Steering science through output indicators & data capitalism

Steering science through
Output Indicators & Data Capitalism
Torino, 20.09.2019
23rd Congress of the European Society of Veterinary and
Comparative Nutrition. University of Turin, 18th-20th
September 2019
Dr. Ulrich Herb, Saarland University and State Library, Germany

09.2019
> Steering science through Output Indicators & Data Capitalism
Output factors in science
23rd Congress of the European Society of Veterinary and Comparative Nutrition.
University of Turin

09.2019
> Output factors
Bibliometrics (since the mid 1920s)
Use of bibliometric information to assess a scientist's performance
through logging of ...
• her/his own behaviour, e.g. the number of publications
• reactive behaviour of others, e.g. through counting citations in
scientific publications
University of Turin

09.2019
> Output factors
Event Logging, 2019
Evaluation of science is done through event logging.
Logging of the
• (digital) traces left behind by persons or their works/information.
• references/reactions to these persons or their works/information.
University of Turin

09.2019
> Event Logging
The example of Elsevier
University of Turin

09.2019
> Event logging in Elsevier manner
Publishing house (1880)
• Sales and distribution of scientific publications
• January 2019: Elsevier publishes 2,960 scientific journals,
Springer Nature 3,113, Wiley 1,724.
University of Turin

09.2019
Bibliometrics (2004)
Launch of the citation database Scopus
• indexation is attractive for authors and publishers as it …
- is a quality criterion in itself
- offers added value (impact information)
• even competitors of Elsevier are eager to get their context
indexed in Scopus and provide data that Elsevier can
- sell
and
- evaluate for its own purposes.
University of Turin

09.2019
Benchmarking (2009)
Launch of SciVal
• benchmarking of scientific institutions
University of Turin

09.2019
Research Information (2012)
Acquisition of Atira and its research information system PURE.
Research information systems
• provide an external representation of the performance of an
institution,
• are used internally for benchmarking and protocolling research
performance,
• are usually fed with project data, financial data, publication
information and impact information.
University of Turin

09.2019
Reference Management (2013)
Acquisition of the reference management tool Mendeley.
Information about the relevance of texts,
• that are not cited yet,
• which seem to be of great value, but which are not or rarely
cited,
• whose citations are not covered by conventional citation
databases.
Context: Academic status, affiliation, subject, Scopus-ID, rating,
...
University of Turin

09.2019
Media monitoring (2015)
Acquisition of newsflo service, which analyses the impact of science,
scientific publications and research results in media reports.
Index: 45,000 news outlets from over 20 countries
• high-precision search for author IDs and affiliation by connection
with Scopus
Integrated with …
• Mendeley for measuring the societal impact of research
• SciVal for the visualization of the resonance of an institution and
its researchers
• PURE: Live feeds with news coverage about researchers of an
institution
University of Turin

09.2019
Research data management (2015)
Mendeley Data provides free-of-charge storage capacity for storing
research data.
• Elsevier journals or Society Journals (e.g., CELL Press) use
Mendeley Data to publish research data referenced in articles
• Data sets are also referenced and linked to the corresponding
article in ScienceDirect
University of Turin

09.2019
Disciplinary Open Access Repositories (2016)
Acquisition of the Open Access service Social Science Research
Network (SSRN).
• Access to information from not yet formally published research,
e.g. not yet registered in Scopus or Mendeley.
• Rolling out the SSRN technology: In 2016, Elsevier launched two
publication services for working papers from the natural sciences,
ChemRN and BioRN.
University of Turin

09.2019
Electronic lab data (2016)
Acquisition of Hivebench:
• software for the management of experiments, protocols, analyses
and data
• convenient and simple data storage in combination with other
Elsevier services, e.g. through integration of Hivebench and
Mendeley Data to ensure long-term archiving of research data
University of Turin

09.2019
Institutional Open Access Repositories (2017)
Acquisition of the repository provider Bepress
Incentives (Elsevier 2017a): Showcase und Impact
„Campuses can promote faculty and their expertise with scholarly
profiles and expert galleries. And administrators can use industry-
leading readership analytics to track impact and share it with
stakeholders.“
Elsevier‘s press release (2017b) quotes Bepress CEO Jean-Gabriel
Bankier: „Now with Elsevier we’ll be stronger and better by applying
more technologies and data and analytics capabilities to help more
institutions achieve their research goals.”
University of Turin

09.2019
Altmetrics (2017)
Acquisition of the Altmetrics provider PLUM Analytics and its service
PLUM X
• measuring the impact of scientific objects that does not (only)
manifest itself in citations
• strong competitive approach and benchmarking functionalities
• provides information on the dissemination of scientific objects in
social media, news, reference management systems and a variety
of other communication channels of scientific and non-scientific
nature.
University of Turin

Slide
> The operating system
23rd Congress of the European Society of Veterinary and Comparative Nutrition. University of Turin 1720.09.2019
Mendeley
Hivebench

Slide
bepress
SSRN
Mendeley
Hivebench

Slide
bepress
SSRN
Mendeley
Hivebench Elsevier
Publishing

Slide
bepress
SSRN
Mendeley
Hivebench
Mendeley Data
Elsevier
Publishing

Slide
bepress
SSRN
Mendeley
Hivebench
Mendeley Data
Elsevier
Publishing
Scopus

Slide
PLUM Xbepress
SSRN
Mendeley
Hivebench
Mendeley Data
Elsevier
Publishing
Scopus

Slide
PURE
PLUM Xbepress
SSRN
Mendeley
Hivebench
Mendeley Data
Elsevier
Publishing
Scopus

Slide
newsflo
PURE
PLUM Xbepress
SSRN
Mendeley
Hivebench
Mendeley Data
Elsevier
Publishing
Scopus

Slide
SciVal
newsflo
PURE
PLUM Xbepress
SSRN
Mendeley
Hivebench
Mendeley Data
Elsevier
Publishing
Scopus

Slide
SciVal
newsflo
PURE
PLUM Xbepress
SSRN
Mendeley
Hivebench
Mendeley Data
Springer
Nature
Scopus

09.2019
From a publishing house to an operating system
University of Turin

09.2019
Elsevier 2019
• „Global Information Analytics Company“ (Elsevier 2019a)
• provider of an operating system with highly integrated
services/apps that scientists can use in every work phase and that
produces data about this work in every phase
• resonance and impact of research within science are measured by
Scopus and PLUM X, outside science by Newsflo
• Posoda & Chen (2018): Integration of services produces
dependency on two levels …
a) consumer [= c) producer a.k.a. scientist]
• b) individual and institutional decision-making processes
University of Turin

09.2019
Dependence through Convenience: Googleisierung?
An escape from Google's data collection mania is possible through
loss of comfort, there are discrete alternatives.
Scientists cannot escape :
• scientists have to publish in prestigious journals
• scientists increasingly have to publish their data
• publishers and authors are aiming for indexation in Scopus
• publications are tracked by Elsevier anyway (and in every way):
Mendeley Libraries, PLUM X (via Twitter, etc.), Newsflo
University of Turin

09.2019
Digital Science
(Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, holds 53 % of the shares of SpringerNature)
• Figshare: repository for publishing texts, data, software, etc.
• Symplectic: system for their collection, management and analysis
• Labguru: lab data management
• Readcube: reference management and research tool
• Overleaf: collaborative writing tool
• Transcriptic: location-independent execution and control of
experiments
• Altmetric.com: measuring alternative impact
• AboutResearch: deciding aid for science funders
• Peerwith: "to ensure (...) academic work is ready to be
communicated in the best possible way to enhance its scientific
impact" (Digital Science 2019)
• Dimensions: SciVal counterpart
University of Turin

09.2019
Clarivate Analytics
• Web of Science: impact/citation database
• Journal Citation Reports: calculating of the Journal Impact Factor
• Endnote: reference management software
• Converis: research Information System
• Publons: tracking Peer Review Activities
• Authorea: collaborative writing tool
• Professional Services & Essential Science Indicators: SciVal
counterparts with external and internal perspectives, including
recruiting functionalities
University of Turin

09.2019
So what?
University of Turin

09.2019
> So what?
Economisation
• Publication, curation and assessment of science are increasingly in
the hands of private sector actors.
• European Commission Report "Open innovation, open science,
open to the world - a vision for Europe" (2016) identifies only
Elsevier, Springer Nature and its subsidiary Digital Science,
Google and Wikimedia as stewards of scientific information.
• Service not provided: Elsevier secretly shut down his search
engine Scirus 2014, which it praised as the "most comprehensive
scientific research tool on the web" (Elsevier, 2013).
University of Turin

09.2019
> So what?
Steering science
Orchestration of offers: highly competitive, reminiscent of a planned
economy, mixed with metaphors of breeding and war
„Arm your researchers to compete for funding“
„You can organize your research into user-defined groups and
hierarchies to analyze and understand what is happening with
research in your organization. You can group your metrics by
researcher or groups within your organization such as by lab, by
subject, by journal or any other group where you need to tell the
story of research.”
(PLUM Analytics 2016)
University of Turin

09.2019
> So what?
Steering science
• “Gain powerful insights into cutting-edge science and the contributions
made by researchers, institutions and funding bodies. Use this data to plan
your recruitment, retention, collaborative outreach, and funding
investment strategies“ (Clarivate Analytics 2019)
• “We are expanding SciVal from being a purely evaluative and analytical
tool to being an integral part of your research planning process. Topic
Prominence in Science will revolutionize the way in which you develop your
research strategy” Elsevier (2019c)
• “Identify and analyze existing and potential collaboration opportunities
based on publication output and citation impact” Elsevier (2019b)
• “Test scenarios by modelling (…) groups of researchers to apply for a
large-scale grant program” Elsevier (2019b)
University of Turin

09.2019
> So what?
Control and adaption
Exact identification of an individual scientist in all his professional
shades and activities enables ...
• full control
• continuous benchmarking
• continuous assessment of research, e.g. with regard to its ability
to connect to (international) trends.
Possible reactions
• choice of research topics, cooperation/project partners or co-
authors out of fear of negative effects
• "digital paternalism" and renunciation of "informational autonomy"
(Bendel, 2018, translated by UH)
University of Turin

09.2019
Perspectives
University of Turin

09.2019
> Perspektiven
Science as …
... competition?
... war?
... planned economy project?
... breeding program?
University of Turin

09.2019
> Perspektiven
Breeding and planning versus Libido Sciendi
• Libido Sciendi (Bourdieu 1997) as a driving motivation in science
is replaced by commercial science dating agencies.
• Data-driven and output factor-oriented science becomes uniform
(Münch 2011)
• Elimination of innovation? Every improvement and every selection
advantage is preceded by a deviation from the genetic plan, a
mutation, a rule violation, in short: a mistake.
• Does data-driven and output-factor-oriented scientific control lead
us to incest, degeneration and sterility?
University of Turin

09.2019
> Perspektiven
Remedies?
Non-commercial services & infrastructures?
often underfunded, with a stronger focus on innovation than on
maintenance, financial sustainability or support.
Scientific advisory boards with representatives?
These could identify which data in which discipline are really useful
for the evaluation of research & perhaps find a balance between the
allocation of resources, the sovereignty of science and the financial
interests of commercial actors.
Will the commercial players accept such regulation?
University of Turin

09.2019
Appendix
Herb, U. (2018). Zwangsehen und Bastarde. Information -
Wissenschaft & Praxis, 69(2–3), 81–88.
https://doi.org/10.1515/iwp-2018-0021
Open Access unter: https://zenodo.org/record/1284176
Herb, U. (2018). (2018). Zucht oder Libido Sciendi? Eine Dystopie
der Wissenschaftssteuerung. Laborjournal. Sommer 2018.
https://www.laborjournal.de/rubric/essays/essays2018/e18_08.la
sso
University of Turin

09.2019
Literature
Bendel, O. (2018). Big Data. In Gablers Wirtschaftslexikon. Springer Gabler.
https://wirtschaftslexikon.gabler.de/definition/big-data-54101/version-
206361 [04.01.2019].
Bourdieu, P. (1997). Die verborgenen Mechanismen der Macht. Schriften zu Politik &
Kultur, Band 1. VSA-Verlag Hamburg.
Clarivate Analytics. (2019). Professional Services – Clarivate.
https://clarivate.com/products/professional-services/ [04.01.2019].
Digital Science. (2019). Peerwith – Digital Science. https://www.digital-
science.com/products/peerwith/ [04.01.2019].
Elsevier. (2013). Scirus Homepage.
http://web.archive.org/web/20130217135017/http://www.scirus.com/
[04.01.2019].
Elsevier. (2017a). Bepress and Elsevier – an update.
https://www.elsevier.com/connect/bepress-and-elsevier-an-update [04.01.2019].
Elsevier. (2017b). Elsevier acquires bepress, a leading service provider used by
academic institutions to showcase their research.
https://www.elsevier.com/about/press-releases/corporate/elsevier-acquires-
bepress,-a-leading-service-provider-used-by-academic-institutions-to-showcase-
their-research [04.01.2019].
University of Turin

09.2019
Literature
Elsevier. (2019a). Elsevier | An Information Analytics Business | Empowering
Knowledge. https://www.elsevier.com/ [04.01.2019].
Elsevier. (2019b). SciVal Features. https://www.elsevier.com/solutions/scival/features
[04.01.2019].
Elsevier. (2019c). Topic Prominence in Science.
https://www.elsevier.com/solutions/scival/releases/topic-prominence-in-science
[04.01.2019].
European Commission. (2016). Open innovation, open science, open to the world – a
vision for Europe. http://doi.org/10.2777/061652 [04.01.2019].
Klein, S., & Hüllmann, J. (2018). Datenkapitalismus – eine ökonomische Betrachtung.
Wirtschaftsdienst, 97(7), 477–480.
https://archiv.wirtschaftsdienst.eu/jahr/2018/7/datenkapitalismus-eine-
oekonomische-betrachtung/#res5 [04.01.2019].
Münch, R. (2011). Akademischer Kapitalismus. Berlin: Suhrkamp Verlag GmbH.
University of Turin

09.2019
Literature
PLUM Analytics (2016). PlumX +Grants.
https://web.archive.org/web/20160419235843/http://plumanalytics.com:80/pro
ducts/plumx-grants [04.01.2019].
Posada, A., & Chen, G. (2018). Inequality in Knowledge Production: The Integration
of Academic Infrastructure by Big Publishers. In L. Chan & P. Mounier (Hrsg.),
ELPUB 2018. Toronto, Canada.
https://doi.org/10.4000/proceedings.elpub.2018.30 [04.01.2019]
University of Turin

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Steering science through output indicators & data capitalism

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