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Understanding Social Media: Misinformation, Attention, and Digital Advertising

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Digitalization and academic research: knowing of and using digital services and software to develop scientific papers

The TQM Journal

ISSN : 1754-2731

Article publication date: 8 June 2022

Issue publication date: 26 June 2023

This paper explores how digitalization affects the academic research publication process by taking into account the perspective of management scholars. It provides an overview of the digital professional services dedicated to academic research, and investigates academics' awareness of, the impact on the publication process of, and scholars' expectations regarding digital services and software.

Design/methodology/approach

This explorative study adopted a qualitative approach by performing direct observations of websites regarding digital professional research services and in-depth interviews with national and international management scholars.

The multiple digital professional services dedicated to academic research enable authors to develop a scientific paper independently or with the support of professionals. The scholars' awareness regarding the digital services and software was limited, because of both the plethora of options on the market and the frequent use of the same digital tools over time. In impact terms, these tools enable scholars to improve research quality and to increase productivity. However, the negative effects led scholars to express different expectations about how they can be improved and what difficulties should be overcome to favor the publication process.

Practical implications

The results of this study provide suggestions both for scholars who engage in academic research and digital services and software providers.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to examine the ongoing development of digitalization in support of the research publication process from the perspective of academics.

• Digital professional services
• Online research tools
• Web technology
• Scholarly publication
• Writing and publication process
• Academicians' awareness
• Scholars' expectations

Brunetti, F. , Bonfanti, A. , Chiarini, A. and Vannucci, V. (2023), "Digitalization and academic research: knowing of and using digital services and software to develop scientific papers", The TQM Journal , Vol. 35 No. 5, pp. 1135-1155. https://doi.org/10.1108/TQM-02-2022-0050

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2022, Federico Brunetti, Angelo Bonfanti, Andrea Chiarini and Virginia Vannucci

Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

1. Introduction

Scientific and technological advancement – a critical driving force behind economic growth and societal wellbeing (e.g. Jin and Jin, 2013 ; Odhiambo and Ntenga, 2016 ) – is the result of scientific research across various disciplinary sectors. Higher education institutions worldwide, such as research centers and universities, play their part, contributing via publications and multi/interdisciplinary partnerships to innovate in favor of – and satisfy – the needs of society.

With specific reference to public universities, scientific research quality and productivity are fundamental goals for each university in the today's academic environment ( Edvardsen et al. , 2017 ), in which resources are limited and competition is fierce. Different indicators are considered in international measurement systems to achieve impactful levels of research (quality) and a large number of publications (productivity) in both individual and department/faculty terms (e.g. Rhaiem, 2017 ; De Witte and López-Torres, 2017 ). Accordingly, to write and publish are key research-related activities for academics ( Seiler et al. , 2011 ), to which are added dissemination of such scholarly knowledge to society (i.e. “third mission” activity; Davey, 2017 ; Knudsen et al. , 2021 ) and teaching ( Giraud and Saulpic, 2019 ).

Digital transformation fits into this scenario by favoring scientific research in terms of research quality and productivity with reference to scientific projects and products. Existing literature focuses on project rather than product management, by highlighting the importance of equipping universities with resources, especially in terms of internal infrastructure or external digital services to assist their researchers (e.g. Russell-Simmons et al. , 2016 ; Al-Maadeed et al. , 2021 ). Several universities worldwide are also investing in alternative avenues, to help their (especially nonnative-English speaking) researchers develop and improve their project writing skills ( Stephens and Campbell, 1995 ) – an aspect that is particularly challenging to improve ( Henson, 2004 ; Porter, 2007 ). Some universities are internally creating departments or providing training courses/workshops or externally developing partnerships to offer their scholars a wide range of editorial, educational and publishing services. Past studies in project management have focused on the development of co-authorships across (multi/interdisciplinary) academics ( Brocke and Lippe, 2015 ; Choudhury and Uddin, 2018 ), by outlining how universities are creating opportunities to build relationships between and among researchers in developed, emerging and developing economies ( Sankaran et al. , 2021 ). Although a publication is the last phase of a research project – and a very important one, given that ultimately, this is what provides research quality and productivity outcomes – very little attention has been paid to research product management, which is mostly examined in terms of the reviewing process (e.g. Gilmore et al. , 2006 ). Digital transformation in support of research activities consists of the availability of software packages and/or solutions installed in the user's computer and services accessible mainly via web (online services); when such services are provided by a specialized organization – on a free, freemium or, particularly, paid-basis – we refer to as digital professional services. No empirical research to date has examined the ongoing development of digitalization in support of the research publication process. The importance of this topic, and the lack of related studies, implies it requires further research.

Following a qualitative approach, this explorative study aims to examine how digitalization affects the academic research publication process, by taking into account the perspective of management scholars. Our goal is fourfold: (1) to provide an overview of digital professional services dedicated to academic research, (2) to investigate academics' awareness of digital services and software, (3) to study the impact of these digital tools on the scientific publication process, and (4) to examine scholars' expectations regarding their future use.

The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. After presenting the theoretical background in terms of the research publication process, digitalization, and expectations, the research method is described, and results are proposed and discussed. Implications, limitations, and future lines for research then conclude the study.

2. Theoretical background

2.1 research publication process.

As an integral part of academic life, scholars are encouraged to write and publish ( Gilmore et al. , 2006 ), and especially, to publish in top-ranked journals ( Shchemeleva, 2021 ) – that is, journals that have a high impact factor or H-index, or three and four stars as major criteria of research output ( Kuteeva and McGrath, 2014 ) – and, consequently, to be included in the most prestigious international bibliographic databases (e.g. Gralka et al. , 2019 ; Shchemeleva, 2021 ). Adding to the pressure to publish in top journals for not English-natives is anxiety regarding writing in English instead of the local language and having to account for non-Anglophone contexts ( Curry and Lillis, 2014 ; Plo and Péres-Llantada, 2015 ). This can result in anxiety so acute, academic writing is described as “a minefield, a roller coaster ride, or at least an obstacle course” ( Leki, 2003 , p. 136).

At the beginning of the 1900s, writing an academic paper was similar to writing an essay or prose with no structure. After the Second World War, specialization in different fields, especially scientific ones, brought more standardized papers, which must now follow the so-called IMRAD structure – that is, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, and Discussion ( Wu, 2011 ). Nowadays, writing an academic paper is not like writing an essay (e.g.  West, 1992 ); such activity requires much time ( Aguinis and Vaschetto, 2011 ), commitment, and various aspects of research expertise ( Neuhauser et al. , 2000 ) during the whole of the publication process (e.g. Caniato et al. , 2018 ; Adams, 2014 ). Some studies (e.g. Troutt, 1998 ) have emphasized the importance of quality improvement principles with reference to the scientific article writing process, especially by offering advice to PhD students who want to publish their research in peer-reviewed academic journals ( Paltridge and Starfield, 2016 ).

The research publication process follows a complex and structured pattern (e.g. Levitt et al. , 2018 ) that incorporates several typical steps ( Bordens and Abbott, 2002 ; Hair et al. , 2007 ), from planning the scope and content to final manuscript production ( Perry et al. , 2003 ). During this process, each author develops an individual approach to planning, preparing, writing, and submitting articles to an academic journal ( Gilmore et al. , 2006 ).

2.2 Academic research and digitalization

Before the advent of computers and the internet, academics used to submit typewritten manuscripts through snail mail to journals, facing all kinds of difficulties from corrections, quantitative calculations, linguistic translation, and proofreading (e.g. Turk and Björk, 2008 ). With the rise of computers, new specific pieces of software have been developed, and starting from the 1990s, web-based services have also thrived ( Humphries, 2007 ). Nowadays, digitalization is widely integrated into scholars' professional life, many of whom began to use technology for its ease of use and their need to conduct research supported by information and communication technologies. As Davis et al . (1989 , 1992) argued, in one of the various extensions of the technology acceptance model (TAM) – a model derived from the psychology-based theory of reasonable action and theory of planned behavior – human behavior toward potential acceptance or rejection of a technology depends on perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and behavioral intention. Actually, several software solutions and online services are helping researchers in many ways, from advanced proofreading, content enhancement, dataset provision, and statistical analysis to post-publication marketing. However, to the best of the authors' knowledge, no previous studies have examined which technologies (digital research tools and professional services) authors use for each phase of the research writing and publishing process.

Writing and publishing a scientific paper, hence, is a task that can fit well – at least to some degree – with online digital services and software. More, given the rapid development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology across many fields ( Dwivedi et al. , 2021 ; Raisch and Krakowski, 2021 ), a further, even more provocative, question arises: could online digital services and software based on AI conduct research and write an entire academic paper? The answer from the academic literature is (for the moment) apparently negative, however some scholars have opened a debate especially on the Internet. For instance, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2019) claimed how a team of MIT scientists had developed a neural network, which could perform some work of a science writer. For a start, this system can read specialized journal papers and understand how to gather all the data and information needed for readership, even making the language more straightforward for anyone. The system can analyze many papers, dramatically reducing the time to review all of them and provide a preliminary answer to possible topics. The MIT team had some difficulties with the neural network in correlating a long string of data, but it seems this system could ease the initial stage of choosing a topic, writing a simple summary and introduction of the paper, and performing the literature review. Similarly, McCook (2017) claimed that there are already pieces of AI software able to generate a first draft ready to be revised by the researcher. However, these pieces of software are not capable of writing the discussion section so far, which is considered the most important and original part of a paper. Mindzak (2020) discussed the pros and cons of using AI for writing academic papers. The author claimed that we are not sure of what AI will be able to do for the research field; regardless, there are already applications and systems heading in this direction. For instance, in 2005, another MIT team developed an algorithmic language generator that wrote some papers accepted by some predatory journals. According to the author, this could lead to an automation of publication and problems related to plagiarism, originality, and academic ethics.

In a “publish or perish” era – where a scholar's quest for and pursuit of productivity is continually exacerbated by intense international competition between academic institutions – online digital services and software could strongly affect research quality and productivity by helping obtain more research outputs and maximizing the metrics used to measure the impact of a research product. Although expertise in scientific article writing and academic publishing comes with practice, online digital services and software could enable authors to dramatically increase their efficiency and ease of research ( Rubin, 2003 ). Specifically, they could help the researcher improve the research and its outputs, relieving the author of repetitive and – to some extent – non-value-added (but crucial for a successful publication) activities such as corrections, finding sources, reviewing and comparing literature, finding the right journal, collecting data, and performing calculations. On the other hand, all these advanced services could introduce issues that could affect the entire scientific endeavor. For instance, a dramatic increase in research productivity could result in the mass production of similar papers, only to maximize the metrics used to measure the impact of a research product.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, the background dedicated to digital services and software is mainly comprised of observation of increasing tools and services in the market rather than academic literature. Even if these services are broadly used, it is surprising that there is such scarce investigation. The lack of research on these digital tools and, especially, on scholars' awareness, impact and expectations regarding these services suggest a need for further research. Before filling this gap, in the next section, this study summarizes the expectations concept, to support the specific analysis approach of this research.

2.3 Expectations from service management studies

The term expectations indicates customer wants. Wants, in this sense, differ from needs, as several studies in service management literature have argued ( Parasuraman et al. , 1985 ). In particular, expectations are conscious and accessible ( Schneider and Bowen, 1995 ) while needs reside deeply in the human psyche, and are unconscious and global. Accordingly, needs underlie expectations ( Chiu and Lin, 2004 ).

Many studies have proposed different classifications of expectations ( Boulding et al. , 1993 ; Walker, 1995 ; Hubbert et al. , 1995 ; Lee et al. , 2000 ; Ojasalo, 2001 ), which, essentially, highlight their multidimensional nature. The multi-expectation framework ( Zeithaml et al. , 1993 ), for instance, distinguishes between what customers consider acceptable (i.e. the minimum level of service performance that they can receive without being disappointed; adequate service level), and what they want or hope to receive, or what they believe can and should be provided to them according their personal needs (desired service level). A tolerance zone develops between these two levels of expectation. When the quality of a service falls below the adequate level, customers are dissatisfied; on the contrary, if it increases beyond the desired service level, customers are more than satisfied, and may in fact be “delighted.” This concept is well studied in both TQM and the service quality sector. For instance, Hiles (1994) was one of the first authors who examined the importance of service quality measurement using effective quality metrics and credible service quality monitoring as key factors for success. Mal Kong and Muthusamy (2011) studied the relationship between the perceptions of service performance and the service gaps in private higher education institutions. They found that the relationship can be used to map the quality attributes into four quality factors, namely satisfier, critical, dissatisfier, and neutral. Rönnbäck and Witell (2008) and Talib (2013) explored TQM concepts applied to service systems. They claimed there is an increased focus on the implementation of TQM principles in service organizations and especially in delivering high-quality service to customers. This can be achieved even using mechanization and automation at every organization level.

To meet customers' expectations, service providers “should offer” rather than “would like to offer” something to their customers ( Parasuraman et al. , 1988 , p. 17). This study aims to provide practical recommendations to service providers of digital services and software to satisfy scholars' expectations in using these digital tools for their research.

3.1 Research design

In line with the exploratory nature of this study, we follow a qualitative approach ( Creswell and Creswell, 2018 ) by making direct observations and conducting in-depth semi-structured interviews. Direct observations were employed to provide an overview of digital professional services dedicated to academic research. The interviews were organized with Italian and international management scholars to investigate academics' awareness of digital services and software, study their impact on the scientific publication process, and examine scholars' expectations regarding the future use of these digital tools.

Previous literature has considered both these methods suitable for conducting explorative research. Indeed, direct observation is a non-intrusive qualitative method that allows the researcher to understand a new phenomenon ( Pantano and Vannucci, 2019 ; Grove and Fisk, 1992 ), while interviews provide the researcher with the opportunity to obtain a wide range of ideas and impressions regarding the subject by understanding individuals' perceptions and attitudes toward a phenomenon (e.g. Krueger and Casey, 2000 ). Further, interviews provide participants with the freedom and flexibility to communicate their ideas and beliefs in their own words and use storytelling to converse in a relaxed way ( Creswell and Creswell, 2018 ). During the data analysis, an inductive approach was used ( Saldaña, 2015 ).

3.2 Sampling procedure

This study adopted both purposeful and snowball sampling techniques ( Miles et al. , 2014 ) to recruit knowledge-rich informants and capture their experiences with reference to digital professional services and research tools. These sampling techniques enable researchers (authors) to group participants according to preselected criteria. Based on the research purpose, this study has chosen the five following criteria: (1) high annual research productivity, (2) high research quality in terms of publications' impact, (3) different seniority of work, (4), to be digital technology user in (each of) the stages of the scientific publication process, and (5) academics who are operating (retired scholars excluded) in international research teams. Given that digitalization affects the research publication process especially of younger academics, we arbitrarily involved a greater number of researchers between 30 and 40 years in the composition of the sample. The remainder of the sample was distributed between the other ranges of age, with a slight prevalence of age from 40 to 50 years Table 1 presents the profile of the respondents.

A saturation criterion was used to stop interviews; more precisely, the researchers continued to interview additional participants until saturation of interest field (i.e. until nothing new was being heard).

The Italian and international scholars that participated in this study were contacted via email to ask about their availability for an interview. The email contained a cover letter that clearly described the study's purpose. No financial incentives were offered for participation. Data confidentiality and participants' anonymity were guaranteed.

3.3 Direct observation

A list of possible digital professional services available for academics was derived by direct observation. In particular, the research identified 23 websites for digital professional research services through the Google search engine. To find these services, we used keywords such as “editing services,” “manuscript editing services,” “scientific manuscript writing services,” “proofreading services,” and “publication support services.”

Data were collected through researcher (author) observation of each website. The researcher observed the available digital services directly to understand their functions and possible benefits to academics. To ensure the correct recording data and limit collection bias, the researcher observed each website drawing on a research protocol based on website name, nationality, academic or non-academic source, type of service offered, main features, and stage of the research process. Observations were made between March and November 2021, with each observation lasting 20 minutes. Data for each website were systematically tabulated through an Excel file that further allowed a comparison among the websites. Finally, to assure validity and reliability of data collection, the dataset was shared with two independent researchers, who validated the research protocol and data collection procedure.

3.4 Interviews

Based on participants' availability, appointments were set for face-to-face semi-structured in-depth interviews with each respondent to obtain detailed information on their experiences regarding the digital research tools and professional services that they were using. The scholars were interviewed face-to-face or via telematics (Microsoft Teams or Zoom platform). Interviews were conducted between September and December 2021, and lasted between half an hour and one hour. During data collection, the informants were encouraged to provide more detail about the research technologies used during their professional life.

The interview protocol was designed based on the literature review. Before data collection, a pretest – based on open-ended conversations with three scholars – was undertaken to ensure that the meaning of the questions was clear and that the wording was unambiguous. No changes were suggested, and the designed protocol was submitted to the identified scholars. Briefly, interviewees were asked to present the online digital services and software that they know and use, their needs and expectations regarding these tools, and their effects on the scientific production process in terms of quality and productivity.

The interviews were audio-recorded and later transcribed and checked for accuracy for data analysis. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis through NVivo 11 software ( Braun and Clarke, 2006 ). Following a comparison and discussion of coding generated separately by the researchers, a consensus on common codes was reached. The codes were clustered in more general analytical themes for the analysis.

4. Findings

This section presents how digitalization affects the publication process from the perspective of management scholars, by highlighting the following: (1) digital professional services dedicated to academic research, (2) academics' awareness of digital services and software, (3) impact of these digital tools on the scientific publication process, and (4) scholars' expectations regarding the future use of digital services and software.

4.1 Digital professional services dedicated to academic research

Based on direct observations of the digital professional services, a range of essential services are available to support scholars in their research work. Table 2 summarizes these services and their main characteristics, in addition to presenting the four phases of the research process (researching, writing, submission and review, and publication) and the activities to develop a scientific paper, which emerged from the joint analysis of the direct observations and the literature review. In relation to the research phase, multiple activities have to be undertaken by scholars to develop a scientific paper. In this regard, different digital professional services are offered on the market such as a service to carry out surveys independently, to obtain (reliable and tested) datasets, mailing list samples, surveys, and complete statistical analysis from the professionals. Some digital professional services select literature dedicated to the topic and even write some sections of the paper.

With reference to the writing phase, services offered again enable authors to operate independently – using websites to automatic real-time corrections – or with the support of professionals who check the manuscripts' technical or other rigor, to make it more readable, consistent, and academic.

With regard to the submission and review phase, digital professional services help the authors both to submit their manuscript according to the journal guidelines and support them in re-submitting their research work according to reviewers' comments.

Finally, publication services support the authors in the marketing of the published paper to increase scientific performance indicators (e.g. number of citations and h-index).

4.2 Academics' awareness of digital services and software

As a young researcher, I’m required to use different software packages and online digital services for my research. (R8)

I use content analysis software, but I prefer to keep track through notes or recordings, in a more artisanal way, but this is a problem related to my age. (R16)

It is not easy to oversee the entire offering because I come to know of the existence of specific digital services when I work with colleagues from other universities or when reading a paper and I see them cited/used. It is difficult to receive commercial offerings about these services or to have a departmental structure that takes care of evaluating/purchasing them for all members of the department. (R3)

When I have research funds, I refer to the proofreading service, but I am often forced to adopt free tools because of the scarcity of economic resources. For example, I usually adopt Reverso Translation as linguistic software to identify the correct way of expressing concepts and idioms during my research. Since my department purchased a Grammarly license for all researchers, I use this software for the entire linguistic review of the manuscript. (R10)

A few scholars reported contracting surveys to external specialized digital services and purchasing data, especially data aimed at a specific research goal, such as profile customers to administer questionnaires or organize experiments.

Manuscript submission as well as copyediting and proofing of papers are usually used through digital services offered by the single publisher.

After publishing their research, few scholars invested their time or effort in disseminating research results through social media or digital services, or to developing relationships with other researchers in the same research area.

4.3 Impact of digital services and software on the scientific production process

We are not digital service or software oriented. We are research oriented, and then we go to check the opportunities offered; in some cases by the publishing house to which we want to submit the paper. (R14)

Some digital services can help improve the quality of research and data. For instance, using Prolific academic, it is possible to reach large samples of respondents and apply filters to include appropriate participants. (R7)

Speeding up the analysis means being able to obtain more insights from the same database because certain cores/evidence are faster to see using this software (in the analytical phase, of course). (R3)

The research quality lies more on the quality of the research idea and the robustness of the conceptual framework, which is relatively independent of the tools used to support the research development. Of course, digital services can speed up the process. (R5)

The motivation for doing research should be not the quantitative element (to publish as much as possible and as quickly as possible). We would need supports not only to do first, in an assembly line logic, but rigorous, severe, and reliable unwinding and validation systems. (R15)

In addition to improved research quality and increased productivity, a further positive impact, and also negative effects, of using digital services and software for academic research emerged from the analysis (see Table 4 ).

Data collection performed through online survey tools speeds up the timing of data collection and related processing. This means that productivity in the long term can be higher. (R2)

Often, the data are collected thinking about the software used to analyze it. For example, NVivo software has an extension for Google Chrome called NCapture, which only works with some social media platforms and not with others. This ‘constraint’ ensures that the search perimeter is defined, giving precedence to those particular social media platforms read by NCapture, and overshadowing others. (R10)

A difference for this topic emerged in terms of generational aspects. Younger researchers who started working in academia more recently found that digital services were widely diffused, and could not say if they had affected their research as they had always used them and learned to use them during their PhDs.

4.4 Scholars' expectations regarding the future use of digital services and software

The interviewees believed that there would be good opportunities for digital software and services development in the future. They believed that these tools would increase in number and use, especially across younger researchers. Expectations regarding the future amount of digital tools were conflicting – some expected growth, while others predicted convergence toward a few packages used by many, instead of plentiful but smaller software packages. According to some, software such as R would take over because it allows an excellent level of customization through the programming language and co-creation, requiring a lower cost (some packages are even free).

There are several online libraries but finding the right papers still takes several requests. Indeed, even if it was possible to use different search filters, it is still difficult to find the combination of the right keywords to find suitable papers. (R8)

As there are online services such as Marketing Scales, which allow us to browse multiple scales, it would be valuable to have something similar for theories or broad topics. This would save time on searching for documents and could allow academics to have more time for the actual theoretical development. Of course, it is a challenging activity, but if performed well, it could bring immense value, especially to PhD students who tend to struggle with theory search and related development. (R2)

In relation to the end of the publication process, although some online copyediting services exist, some desired a more significant presence and efficiency in the online channel. Further, some suggested that a forum grouping scientists may be helpful to collect ideas and prevent research rejection (i.e. gathering suggestions and feedback).

Finally, scholars expected that academic journals and related publishers should improve their offering of digital services for managing sources, previous papers, and editing/formatting of papers both in the paper development phase and in the proof editing following acceptance of the manuscript. Some scholars further desired that automated services for grammar correction (such as Grammarly) improve their service for academic writing to reduce the “human” revision work done by proofreaders.

I hope for greater democratization of their use among universities. I would expect all researchers to be placed on an equal footing in being able to use these tools/databases. And this is a topic that concerns all Italian and European research. Think of all the scholars as forming a cloud with all the national information assets inside. (R16)

There are even cases in which some artificial intelligence systems have managed to write papers with the same methods and techniques. It is impressive, but it could be possible to develop toward this direction. (R9)

The most advanced form of research that exists today is the processing of data done by large companies and platforms (e.g. Google) that they collected worldwide. This is applied research, which is done almost automatically; it’s different from scientific research. (R15)

The development of these systems carries the enormous risk of flattening research. (R4)

I think we are approaching the top of the evolution scale, as research is still and will always be human-centered. You cannot replace researchers. (R6)

Higher integration of AI features in the identification of coherent papers which might constitute the theoretical background, and in data analysis. (R5)

Findings are summarized in Table 5

5. Discussion

This study explored how digitalization affects the academic publication process by taking into account the perspective of management scholars. Overall, digitalization emerged as pervasive throughout the entire scientific research publication process, given that it can be used in each phase of this process. This study, thus, confirms that digitalization helps authors overcome the different kinds of difficulties inherent in publishing a scientific paper (e.g. Turk and Björk, 2008 ) and, at the same time, favors the authors themselves in each phase of the publication process ( Rubin, 2003 ).

In relation to the first research objective (i.e. to provide an overview of the digital professional services dedicated to academic research), some already well-known and taken-for-granted in daily practice emerged, such as translations and grammar checking, proofreading, improvement of a paper's structure and readability, and sample generation and data collection and analysis services. Further, a growing offering of services, resulting in de facto outsourcing of some core research activities, such as data analysis, data presentation, and report generation, can now also be found. In particular, Table 3 highlights how some of the digital professional services can be considered advanced, simulating the peer-review process by suggesting the kind of journal for submission and revising the paper according to reviewers' comments. Therefore, we consider these services far from basic corrections or proofreading, and they may ultimately substitute for the core activities of research.

With reference to the investigation of academics' awareness (the second objective), this study highlights that the scholars interviewed did not know all the professional digital services and software that could help them in developing a scientific paper. As Table 4 shows, they mainly used digital tools with regard to the following two phases of the research process: (1) research to develop a literature review, data collection, and data analysis, and (2) writing to manage the manuscript's references, translation, and proofreading. This last service is particularly adopted by scholars that are nonnative-English speakers to reduce their anxiety in writing in English and to make their manuscripts more reliable, as argued in literature ( Leki, 2003 ; Curry and Lillis, 2014 ; Plo and Péres-Llantada, 2015 ). Essentially, this analysis outlines that digital services and software are not used in relation to the entire research process not because they are not useful, but because they are unknown.

Regarding the impact of these digital tools on the publication process (the third objective of this research), the findings show that these technologies cover practically all phases of the research process, and that they have a profound effect on it – greater in some aspects than others, but certainly not neutral. In line with previous studies, this explorative research confirms that scholars have benefited from these digital tools to improve research quality and increase their productivity (e.g. De Witte and López-Torres, 2017 ; Edvardsen et al. , 2017 ; Rhaiem, 2017 ). Fundamentally, this study outlines that digital tools do not substitute for, but rather, support scholars' research work. This aspect is shared across all generations of academics interviewed, though the younger researchers perceived these tools as fundamental to develop a scientific paper.

With regard to the last objective of this research – to examine scholars' expectations regarding the future use of digital tools – this study highlights a common opinion regarding the positive development of these tools, in that the scholars had formulated expectations especially regarding improvements to features and functionalities of digital services. The interviews also provided an opportunity to discuss the overcoming of difficulties face by scholars in carrying out their studies. There was agreement that scholars are essential to state hypotheses, to explain results, to develop theoretical models, and to present novelties by enhancing the scientific debate. However, the wide development of digital research services and software have accentuated the trend of writing more standardized papers following the IMRAD structure ( Wu, 2011 ), making cognitive work highly fragmented and impersonal. Although this opinion is not particularly developed across young researchers, multiple scholars believed that future research could end up with modular and very standardized papers that provide insignificant advances and few groundbreaking impacts, differing from each other only marginally. A phenomenon that could be identified and named “mass science” surely needs to be investigated. Engber (2017) named this phenomenon “sameness,” and claimed that this is strictly connected with the use of AI, which could make all papers similar in their structure, with no errors, with no “prose,” though surely more efficient and effective in terms of “publishability.”

An even more delicate issue is related to outsourcing to specialized academic writers or AI applications to obtain a complete draft of a paper, possibly including the more valuable and original parts of the article. We did not find services advertising that they could write an entire paper; however, Tatalovic (2018) wrote about an AI academic writer service able to write complete drafts of papers, though it was not clear from the website of the provider or the authors the level of completeness achieved. This opens a debate about loss of author control and dilution of his or her contribution and establishing “unfair competition” among researchers. Outsourcing more and more parts of the work needed to complete a paper – and ever more substantial parts – makes the author more an assembler of research pieces than an author in the proper – or at least traditional – sense. A question emerges as to what is left of authorship when a paper collects research pieces that the author did not personally conduct, but rather, bought from various providers.

6. Implications

6.1 theoretical implications.

This study makes several theoretical contributions. First, despite the growing popularity of digital professional services and software dedicated to academic research, there is not much scientific literature published on this topic. In fact, most of the available research has focused on scientific projects (e.g. Russell-Simmons et al. , 2016 ; Al-Maadeed et al. , 2021 ) rather than research product management.

Second, this study contributes to advancing the knowledge on this topic by investigating how digitalization affects the academic research publication process. In this regard, this research takes into account the perspective of not reviewers, who are already widely examined in the literature (e.g. Gilmore et al. , 2006 ), but the management scholars, which was hitherto unexplored.

Third, the interviewees of this research confirmed in general terms the TAM model ( Davis et al. , 1989 , 1992 ), because perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness were reported as the drivers of the adoption of such digital services and software. Thus, a contribution has been made to expectation theory, in the sense of having expanded the theory in a special field of customers – management scholars.

6.2 Practical implications

The results of this study provide suggestions both to scholars who professionally deal with academic research and digital services and software providers. In terms of scholars, this analysis has made explicit and hopefully created greater awareness around the usefulness of using a range of services that are easily and quickly adopted, but on which attention is not always sufficiently focused. To move in this direction, scholars should learn to use these technologies. As some scholars proposed during the interviews, it may be useful to create quality circles among academics to circulate knowledge and acquire sharing regarding the best use of these tools. Essentially, this study invites scholars to make good use of digital tools for their research, by continuing to develop individual critical skill to reflect. In particular, younger researchers are encouraged not to rely too much on such services but, first of all, to gain sound epistemological and methodological basis in order to be in a position of mastering such digital instruments and not to be mindlessly dependent on them. Research at its core is essentially a matter of curiosity, of scientific acquaintance and of desire to contribute to improve people's quality of life, all things that cannot come with a software or a digital tool.

As for digital services providers, it is suggested to disseminate information about their services to optimize their use; often, it seems researchers use just a fraction of the features these services include. In this respect, a kind of community of practice could be built around the most popular services. In addition, customization is emerging, and service providers could invest in developing more personalized versions of their software. However, it is also important to note that the multiple positive effects of using digital services and software for academic research that emerged from this analysis ( Table 5 ) are accompanied by many negative effects, which service providers should examine to design improved digital tools.

6.3 Social implications

Equally important are the social implications since academic research ultimately produces benefits for the whole society. There are several points to note in this regard. First, the possible negative consequence of “sameness” could also operate at an aggregate level; “sameness” or “mass science” would have repercussions not only in the specific field or discipline but in general, thus making the entirety of scientific activity less effective and meaningful.

The second issue concerns using public funds to acquire these services for conducting research and publishing papers. The question of ownership of research carried out by researchers who are public employees is already debated; if publicly employed researchers use additional resources to publish their work, the matter becomes even more complicated.

7. Limitations and avenues for further research

This paper has, no doubt, several limitations. First, given that a well-established base of scientific knowledge on the topic was not available, an exploratory research was undertaken with a small number of scholars interviewed, which limits the generalizability of the results. Second, only a few international scholars were interviewed, and not all generations were considered for this study. This research would have benefited from a larger number of interviewees worldwide and the inclusion of researchers of different ages.

Given the exploratory nature of the study, it may be a starting point for future academic research and may indeed lead to practical implications for digital service providers and act as a pathfinder for a topic that is still little explored.

Avenues for future research can include the following. Although these services are thought to be widely used and widespread, there are no surveys available to measure their degree of diffusion more precisely. Research on this would, therefore, undoubtedly be helpful for a better understanding of it. A second aspect worthy of further study is related to the judgment that researchers who employ digital research services made toward them. Use does not necessarily imply satisfaction or even inner intellectual approval. Further, this type of analysis should be conducted not in an aggregate manner with a generic reference to all digital research services but analytically, concerning each of them. Relatedly, it would be interesting to know why researchers who do not use digital research services have made this choice. The reasons for non-use may reveal aspects that are not necessarily the opposite of their use. Further, it would be essential to understand the effects that can be observed in scientific production assisted by digital research services from a quantitative point of view and, if possible, also from a qualitative point of view. Finally, as often happens when it comes to digital technologies – and even more so in technologies that involve AI – it would be interesting to analyze the implications of an ethical nature that emerge.

The profile of the scholars interviewed

Digital professional services dedicated to academic research

Digital services and software emerged from the interviews regarding the academic research process

Positive and negative impacts of using digital services and software for academic research

Main findings

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Miller, Karen L. "The stocks paradox what is the impact on business-news sections and business-news staff when newspapers cut stock listings? /." Diss., Columbia, Mo. : University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10355/5985.

Harmes, David. "Corporate news, the issue of newspaper ownership revisited." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2000. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp03/MQ47773.pdf.

Manning, Paul. "Trade unions, news media strategies and newspaper journalists." Thesis, Loughborough University, 1995. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/14543.

Wallace, Aurora. "The architecture of news : nineteenth century newspaper buildings in New York." Thesis, McGill University, 2000. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=37723.

McLarty, Amy Everbach Tracy Ellen. "Endangered newspaper an analysis of 10 years of corporate messages from the Dallas Morning News /." [Denton, Tex.] : University of North Texas, 2009. http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc12162.

Appelgren, Ester. "Media Convergence and Digital News Services." Doctoral thesis, KTH, Medieteknik och grafisk produktion, Media (stängd 20111231), 2007. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-4543.

Banda, Zeria N. "News selection and news situations : a Q-study of news editors in Malawi." Virtual Press, 1998. http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/1115759.

Cohen, F. "TASS - Text Analysis System for Understanding News Stories." Thesis, University of Reading, 1988. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.383567.

Serge, Evan John. "O Captain, My Captain! U.S Newspaper Framing of the Death of Captain America." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/32593.

Benckert, van de Boel Anna. "Designing the future of the newspaper." Thesis, Malmö högskola, Fakulteten för kultur och samhälle (KS), 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-23478.

Lovejoy, Jennette P. "A Content Analysis of Cancer News Coverage in Appalachian Ohio Community Newspapers." Ohio University / OhioLINK, 2007. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1194969070.

Clark, Karla Christine Marie. "Newspaper Ownership Structure and the Quality of Local Political News Coverage." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2012. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc115055/.

Vigue, Chanelle Renee. "Entertainment News: Agitprop to Colbertisms." VCU Scholars Compass, 2008. http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/670.

Ndangam, Lilian N. "British newspaper coverage of child sexual abuse : relating news to policy and social discourses." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2003. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/14446/.

McLarty, Amy. "Endangered newspaper: An analysis of 10 years of corporate messages from the Dallas Morning News." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2009. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc12162/.

Atkins, Daniel Aaron. "Sense of community, political participation, and civic engagement: An examination of the relationships between local daily newspapers, news websites, and their communities." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/71893.

Kisuke, Connie Syomiti. "An investigation of the role of news values in the selection of news sources in a contemporary third world newspaper: a case study of the Daily Nation newspaper." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002900.

John, Sue Lockett. "The effects of newspaper competition on local news reporting and content diversity /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/6164.

Thompson, Shelley. "News about nanotechnology : a longitudinal framing analysis of newspaper reporting on nanotechnology." Thesis, Bournemouth University, 2011. http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/20991/.

Chong, Yuk-sik Jone. "Legend at street corner on-street news stalls as a character-defining element of Hong Kong street life /." Click to view the E-thesis via HKUTO, 2008. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record/B42188775.

Robertson, Elizabeth (Elizabeth Jane) Scott Byron T. "Gatekeeping and international datelines in the American newspaper the decision process /." Diss., Columbia, Mo. : University of Missouri--Columbia, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10355/5786.

Brown, Christina A. "Latent newspaper functions during the impact phase of Hurricane Katrina." [Tampa, Fla] : University of South Florida, 2009. http://purl.fcla.edu/usf/dc/et/SFE0003277.

Meeker, Jonathon. "Media Coverage of Music Education: How One Local Newspaper Reports on Music in the Public Schools." The Ohio State University, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1330275931.

Röpke, Luise. "The PISA-study in the German newspaper ‘Handelsblatt’ : A study of the news coverage of the study in a financial newspape." Thesis, Örebro universitet, Institutionen för humaniora, utbildnings- och samhällsvetenskap, 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-35971.

Ringhagen, Sara, and Josefine Antonsson. ""They lie, slant and make bias" - or? : A qualitative study of sources in the local newspaper Jönköpings-Posten." Thesis, University of Kalmar, University of Kalmar, University of Kalmar, University of Kalmar, School of Communication and Design, 2008. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hik:diva-1052.

The purpose of this thesis was to examine what people who had been interviewed and quoted in a local newspaper feel about being interviewed and what they think of the published article. Our aim was also to make a comparison of “known” sources and “unknown” sources.

The main issues were: How do the sources of a local newspaper perceive that they are being treated in the actual interview? What do the sources think of the published article in which they are quoted? Do they trust media and journalists in general? Do the opinions differ between those who are used to being interviewed and those who are unfamiliar with the situation?

This study was carried out through qualitative interviews with respondents who have been quoted in a local newspaper in Jönköping, Jönköpings-Posten. Articles were selected from three days in November. The articles should be based on one or more interviews and had to be large. At least one person should be quoted more than once in the selected article. In total 30 interviews were made.

The study showed that the sources overall were pleased with the article and the way they were being presented. Nor was there anything to complain about when it came to the journalist’s behaviour. But almost everyone expressed certain scepticism when it came to confidence in media in general. However, most of the persons interviewed had an understanding of the ways that journalists work. We were surprised that the result was so positive and also that the people that were not used to being interviewed were more positive than those who often appear in the local press.

Li, Ming-kit Mandy. "A study of newspaper editorials as read out in TV news programmes in Hong Kong /." View the Table of Contents & Abstract, 2006. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record/B36845577.

Lau, Wai-ming, and 劉慧鳴. "Southern metropolis news (Nanfang Doushi Bao): a market-oriented newspaper in Mainland China." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2001. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31972482.

Lau, Wai-ming. "Southern metropolis news (Nanfang Doushi Bao) : a market-oriented newspaper in Mainland China /." Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 2001. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B24533750.

Stockwell, Esther Seong Hee, and estock@hosei ac jp. "The relationship between newspaper credibility and reader attitude toward Korea and Koreans." RMIT University. Applied Communication, 2006. http://adt.lib.rmit.edu.au/adt/public/adt-VIT20070125.160936.

Wilson, Stephen Michael. "Preserving the American Community Newspaper in an Age of New Media Convergence and Competition." Digital Archive @ GSU, 2005. http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/communication_theses/2.

Stamper, Randall Lawrence. "Gonna Spread the News all Around: Early, African-American Popular Song as Spoken Newspaper." VCU Scholars Compass, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10156/2136.

Tawe, Ngamale Emmanuel. "The making of business news in Africa: a case study of Cameroon Tribune newspaper." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002942.

Christensen, Andrea Ludlow. "The Rhetoric of Newspaper Rivalry in the Face of Image Restoration and Transformation." Diss., CLICK HERE for online access, 2005. http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/ETD/image/etd886.pdf.

Brandt, Jane E. Sutter Kennedy George. "Searching for satisfaction how 20something women use media to get news and advertising information /." Diss., Columbia, Mo. : University of Missouri--Columbia, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10355/6580.

Hudock, Lindsay. "NEWS OR SPECULATION? A COMPARATIVE CONTENT ANALYSIS OF HEADLINES AND THE PREVALENCE OF SPECULATIVE LANGUAGE IN CORPORATE AND IND." Master's thesis, University of Central Florida, 2005. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETD/id/4073.

Bråmer, Pontus. "Vetenskapliga tidningsartiklar i klassrummet : En undersökning om lärares användning av tidningsartiklar." Thesis, Karlstad University, Division for Social Sciences, 2007. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-1678.

This paper presents why and how teachers use newspaper articles in the classroom when they educate their pupils in chemistry, biology and nature science. All the teachers have worked over 20 years and are, when interviewed, at a Swedish gymnasium in Dalarna. I also have, in a small study, interviewed some of their pupils to get their view about teachers using news paper articles during lessons.

The teacher’s use of newspaper articles in the classroom can be divided in different ways. They can use the articles to illustrate up to date links to everyday life. Some teachers’ uses articles by letting the pupils read the articles and answer questions about them. Or the newspaper articles can function as background material when the pupils do a project work covering a number of lessons. The major part of the teachers thinks that the main reason why they use articles from newspapers is to get up to date information concerning the course that are covered.

The results show that the teachers in Dalarna use their newspaper articles in the same way as shown in international studies. For example they used the newspaper articles to start a lesson or a new topic. Or they used the article to have an example on the subject they teach. But a number of differences can also be observed between this study and other international ones, for example the main reason why the articles are presented to the pupils and how the articles are used over time.

Simar, Joséphine, and Josefine Sveningsson. "Varför var det så svårt? : En flermetodsanalys av läsbarhet av nyhetsartiklar i Dagens Nyheter under 15 år." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för medier och journalistik (MJ), 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-32200.

Hiller, Monique. "Reader Comments on News Articles: Critical or Complementary." Thesis, Malmö högskola, Fakulteten för kultur och samhälle (KS), 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-22451.

Li, Ming-kit Mandy, and 李明潔. "A study of newspaper editorials as read out in TV news programmes in Hong Kong." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2006. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B45007603.

Lundberg, Jonas. "Shaping electronic news : A case study of genre perspectives on interaction design." Doctoral thesis, Linköpings universitet, MDI - Interaction and Service Design Research Group, 2005. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-5020.

Chong, Yuk-sik Jone, and 莊玉惜. "Legend at street corner: on-street news stalls as a character-defining element of Hong Kong street life." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2008. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B42188775.

Scott, Glenn Ward Stevenson Robert L. "Mapping mediamorphosis how print newspaper circulation influences features of audience participation at online news sites /." Chapel Hill, N.C. : University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2006. http://dc.lib.unc.edu/u?/etd,590.

Mosborg, Susan. "Bridging past and present : how young people use history in reading the daily news /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/7748.

Sternadori, Miglena Wise Kevin Robert. "Cognitive processing of news as a function of structure a comparison between inverted pyramid and chronology /." Diss., Columbia, Mo. : University of Missouri--Columbia, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10355/6643.

Weir, Gordon T. "Determinants of diffusion of electronic news media : an in-dept case study of the diffusion of a digital newspaper /." free to MU campus, to others for purchase, 1998. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/mo/fullcit?p9904871.

Lewis, Kieran Joseph. "Pluralism, Australian newspaper diversity and the promise of the Internet." Queensland University of Technology, 2004. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/15933/.

Taylor, Janet Elizabeth. "A comparison and analysis of European Union news coverage in the UK and Danish newspaper press." Thesis, City University London, 1999. http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/7875/.

Cartmell, David Dwayne. "Arkansas daily newspaper editors attitudes toward agriculture and the gatekeeping criteria used when publishing agricultural news /." free to MU campus, to others for purchase, 2001. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/mo/fullcit?p3012956.

Sarah and Saruultuya. "Online News Impact on Newspaper Publishing." Thesis, 2014. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/94qa5z.

Hsieh, Hsiao-Yu, and 謝曉玉. "Text Structure of Newspaper Sport News." Thesis, 2008. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/75975927925528938984.

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Doctoral thesis: Supporting the development of digital competence in teachers requires compromises

by Estonian Research Council

The purpose of assessing a teacher's digital competence is not just carrying out an assessment, but it is important for the process to be supported and transparent for the stakeholders involved. Self-assessment alone does not provide a comprehensive overview of a teacher's digital competence, and it is important to implement systematic approaches that support the development of digital competence, found Linda Helene Sillat in her doctoral thesis.

Assessment processes, including the assessment of digital competence, are viewed as the first stage in the professional development of educators, where the conceptualization of the assessment and the follow-up activities planned on this basis play a key role.

At the same time, today's assessment of digital competence is not meaningful for the educator for various reasons, such as the sustainability of assessment instruments, low level of a meaningful process and feedback, lack of change management practices in educational institutions , or lack of systematic planning at the national level.

It is therefore important to understand alternative ways and interventions for the assessment of digital competence, involving different stakeholders in the education system—teacher, student teacher, school leader, educational technologist, teacher trainer, member of the qualification examination committee, and researcher.

The assessment and development of the digital competence of educators, and more specifically teachers, is a multifaceted problem, which requires, on the one hand, consideration of alternative assessment methods when assessing the digital competence of educators, including diagnostic, conclusive, formative, and authentic assessment, so that the teacher can choose an approach that is meaningful to them.

On the other hand, it is necessary to understand the profiles, needs and specificities of all the beneficiaries engaged in teachers' digital competence assessment process, which means that in the context of assessing a teacher's digital competence, we cannot claim that any single method of or approach to assessment is the most appropriate. This knowledge is created by the teacher in accordance with the goals set for their professional development.

The focus of the Doctoral thesis research was the applicability of assessment instruments based on the DigCompEdu digital competence framework for educators.

Although there are many tools and approaches to assessing digital competence, the Doctoral thesis focused mainly on self-assessment and portfolio-based assessment. Based on the research self-assessment remains the most used and cost-effective approach, but the assessment results are often subjective and may not accurately reflect digital competence and related skills or knowledge.

At the same time, self-assessment is the most effective approach for those stakeholders who focus on mapping the state of digital competence in order to provide support, for example, in the form of training programs and materials supporting professional development. In addition, it can be argued that self-assessment is useful for teachers to analyze and reflect on their own teaching practices, as a result of which it is possible to identify areas of digital competence that require improvement.

The results of the portfolio-based digital competence assessment showed that authentic assessment is meaningful for educators when it is systematically integrated into their professional development activities (including initial teacher training) and the portfolio creation process as a whole is supported. Still, portfolio-based digital competence assessment is the most time-consuming approach and requires a significant amount of human resources and cannot therefore always be considered to be a sustainable approach.

The assessment of the digital competence of educators is not only related to one specific teacher involved in the assessment process, but to a wider circle of interested stakeholders. The needs of stakeholders highlight factors at the national, organizational and teacher level.

It can be said that, to date, digital competence assessment instruments, approaches and tools have been developed mainly to support an individual teacher in the assessment of digital competence, rather than focusing on a larger group of educators to enable evidence-based decision-making.

In addition, existing approaches and tools provide limited feedback, which hinders the planning and activities of professional development. At the same time, high-quality feedback is important for all stakeholders, be it personalized or generalized feedback.

It is important to note that stakeholders who are involved in decision-making processes at the organizational or national level (including school leader, educational technologist, teacher trainer, member of the qualification examination committee, and researcher) have a deeper understanding of the process and concept of digital competence assessment.

However, the stakeholders who reflect the needs of teachers (student teacher, teacher, and ICT teacher ) are not aware of the meaning of the concept of digital competence and thus do not understand the long-term benefits of assessing digital competence.

Based on the research carried out as part of the Doctoral thesis, it can be said that there are aspects of the assessment of digital competence that can be described through the dimensions of trade-off, which are reflected in the tools for assessing digital competence as well as in the needs of stakeholders.

The dimensions of the trade-offs are based on the one hand, on the characteristics of the assessment instrument, tool and approach and, on the other hand, on the activities that take place before and after the assessment of digital competence. The dimensions of the trade-off model make it possible to link the assessment process itself with the professional development of an educator, the digital maturity and development of an organization as well as with initiatives at the national level.

The developed trade-off model is a tool to help stakeholders understand the characteristics of the various existing digital competence assessment instruments, approaches, and tools. In addition, it allows choosing the appropriate method of assessing digital competence based on the objectives set.

Provided by Estonian Research Council

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Researcher@Library

News and upcoming events for april 2024.

This post provides an overview of what’s coming up at the University of Melbourne for researchers; and highlights updates from the research support community. 

Visualise Your Thesis has launched for 2024!

VYT challenges graduate researchers to present their projects in a 60-second, eye-catching, video. It’s a great way to showcase your research impact, learn digital communication skills and win cash prizes. Find out more about VYT, and how you can participate, via the Research Gateway here. 

Image description: Dark blue and grey banner with text “Visualise Your Thesis: a programme for graduate researchers” and “Find out more”

Researcher@Library webinars

Image description: Green and blue gradient Researcher@Library banner with byline “Supporting your research journey.”

DIY Digitisation

The University’s Digitisation Centre will take you through how you can digitise your own research materials, and what equipment they have that UoM researchers can use at no cost. Register to attend here. 

Automating Image Processing (Windows)

Have you got a heap of images that you’ve taken of your research materials, in the archives, or out in the field? Learn how you can quickly organise or edit hundreds at a time using command line prompts. Register to attend here. 

Open Access and Your Thesis

Everything you need to know to prepare a PhD or Masters by Research thesis for the University of Melbourne’s institutional repository. Find out the benefits of making your thesis open access, how to select an embargo period, managing third-party copyright, and issues to be aware of early if submitting a thesis-with-publications. Register to attend here. 

Reference Management webinars

These upcoming webinars are for users who are familiar with the basics of adding references and working in Word with their reference management software, and want to learn how to use more features.

• Endnote: learn how to import existing folders of PDFs, merge multiple chapters in Word, sync with online and library, and edit citation styles. Register here.
• Zotero: learn how to use document annotation tools, set up RSS feeds from databases, use tags, create and follow groups, sync across your devices, and understand storage options. Register here.

Digital Skills Meet Up: AI and Academic Publishing

The next Digital Skills Meet Up for 2024 will focus on how Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) is being used throughout the research lifecycle, and how this is impacting publishing choices that researchers are making. Join us on 24 April 2024 for short presentations, and open discussion about AI tools, software, considerations and questions in publishing.

Events and training beyond the Library

Graduate research orientation.

If you are a new PhD or Masters by Research candidate, make sure you register for the Graduate Researcher Orientation on 8 April 2024. It will start with a welcome and panel in the morning, and continue with a provider fair of the University’s support services in the afternoon. The Library team will have a stall at the provider fair, so come say hello and pick up a Researcher@Library postcard: register for both parts here .

Using LabArchives

LabArchives is an Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN) which is provided to University of Melbourne researchers for recording, management, and safely storing all their data. Register via the RDU portal for a workshop on using LabArchives. 

Academic Skills: Crafting the Writing, Literature Reviews, Writing a Paper for Publication

• Crafting the Writing:  covering writing skills for clear and effective communication of research.
• Literature reviews : focusing on the purpose, structure and organisation of a literature review; and how to write a clear and critical one.
• Writing a Paper for Publication : explaining the article writing process and the essential steps for getting started on a journal article.

Digital Skills training: NVivo Drop In and Intro to R

• Need NviVo help? Head along to a drop in where you can ask any of your questions. No registration needed, find the details here. 
• Intro to R will be running in four parts. Take your first steps into the world of R, learning how to run code, the different data types, cleaning data, and using it for data visualisation. Register for all four sessions via the RDU portal. 

Practicalities of Research Data Management

Melbourne Bioinformatics is offering an in-person workshop on research data management. Learn how to organise your files, tidy and transfer data, work with collaborators, and more. Register via the RDU portal here. 

File Management 101: New Open Educational Resource

The University’s Digitial Stewardship team have created a new Open Educational Resource (OER) to guide you in good file management. Why bother? File management allows your work to be understandable and identifiable by both humans and machines – avoid having to open every document in your folder because you can’t remember which one is your final report!

The module takes you through file naming, version control, directory structures and systems/tools that you can use to store and share your data. Access the File Management 101 OER here. 

New  new spapers – Pressreader and Newsbank

The Library has arranged trial access to two newspaper and magazine providers: Pressreader and Newsbank’s Access World News Research Collection. Pressreader has 7000 titles, and Newsbank has 14,2000, from different countries around the world. You can access both via the Library catalogue: click here for Pressreader and click here for Newsbank.

Featured image credit: White, Blue, and Purple Stars Illustration by Bich Tran on Pexels. 

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Trump Media Merger Provides Trump a Potential Cash Lifeline

Having closed the merger of his social media company, Mr. Trump could find ways to raise cash against the value of his stake in the company, estimated at more than $3 billion.

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By Matthew Goldstein

Former President Donald J. Trump’s social media company — and the parent of his favorite communications platform, Truth Social — became a public company on Friday through a merger that will raise Mr. Trump’s wealth by billions of dollars and potentially help pay his mounting legal bills.

Trump Media & Technology Group is poised to debut on Wall Street at a market value of around $5 billion — based on the $37 share price of its merger partner, Digital World Acquisition Corp. Given that Mr. Trump owns more than 60 percent of the company, his overall net worth will increase by $3 billion — instantly doubling his wealth from the $2.6 billion estimate by Forbes magazine in October.

So far, those gains are on paper, and Mr. Trump is unlikely to be able to quickly turn it into cash because of restrictions in the merger agreement that prevent major shareholders from selling shares for at least six months, or using them as collateral for loans. But because Mr. Trump controls so much of Trump Media, and because his allies are expected to make up a majority of the new board, they could waive those restrictions on his request.

The question of where Mr. Trump can raise cash has become an urgent one because he is on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars of legal bills tied to the multiple cases against him. Mr. Trump is facing a Monday deadline to cover a $454 million penalty in a civil fraud case brought by the New York State attorney general, which accuses him of greatly inflating the value of his real estate holdings in deals with banks.

If Mr. Trump cannot come up with the cash or a bond to cover the penalty while he appeals the ruling, the attorney general’s office could seize some of his properties.

Trump Media’s board might be reluctant to allow Mr. Trump to sell shares early as that would likely deflate the company’s share price. But lifting the restriction on using shares as collateral would help him secure a bond and minimize the negative impact on the stock price.

Before the merger closed, Mr. Trump was chairman of Trump Media but neither it nor Digital World disclosed whether he will continue to retain the title. Either way, Mr. Trump will hold enormous sway over the company as the company’s new seven-member board includes Mr. Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and three former members of his administration. His 79 million shares give him a large majority stake in the company and his brand is critical to the success of Truth Social, which has become his main megaphone with communicating to his supporters.

There is no guarantee that the stock of Trump Media will continue to trade at its current levels. If the share price falls over the coming months, the sizable increase to his net worth could be smaller over time. Digital World’s shares dropped about 14 percent after the shareholder vote approving the merger.

As part of the merger, investors in Digital World — the cash-rich shell company that voted to merge with Trump Media — will now become shareholders of Mr. Trump’s three-year-old company. The deal will transfer more than $300 million from Digital World’s coffers to Trump Media, a struggling business with little revenue, and allow Truth Social to keep operating.

Shares of Trump Media could begin trading on the stock market as early as Monday under the stock symbol DJT.

Many of Digital World’s 400,000 shareholders are ordinary investors and fans of Mr. Trump, whose enthusiasm about the former president has propped up the shares for years. But it remains to be seen whether they will hold on to the stock now that the merger is done.

In a statement before the vote, Trump Media said that “the merger will enable Truth Social to enhance and expand our platform.”

With the future of his real estate business in flux because of the ruling in the New York civil fraud case, Trump Media could become one of Mr. Trump’s main moneymakers — and a potential source of conflict should he win the presidency in November. Trump Media currently gets most of its revenue from Truth Social, its flagship platform where several upstart companies advertise their products, targeting Mr. Trump’s supporters and using slogans that are variations on America First or Make America Great Again.

In using the stock symbol DJT, Trump Media is taking a trip back in time. One of Mr. Trump’s former publicly traded companies, Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts, had traded under that stock symbol until it filed for bankruptcy in 2004.

The merger of Digital World and Trump Media, first proposed in October 2021, is one of the more prominent deals to emerge from a strategy that many companies used to go public that was all the rage during the pandemic. Special purpose acquisition companies like Digital World are speculative investment vehicles set up for the purpose of raising money in an initial public offering and then finding an operating business to buy.

In going public through a SPAC merger, Trump Media is following other so-called alt-right businesses like Rumble, an online video streaming service that caters to right-leaning media personalities, and PublicSquare, which bills itself as an online marketplace for the “patriotic parallel economy.”

Trump Media took in just $3.3 million in advertising revenue on Truth Social during the first nine months of last year, and the company, during that period, incurred a net loss of $49 million.

“It’s unclear to me what is the strategy to building out the platform especially so it may reach a broader advertiser,” said Shannon McGregor, a professor of journalism and media at the University of North Carolina. “There does seem to be a ceiling in these niche markets.”

The merger was almost derailed by a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into deal talks between the two companies that took place before Digital World’s initial public offering. Securities rules prohibit SPACs from engaging in meaningful merger talks before going public.

But the deal got back on track after Digital World settled with the S.E.C. in July, agreeing to pay an $18 million penalty after the merger was completed and to revise its corporate filings.

After the deal was done on Friday, many shareholders and Trump fans celebrated online. Chad Nedohin, a vocal proponent of the merger on Truth Social, posted a livestream of the shareholder meeting on Rumble. In a chat room, viewers shared their enthusiasm for the deal, with messages such as “Great day to be alive” and “The day is finally here.”

Matthew Goldstein covers Wall Street and white-collar crime and housing issues. More about Matthew Goldstein