infrastructure for the future is to think through the implications of the changes in research practices implied by the emergence of Mode 2 research and the development of e-science.
There are new information access and dissemination needs
The emergence of a new mode of knowledge production is bringing with it new information access and dissemination needs. There is increasing demand for access to a wider range of more diverse sources; for access mechanisms that cut across disciplinary silos; and for access to, and management of non-traditional, non-text digital objects. Research databases, related software and other analytical objects are now core tools, as the very nature of discourse shifts from hypothesis testing towards collecting, processing and analysing primary data.
As the U.S. National Research Council noted:
The rapidly expanding availability of primary sources of data in digital form may be shifting the balance of research away from working with secondary sources such as scholarly publications. Researchers today struggle to extract meaning from these masses of data, because our techniques of searching, analyzing, interpreting, and certifying information remain primitive. New automated systems, and perhaps new intermediary institutions for searching and authenticating information, will develop to provide these services, much as libraries and scholarly publications served these roles in the past.
(National Research Council 2001, p5).
New digital object access management systems will be required, and there will be increasing demand for collaborative research support applications and research support systems that enable researchers to bring together the increasingly disparate digital objects used in research in such a way as to facilitate enhanced integrated analysis.
The system for the creation, production and distribution of scientific and scholarly knowledge must be viewed holistically
Many factors have influenced the development of the present research infrastructure and scholarly communication system. Its elements have evolved and are often considered separately. As a result, developments have been somewhat piecemeal and there are sometimes conflicting forces at work.
It will be essential to take an holistic approach to ‘re-engineering’ the system, which treats the creation, production and distribution of scientific and scholarly information, the management of information rights and access, systems of evaluation and the underlying infrastructure as parts of a single research information infrastructure and scholarly communication system.
Research practices are directly shaped by systems of evaluation, changing funding patterns and priorities. Existing evaluation and reward structures tend to lead to conflicting incentives in relation to scientific and scholarly communication. Establishing a coherent structure of incentives that operates system-wide is an essential step towards providing more cost-effective access and dissemination in support of both research and its economic, social and environmental applications.
Emerging dissemination and publication pathways offer new opportunities
Scientific and scholarly publishing is now evolving along two distinct paths – one in which large multinational commercial publishers are increasing their dominance in such areas as ‘branded’ journal titles and access to scientific publication, and the other in which there are a variety of open access initiatives.
Open access digital repositories, operating in parallel with existing commercial publishing mechanisms, may provide a major opportunity to develop a sustainable information infrastructure for both traditional and emerging modes of knowledge production. Together, they provide the foundation for more effective and efficient access to, and dissemination of scientific and scholarly information.
The process of knowledge production is cumulative, with knowledge applied to knowledge, such that knowledge is both an output and an input. How researchers source that knowledge input, how they communicate with each other and how they communicate and disseminate findings are crucial, not only for the progress of knowledge but also for the capacity of the national innovation system to underpin prosperity in the global knowledge economy. As the traditional systems of knowledge production and dissemination are disrupted and alternative modes of knowledge production emerge the future development of research infrastructure and the provision of information resources becomes more challenging – perhaps even more challenging than many have yet realised.
There are many challenges to be met. There is a need to:
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Establish a mechanism for the identification of research information infrastructure priorities that is representative of all stakeholders and able to gain support for identified initiatives;
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Stimulate informed debate about research infrastructure and scholarly communication issues, collaborating internationally where appropriate;
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Stimulate innovation through reforms to incentive systems – including, inter alia, research evaluation, intellectual property rights, grant allocation and peer review mechanisms;
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Encourage institutional leadership to facilitate access to, and management of digital repositories; and
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Support ongoing research into evolving research practices, research infrastructure and scholarly communication needs.
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To meet these challenges and develop a sustainable research information infrastructure and scholarly communication system it will be necessary to take an holistic approach and pursue a coherent agenda. That agenda should focus on:
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Creating a coherent structure of incentives based on an holistic approach to the system for the creation, production and distribution of research information;
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Providing the infrastructure and tools to support collaborative research activities in both traditional and new modes of knowledge production;
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Enabling access to necessary information access mechanisms and resources, and equipping users with appropriate information skills to enable their use; and
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Encouraging the development a system of scholarly communication and research dissemination built on the principle of open access.
Mechanisms and processes
There is a need to put in place mechanisms and processes that engage all stakeholders and enable consensual outcomes based on an holistic approach to research information infrastructure development. We call on stakeholders to:
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Support the development of an holistic approach to research infrastructure and scholarly communication issues;
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Establish a mechanism for the identification of systemic priorities, which represents all stakeholders and is able to gain support for identified initiatives;
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Pursue initiatives that seek to reduce the bureaucratisation of research activities – such as, for example, the development and implementation of best practice standards, standard contracts and the development of common compliance and reporting systems across funding sources; and
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Support an advocacy program to inform and engage, which focuses on:
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researchers’ awareness of, and access to collaborative support systems and the development of collaborative project management skills;
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raising awareness and equipping researchers with the skills necessary to maximise the benefits of emerging information access and dissemination possibilities; and
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encouraging researchers to license publishers rather than giving away copyright.
The incentive structure
There is a need to stimulate innovation through reforms to incentive systems – including, inter alia, research evaluation, intellectual property rights, grant allocation and peer review mechanisms.
Research evaluation
In respect to research evaluation there is a need to:
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Adjust performance measurement and research evaluation systems to take account of both traditional and emerging modes of knowledge production by, for example, giving greater recognition to:
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a wider range of activities and outputs;
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team-based work and collaborative activities;
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scientific, social, economic and environmental outcomes; and
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wider and more diverse communication and dissemination, linking to performance and practice as well as further research; and
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Explore the possibility of basing research evaluation on quality, quantity and ‘relevance’ factors, and extend the evaluation period to move away from a ‘procurement model’ towards a system that is based on investment in people.
Incentives
In respect to incentives there is a need to:
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Examine whether current intellectual property rights practices provide sufficient incentives for the application and commercialisation of research outcomes – focusing on practices relating to the distribution of both property rights and licensing revenues between research institutions, centres/departments and individuals;
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Encourage the use of non-exclusive, but royalty bearing licensing, so as to minimise potential tensions between publication and commercialisation;
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Expand the focus of intellectual property rights management to include copyright, as well as patents and licensing; and
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Provide greater support to researchers in contract negotiation and through the promulgation of standard contracts and conditions.
Peer review
In respect to peer review of both grant applications and publications there is a need to:
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Explore ways to encourage reforms to peer review, which seek to introduce greater care and transparency while retaining the benefits of the system – such as, for example, open review (where the reviewers are named), published review (where reviews are published with the paper), increased payment for reviews, and increased recognition of review activities in performance assessment and evaluation; and
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Examine the need for further reforms to research council proposal review and assessment processes – such as, for example, expanding international reviewer possibilities through reciprocal arrangements at the national level.
Research infrastructure
It is necessary to provide the infrastructure and tools to support collaborative research activities in both traditional disciplinary and new modes of knowledge production, and to enhance access to necessary information resources. We call on stakeholders to:
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Support the development of high bandwidth research networks and grid applications (eg. through AREN and GrangeNet) with encouragements for researchers to push application development across all disciplines and fields of research;
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Encourage the development of collaborative research support applications – such as, for example, electronic records management, desktop videoconferencing, etc.;
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Investigate the possibility of developing and implementing research support systems that enable researchers to bring together the increasingly disparate digital objects used in research in such a way as to facilitate enhanced integrated analysis;
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Pay greater attention to non-disciplinary modes of search and access – such as generic front-end searching, and problem oriented rather than disciplinary portals and gateways; and
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Facilitate access to research databases, related software and analytical objects, with identified priorities feeding into action as soon as a research needs assessment has been completed.
Open access
We must encourage the development of a system of scholarly communication and research dissemination built on the principle of open access. To that end there is a need to:
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Establish an integrated open access digital repositories initiative based on Australia’s higher education and research institutions, which recognises and accommodates the needs of both traditional and emerging modes of knowledge production, and is built on clear strategies for digital rights management, metadata management and access management;
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Encourage the population of repositories through initiatives that seek to:
o promote awareness of their purpose and potential;
o encourage retention of copyright and standardised licensing to publishers;
o provide the necessary support to enable use; and
o provide incentives that reward researchers for adopting the systems; and
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