A review of the literature on paradigm development within academic fields revealed that researchers have drawn distinctions between disciplines with greater paradigm development (discussed as discipline-wide consensus) and disciplines with lesser paradigm development. Several of these investigations centered on paradigm development and evaluative criteria used by academic journal editors for judging scholarly work. The purpose of this study was to ascertain Speech Communication journal editors' opinions of paradigm development within their field. A two-part survey was developed and mailed to eleven editors of the major Speech Communication journals. Data generated from the survey were analyzed using a descriptive methodology. Part A of the questionnaire was a partial replication of Beyer's (1978) research concerning journal editors from ten major journals in four disciplines: Physics and Chemistry (greater paradigm-developed fields), and Sociology and Political Science (lesser paradigm developed fields). Degree of paradigm development within Speech Communication was examined through journal editor policies and practices concerning: difficulty in arriving at decisions for accepting or rejecting a manuscript, article length, manuscript revision, and length of time between manuscript submission and publication. The mean, range, and mode statistics were used to derive editorial practices within Speech Communication. Mean scores from four fields investigated by Beyer (1978) were then descriptively compared to mean scores from Speech Communication in order to see where Speech Communication fit on the continuum of greater to lesser paradigm development. Part B of the survey was initially tested through a Pilot Study administered to five faculty members in the Department of Speech Communication, Portland State University. They were asked to "act as if they were editors of a major Speech Communication journal" for the purposes of completing the questionnaire. Respondents were requested to answer several open-ended questions related to their views of paradigm development in the field and to comment as to whether or not they believed paradigm was an indicator of discipline maturity. Data were content analyzed. Responses to the Pilot Study assisted in the conceptual refinement and placement of questions in Part B. Part A and Part B were then combined in the Survey of Editors questionnaire and administered to eleven Speech Communication editors-in-chief. All of the editors completed and returned the survey. The results of the study showed that while Speech Communication journal editors believe there are paradigms operating within the discipline, they indicated a concern that paradigm development could preclude the maintenance of an eclectic perspective. Therefore, they do not think that paradigm is a sign of discipline maturity. In addition, the editors expressed a desire to improve the quality of scholarship within the field but that some kind of organizing principle is needed to facilitate this improvement. Finally, based on the results of this study, the discipline of Speech Communication was found to be a lesser-developed paradigm field.

Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009. / Full text also available online. Scroll down for electronic link.

Submitted to the Department of Library and Information Science for the degree of Master of Library and Information Science, in the Faculty of Arts, at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2002. / The study investigates the use of electronic journals for the dissemination of scholarly information at the Universities of Natal and Zululand and attempts at determining the level of electronic journal use by the scholarly communities, and the perceived impact that these journals have on the community. Similarly, the role-played by the academic libraries in the provision of the journals has been explored. The scholarly community included the academic staff, the library staff and postgraduate students at the two universities. A survey research method was used to elicit information from the subjects. The population was sampled by use of stratified random sampling technique. Firstly, five academic faculties were selected, four from the University of Zululand, and three from the University of Natal. This was done by first drawing an alphabetical list of the academic staff in faculties by academic status. Secondly, The Deans were approached for permission to seek assistance of various heads of departments and heads of schools in distributing the questionnaires to postgraduate students. However, with postgraduate students it was not possible to secure a usable list as most of them are part timers and far away from campus. As a result as many questionnaires were distributed to postgraduate students before they were randomly selected for the sample. Ultimately, a sample of 10% was drawn from the population of 1969 postgraduate students. Regarding the academic staff a sample of 20% was drawn from each strata. The total population for the academic staff was 557. All professional librarians in the two university libraries were identified and included in the study. Data available in the university calendars and the figures obtained from the Division of Information Technology and Faculty Administration Offices was invaluable. Two sets of questionnaires were administered to the two groups, one to the academic staff and postgraduate students and the other one to the library staff. The sample frame was distributed as follows: 197 postgraduate students, 111 academic staff and 34 library staff. Data was analyzed by means of the SYSTAT Version 7.0 and Microsoft Exel for coding data. The results show that the level of electronic journal use by the two universities is still low, because, as a matter of verification. respondents found it difficult to select the type of journals they use most between electronic journals and printed journals. A large number (61 %) identified printed vi joumals. There is a slight difference between the various disciplines in the use and understanding of electronic joumals. It is reccmmended that the academic library should provide the facilities where users could access electronic joumals on their own as well as the marketing of the available services to the library clientele. There is a strong need of user education, more especially in the use of electronic joumals.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 67-73).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Pennsylvania State University, 1997. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-108).

Conducting research, evaluating research, and publishing scholarly works all play an extremely prominent role for university faculty members. Tenure and promotion decisions are greatly influenced by the perceived value of publications as viewed by members of faculty evaluation committees. Faculty members seeking tenure may be limited to publishing in a limited group of journals perceived to be valuable by members of an academic committee. This study attempted to determine the value of various kinds of periodicals (journals, magazines, and e-journals), based on three principal criteria, as perceived by professionals (university faculty, K-12 practitioners, and corporate trainers) in the educational/instructional technology (E/IT) field. The criteria for journal evaluation were Academic Prestige, General Reading, and Classroom Use. The perceived value of journals based on each criterion was compared to determine any significant differences. Members of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) were asked to rate 30 journals in the E/IT field using the three criteria. Statistically significant differences were found among ratings in 63% of the journals. The statistical analyses indicated that differences in the perceived value of journals among E/IT professionals across the three criteria (Academic Prestige, General Reading, and Classroom Use) were statistically significant. It is also noted that refereed journals were rated higher than nonrefereed journals for the Academic Prestige criterion. Survey respondents indicated that individual journals were not valued for the same reasons. This finding implies that the formation of any equitable measure for determining the value of faculty members' journal article publications would be best if based on definable criteria determined by colleagues. Lists of valued journals for each area of faculty assessment would provide standards of excellence both inside and outside the E/IT field for those who serve on tenure and promotion committees in educational institutions.

Increases in the prices of scholarly journals have exceeded the general rate of inflation for the last decade and more. In the face of this "serials crisis," libraries have found it increasingly difficult to maintain essential journal collections. This thesis investigates the causes of the serials crisis in biology using data generated for a study conducted by the Mann Library of Cornell University for 1988 and 1994 and updated by the author for 2001. The major goals of this thesis are to elaborate some alternative explanations of the crisis, identify econometrically the chief determinants of biology journal prices, and test the theory that prices are significantly determined by market structure. Existing literature sheds some light on price determinants specifically, technical characteristics (including frequency and size), publisher's legal form (profit vs. non-profit), location (domestic or foreign) and scale (circulation) have been found to be statistically significant--but this work is incomplete and sometimes contradictory. OLS and GLS regression analysis conducted in this thesis confirms that the determinants of biology journal prices are country of origin, journal size and frequency, circulation, and publisher's legal form. There is no evidence, however, that greater concentration increases prices. According to this analysis, monopoly power is not a problem in biology journal publishing. / Graduation date: 2003

This study was designed to investigate whether and to what extent middle school principals are reading nationally circulated scholarly educational literature that calls for curriculum change. A second purpose of the study was to investigate how that reading influenced their leadership in curriculum decisions. By comparing the responses of principals from two samples, one group representing middle schools recognized for educational excellence by the United States Department of Education (N=43) and the second group representing a random sample of middle schools (N=237), a difference in the principals' reading practices was investigated.The following conclusions were drawn from the study:1. Principals are not doing significant professional reading in nationally circulated scholarly educational literature.2. Compared to principals of randomly sampled middle schools, principals of middle schools recognized for excellence are not generally more knowledgeable about the contents of nationally circulated scholarly educational reports.3. Contents of national reports were viewed as valuable by those middle school principals who read the reports, but the impact of the various reports has remained low because, in general, middle school principals are not reading the reports.4. The merit of the contents of the national reports for curriculum change is recognized by middle school principals.5. Reading completed by middle school principals does not focus expressly on the concerns unique to the middle school.6. Middle school principals have time to do professional reading.7. Most middle school principals have been influenced by professional literature in educational publications.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 1996. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (p. 232-247).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Carnegie Mellon University, 1990. / October, 1990. Order number 9126972. Bibliographical references: p. 135-140.