Academic Reference and Research: New Whitepapers from ALPSP, Wiley, and Oxford University Press

1. Whitepaper: The Reach & Impact of Research Articles Beyond the Academy
by Lettie Conrad ALPSP (Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers) and Samantha Green, Wiley (8 pages; PDF)

To publish is to disseminate research publicly—however, the scope of our audience changing, as funders and other stakeholders demand the widest possible communication of scientific research across the globe. In this whitepaper, we will consider how publishers and editors can enable impartial, inclusive publication and outreach, within and beyond the academy. We will especially look at how publishers and editors are reaching beyond the “ivory towers” of western scholarly discourse to facilitate broader impact of science within society

2. Whitepaper: Navigating Research: How Academic Users Understand, Discover, and Utilize Reference Resources
by Oxford University Press (8 pages; PDF)

Through a review of existing literature, interviews with librarians and library users, and a survey of over 150 librarians, the paper notes that the focus of reference publishing has shifted from simply providing facts to contextualizing information by situating particular topics within their broader fields of study and making clear their connection to related areas of inquiry.
The study additionally found that scholarly topic overviews remain important due to a growing focus on an interdisciplinary research approach and the increasingly specialized focus of research publications.

Filed under: Companies (Publishers/Vendors), Interviews, Journal Articles, Libraries, News, Patrons and Users, Publishing