The Use of Academic Social Networking Sites in Scholarly Communication: Scoping Review

Abstract

This research provides a systematic analysis of 115 previous literatures on the use of academic social networking sites (ASNs) in scholarly communication. Previous research on the subject has mainly taken a disciplinary and user perspective. This research conceptualizes the use of ASNs in scholarly communication in the space between social interactions and the technologies themselves. Keyword analysis and scoping review approaches have been used to analyze the comprehensive literature in the field. The study found a geographic variation in what motivates academics to use ASNs. Scholar discovery and sharing are the primary driving factors identified in the literature. Four main themes within the research literature are proposed: motivation and uses, impact assessment, features and services, and scholarly big data. The study found that there has been an increase in scholarly big data research in recent years. The paper also discusses the key findings and concepts stated in each theme. This gives academics a better understanding of what ASNs can do and their weaknesses, and identifies gaps in the literature that are worth addressing in future investigations. We suggest that future studies may also extend the existing theoretical framework and epistemological approaches to better predict and clarify the socio-technical dimensions of ASNs use in scholarly communication. In addition, this study has implications for academic and research institutions, libraries and information literacy programs, and future studies on the topic.

One Size Does Not Fit All: Self-Archiving Personas Based On Federally Funded Researchers at a Mid-Sized Private Institution

“…Although often identified as a separate motivating factor, accessibility is very closely interrelated to altruistic motives and reciprocity (and is, by far, the most often cited reason for self-archiving). Researchers aim to increase the accessibility of their work, and by making it available in institutional and subject repositories or through websites and social networking sites, researchers believe that they can reach more people and also make their work more easily discoverable than through subscription journals alone (Creaser et al, 2010;Baro et al, 2018;Lee et al, 2019;Hailu & Wu, 2021). Lee et al (2020) classified psychology with other "soft pure" sciences (such as sociology) in their study of disciplinary differences in motivations for selfarchiving on ResearchGate and found that this group was more highly motivated by accessibility, as well as personal and professional benefits, than the hard sciences, although they did not identify significant differences in motivations between pure and applied groups.…”

Investigating users' sustained information seeking on academic social networking sites

“…, 2022). The success of ASNSs can be partly attributed to a large number of regular users communicating and academic resources shared, such as papers, data and projects shared on such sites (Hailu and Wu, 2021; Zheng et al. , 2019).…”

“…, 2021). Sustained information seeking reflects users' long-term engagement with online scholarly communication, which is also vital to the development and sustainability of ASNSs (Hailu and Wu, 2021).…”

“…ASNS users can share academic information with others, look for information they need and adopt the information they find helpful. However, the turnover rate of active users remains a critical challenge for the survival of ASNSs (Hailu and Wu, 2021). Past research suggests that not every researcher intends to engage in information activities on ASNSs, and several even abandon these (Yang et al, 2022).…”

“…Information seeking is one of the most prevalent academic information activities among researchers on ASNSs (Deng et al, 2019;Wu et al, 2021). Sustained information seeking reflects users' long-term engagement with online scholarly communication, which is also vital to the development and sustainability of ASNSs (Hailu and Wu, 2021).…”