Research News

Communicating knowledge: how and why researchers publish and disseminate their findings is a new report published by the Research Information Network (RIN). It explores a number of important issues in the communication of research. The report looks at how researchers publish their work, and their motivation for publishing their findings through different formats.

Researchers are increasingly being pulled in different directions on how they should publish their research. Undoubtedly, peer reviewed journals remain the central mechanism used by UK researchers to publish their findings. However, there are increasingly new and less formal formats available to academics through web-based social networking tools. These tools hold much promise for researchers as part of a strategic communication strategy. Nevertheless, many researchers find their research communication is dominated by the demands of the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE).

The RAE plays a pivotal role in researcher's decisions to publish a vast majority of their work in scholarly journals. The rating system the RAE applies to journals also means that some journals are favoured over others.

This acts as a disincentive for many researchers to disseminate their research in any format other than scholarly journals. This situation is only likely to get worse. This is because both the RAE and research institutions use publication rates in journals as the means to measure research performance. This also influences which work researchers choose to cite, and gives a preference for research by those researchers publishing in the most highly rated journals.

The RIN report outlines the need for researchers to receive better guidance on the value of different communications channels. Many researchers are not familiar with the different options open to them, and the specific value of communicating their research in different ways. Nevertheless, it is crucial that researchers also become highly strategic communicators to ensure their work has the greatest possible impact. R4D provides invaluable advice for researchers through its CommsCorner blog.

Funders and policy makers also play an important role in ensuring that future research is communicated more widely. They should be looking to ensure that all formats of research communication are valued in the assessment of researchers' performance.

Scholarly journals are an invaluable source of knowledge, and they will continue to play a central role in research dissemination. However, the RIN report suggests that researchers and their institutional arrangements must be more adaptive, and able to meet different audience's demands and needs in more flexible ways.

If you feel you can offer a perspective on the issues outlined in the report then please comment on this article on R4D Dialogue. We are particularly keen to hear from people in developing countries, and would like to pose two questions :

1. How accessible is UK-based research in your respective countries?
2. What format, bearing in minds your own specific needs, would you like to see UK research communicated through?