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An international survey of over 3,600 researchers examined how trustworthiness and quality are determined for making decisions on scholarly reading, citing, and publishing and how scholars perceive changes in trust with new forms of scholarly communication. Although differences in determining trustworthiness and authority of scholarly resources exist among age groups and fields of study, traditional methods and criteria remain important across the board. Peer review is considered the most important factor for determining the quality and trustworthiness of research. Researchers continue to read abstracts, check content for sound arguments and credible data, and rely on journal rankings when deciding whether to trust scholarly resources in reading, citing, or publishing. Social media outlets and open access publications are still often not trusted, although many researchers believe that open access has positive implications for research, especially if the open access journals are peer reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. This paper reports on an interview-based citation behaviour study, part of a wider study of trust in information resources, investigating why researchers chose to cite particular references in one of their publications. Their motivations are explored, with an emphasis on whether they regarded the reference as an authoritative and trustworthy source, and, if so, to what extent and why. Method. Semi-structured critical incident interviews were carried out with eighty-seven researchers from the UK and the USA. Analysis. The answers were analysed using qualitative techniques and then grouped under descriptive headings of the types of reasons for citation provided. These were then used to create a table of these types of reason and the frequency of their use. Results. The motivations for citing were found to be complex and multi-faceted but, in nearly all cases, researchers do regard the authority and trustworthiness of the cited source as an important factor in choosing to cite it. This suggests that citation is at least partly an acknowledgement of the intellectual influence of the content of the cited source. It was also found, however, that researchers have strong social networks of trust and collaboration. They make considerable use of these in receiving and gathering information for research and thus context is also important in their eventual citation decisions. Conclusions. Citing behaviour does include an acknowledgement of useful intellectual content, but this process cannot be separated from the researcher's position in networks of trusted social and research influence. The digital transition has provided tools to help maintain and develop these social networks and it has also made it easier for researchers to investigate the credentials of the sources of documents. This suggests that the current distinction in the literature between normative and constructionist theories of citation behaviour may not capture the nuanced and complex relationship between these two factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Usability refers to the ease and accessibility of a system. Usability testing seeks to study how users interact with a system in order to improve the users' experience and satisfaction in achieving their objectives with the system. Usability testing is an important metric for improving a library's online services, including research data services. Libraries can help make research data available by providing repositories and data curation services for researchers to house their collected data. Providing services throughout the science data life cycle (i.e. plan, collect, share, and preserve) is important for producing higher quality research, expanding its impact, and data reuse. The Data Observation Network for Earth (DataONE) is supported by the US National Science Foundation and seeks to provide the framework and cyber-infrastructure to meet the needs of the science community to provide constant and secure access to Earth observational data. The DataONE network has heavily invested and implemented a comprehensive Usability Program to ensure user-centric software and components are made available to the variety of DataONE stakeholders. DataONE's ONEMercury is a search tool for scientific data, and the ONEDrive is a mounted workspace on the user's computer that works with ONEMercury. In 2012, a usability test was performed of the DataONE's ONEMercury tool to evaluate how scientists engage with its content and information. Twenty-six participants performed a series of tasks using the tool. MORAE software recorded the sessions, including screen display, keystrokes, and mouse movements. Participants were also asked to think aloud as they completed the tasks. The results were analyzed by observation, think aloud, time on task, and number of errors. Another usability test was performed of the DataONE's ONEDrive to assess user impressions as the tool was in development. Six participants were shown a wireframe of the tool and asked for their feedback. This paper proposes to examine the results from the ONEMercury and ONEDrive tests and draw implications for libraries and other data providers wishing to implement and utilize usability practices and principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]