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This is one of a series of Education Papers issued periodically by the Education Department of the Department for International Development. Each paper represents a study or piece of commissioned research on some aspect of education and training in developing countries. This study was commissioned by the Overseas Development Administration (subsequently re-named Department for International Development) in January 1996, as a follow-up to the 1994 pilot project of the African Journals Distribution Program. Each year for a period of 3 years (1996 to 1998), data were collected on the use made of African-published journals in 2 universities in Africa, the University of Ghana (UGL) and the University of Zambia (UNZA). The aims of the survey were to: discover what use is made of African-published journals; evaluate their impact on research; and compare the use made of African-published journals with those published elsewhere. Data were collected by interview/questionnaire with the academic staff in two faculties/schools in each university; an analysis of journals cited in projects, theses and academic staff publications from the same faculties/schools; and a count of journals used in the university libraries. The findings presented in tables in this report are the mean average of the findings of each of the 3 years. In some cases, data were only collected for 1 or 2 of the years and, where appropriate, this is indicated. Findings for UGL and UNZA are given separately. In general, there was no significant difference between the yearly results. The study reveals that, although useful and wanted, African-published journals will not attain their full impact on teaching and research in African universities unless they become more easily accessible and more readily available. Recommendations are given, all in the context of maximizing journal use in African universities and, in particular, the use of journals published in Africa. Data collection instruments are appended. (Contains 13 references.) (AEF)

To prepare for dissemination of data from the next administration of the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), scheduled to occur in school year 1999-2000, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) sponsored a review and survey of the appropriateness, usability, and accessibility of SASS publications for key customers. The first phase of the study profiled different types of publications prepared by the SASS program. The second project phase explored key customer perceptions about the usefulness and accessibility of SASS publications, and the third phase built on information from the first two phases to develop an understanding of how customers use two primary SASS publications, "Schools and Staffing in the United States: A Statistical Profile 1993-94" and "SASS by State 1993-94." Since 1994, the NCES has produced 133 documents related to the SASS. Responses were collected from 30 representatives of state education agencies and 19 individuals associated with education associations, universities, and educational research organizations. Respondents' comments indicated that the content of SASS publications is generally appropriate to their needs. They did make some suggestions for improving the usefulness of the publications. Concerns were expressed about the timeliness and periodicity of SASS data publications. An appendix contains printing and distribution information about 20 recent SASS publications. (SLD)

Individual interviews with 27 tenured faculty members who had coauthored one or more scholarly publications with a spouse or partner were conducted to identify patterns of collaboration associated with knowledge production and publication productivity. The study identified three patterns of collaboration: (1) short term usually a one-time effort for a single project where the partners' research areas temporarily intersected; (2) intermittent collaboration was more than once, but there were gaps of at least five years between collaborations; and (3) long term collaboration was sustained and consistent over 10 or more years. When asked how a partner contributed to research productivity, nearly all respondents indicated the advantage afforded by ease of access to informal feedback about work in progress. Participants who identified their collaborative partnerships as long term were most likely to view these relationships as impacting upon the quality and/or quantity of their publications. The institutional reward structure was often identified as a mitigating factor in suppressing the impact on collaborative productivity. Findings suggest that physical proximity of the collaborating partners results in reinforcement--provided by the access to on-going, informal feedback. (Contains 20 references.) (DB)

This study identified and classified the Association for Institutional Research (AIR) publication topics and authors since 1973 in order to provide a reference resource for institutional researchers. The study reviewed the following AIR publication collections: "Research in Higher Education"; "New Directions for Institutional Research"; "Resources in Institutional Research"; "AIR Professional File"; and the "Higher Education Handbook of Theory and Research." A matrix of topics was developed relying on the seven AIR Forum Tracks: (1) "Enrollment Management and Student Affairs"; (2) "Institutional Effectiveness, Student Learning, and Outcomes Assessment"; (3) "Academic Program and Faculty Issues"; (4) "Resource Management and Quality Improvement"; (5) "Policy Analysis, Planning, and Governance"; (6) "Theory, Practice, and Ethics of Institutional Research"; and (7) "Technology and Tools for Institutional Research." A table shows the distribution of AIR publications by track. An appendix contains descriptions of the AIR publications. (JLS)

Despite the extensive work that has been done and continues to take place in the field of literacy in Nepal, it was not until very recently that literacy activity in Nepal was reflected in writing. Increasingly, however, literacy practitioners in Nepal are realizing the importance of documenting their experiences, and literature devoted to the following aspects of literacy in Nepal is now available: family literacy, learner-generated materials, the language experience approach, legal literacy, and participatory videotape. More than two-thirds of publications on these topics date from the 1990s. A large amount of those publications have been produced for or by specific projects, either as evaluation reports or proposals. Only a few articles examining issues or even the history of literacy developments in Nepal have been published. Most available literature on literacy in Nepal has been produced by international agencies for their own internal use and must therefore be read in the context of planning and evaluating a specific literacy project or program. The material on literacy in Nepal that does exist is widely scattered and therefore difficult to obtain in Nepal or the United Kingdom. Many publications must be requested from the individual agencies concerned. (Contains 70 references.) (MN)

Reviews the so-called "library crisis" and literature on the determinants of journal prices. Discusses the impact of the recent merger activity among journal publishers and notes the possibility that electronic publications may slow down the increase in journal prices. Discusses the question of why substantial improvements in computer technology may not have been translated into productivity increases at a faster rate. Deals with pricing and related issues. (Contains 63 references.) (AEF)

Ways in which institutions of higher education can provide more meaningful information to students, especially prospective students, were studied. The specific study objective was to investigate the meaningfulness/understandability and comparability of written formats and to explore possible differences associated with age, ethnicity, program/major, type of institution/region, and level of education. Data gathered by the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems, which constituted the Better Information for Student Choice data base on written formats, were used. Subjects were 423 college freshmen representing different sectors of higher education. Subjects selected among five written formats (tables, tables and cartoons, script paragraph, question and answer, and charts and graphs) in responding to the questions about the most understandable and meaningful information. The type of information display was found to affect the ability of a person to process information. Different segments of the population were also found to respond in different ways to written formats. The primary finding is that the format selected by the large majority of respondents as being meaningful and useful in making comparisons was the tabular format, not the script format. Tables with cartoons were selected second-most frequently as the most meaningful format. Charts and graphs were selected second-most frequently for comparing information. A bibliography is included. (SW)

The effect of administrative service responsibilities of chemistry department chairs on their scholarly careers as scientists was studied. The relationship between selected personal and work environment characteristics and productivity was compared for department chairs and their full-time faculty peers. A total of 67 chemists who had served as chairs of departments between 1966 and 1973 but who had not served in this capacity for a 6-year period preceding and following were studied. Each was compared with a peer with the same academic rank and specialty area, in the same academic department. Four publication productivity measures were assessed: single-authored, senior-authored, junior-authored, and total publications. The number of Ph.D. students sponsored (i.e., graduated) was also assessed as a productivity measure. Five measures of personal and work environment characteristics were obtained for all 134 chemists. Regression analysis indicated few differences between the two groups, except during the chair interval, during which reduced publication productivity occurred. The productivity of department chairs on all four publication measures was related to department size. (SW)

A study of the size, growth, and composition of the monograph literature of the social sciences, with comparative data from the sciences and humanities, is presented in this report. The objectives and methodology of this bibliometric study are explained, followed by an analysis of global statistics and trends. Data is given separately for all producers, the top 45 and the top 12 producers, and also for individual countries included in the top 12 producers. A more detailed study of monographs produced in the United Kingdom and the United States is included. The major finding is that much of the monograph literature of the world is growing at a linear rate, although there are indications that the rate of growth of the monograph literature in a few subject areas of the social sciences is exponential. Projections are given of the size of the monograph literature to be expected in the period 1975-1985. These projections are based upon the extrapolation of the least-squares regression lines. (Author/SL)

The scholarly record, produced, distributed, and procured because of complex social values and by means of complex bureaucratic institutions, is now so large and continues to grow at such a pace that the task for identifying what should be purchased and retained for a particular library agency requires a highly abstract verbal model to explain. Collection development policy statements are not reducible to a locico-mathematical model because of the ranges of each of the variables that are involved in the decision-making process are wide. A perspective is developed based on the communication structure of scholarship and on the system of information dissemination. Given these two institutionalized and interrelated systems a structure can be devised to serve as guidelines for making decisions on the extend of Wayne State University's collecting through establishing the kind and extent of participation of the university in the scholarly communication process. (Author/LS)

This study conducted to provide background data for the systematic development of the library bibliographic component of a national network analyzes the procedures used in producing the National Union Catalog (NUC), the nationwide union catalog in card form maintained at the Library of Congress (LC), and examines the variations found in records as they are integrated into the file. The report discusses NUC operations and workflow, characteristics of reporting libraries, differences in headings between outside reports to the NUC and LC records, and differences in bibliographic description between outside reports to the NUC and LC records. Conclusions for a nationwide database derived from the analysis of processes in the catalog publication division are presented along with recommendations for future investigation. Tables and figures are provided. (FM)

Describes a study that examined the readability of papers "College and Research Libraries" accepted, rejected, and published for 1990 and 1991. Results showing a statistically significant difference for the text of papers but not for abstracts are reported, and topics for further research are suggested. (Contains six references.) (EAM)

The purpose of these protocols is to assist in providing guidance to PMRT members and Sub-groups in relation to seeking approval for the publication of documents of the Performance Measurement and Reporting Taskforce (PMRT) or of its predecessor the National Education Performance Monitoring Taskforce (NEPMT). These protocols complement the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) Principles and Protocols "Handling of MCEETYA documents and the AESOC Protocols for Publishing Research and Project Reports." (Contains 2 footnotes.)

This paper discusses the earliest collegiate academic programs that offered courses in marketing in the United States. These academic programs differed (1) in size based on the number of courses offered and (2) in name. The paper also discusses the founding of the American Marketing Association.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to raise awareness among tourism and business scholars and professionals to avoid using socially constructed academic artifacts (such as "Silaturrahim"), which do not describe their real meanings but reflect false realities constructed by scholars over a period of time. In the last decade, academic research on identifying false information has played a significant role to raise awareness among electronic and social media users so that they may distinguish between false and true reality. In contrast, studies on misleading devices, such as false information reporting and citations in published academic literature, and their pejorative consequences are rare and scant. This paper, therefore, viewed the underexamined and relatively obscure issues of false information reporting and citations in published business and tourism research by highlighting a wrongly perceived concept "Silaturrahim" from the theoretical lens of social constructionism. It has been established that factors like false information, false information citation chains and falsely attributed meanings of academic artifacts pave the way for myths and urban legends which in turn formulate socially constructed academic artifacts. These artifacts are impulsively entrusted by the academic community but, in reality, their meanings are socially constructed, therefore, represent false realities. This paper calls the experts to invest their time and efforts to further explore the proposed concepts of "academic social construction" and "academic social artifacts." Lastly, it is suggested to develop strategies to minimize or eradicate the dreadful psychological impacts of "academic social construction" on academic communities. [This is the online version of an article published in "Tourism Critiques: Practice and Theory" (ISSN 2633-1225).]

The Higher Education System in India is the world's third largest in terms of students, which is just next to China and the United States. Quality teaching, learning and research is the primary issue in Higher Education System. The Ranking and Accreditation process, both are considered as assessment tools, for quality assessment of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and both will give significant impact on the performance outcomes in-term of quality education and research. The quality of education and research will contribute to the sustainable development. In this research paper, a thorough systematic and sequential study of NIRF India Rankings is done considering ranking results up-to year 2020. The paper has also discussed in detail about the ranking process being undertaken and various ranking parameters which are considered in the NIRF Rankings framework for the overall category during the year 2020. The research article is mainly focused on uncertainty and sensitivity issues including some self-explanatory tables which are based on in-depth analysis of scores published on the NIRF public domain for the year 2020 and with a very positive approach in favour of students and their parents, Institution Policy Makers and the Academic Leaders. Some flaws in the rankings have also been observed based on the published documents and educational news. Some additional measures have also been suggested to consider them in the forthcoming years so that the existing ranking framework will become more robust and stable and finally a paper is summarized. Some abbreviations are also included at last of the article. [This is the online version of an article published in "International Journal of Educational Research Review (IJERE)."]