christina engaging the biomedical researchers
TRANSCRIPT
Engaging Biomedical Researchers for RIC
Christina Murphy
STM Research Liaison Officer
Outline
Objective
Methodology
Who did we speak to?
Survey findings
Next steps on engaging biomedical researchers
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Objective
Gather evidence on researcher information behaviour across the biosciences community
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Methodology
A Survey Monkey questionnaire Disseminated to our target groups through a range of
marketing and media channels Encouraged to participate by relating to their research ‘pain
points’ + entry into a prize draw Follow-on interviews with 13 respondents
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Who Responded?
416 people responded in 6 weeks Survey targeted those involved in biomedical sciences research:
Wide range of professions, most were research scientists (67%)
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Survey Findings
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Storing, Sharing and Managing Documents
Findings:
Most respondents stored their research finding on their desktop computer or laptop (82%)
Most shared information using email (73%)
Researchers unwilling to share raw data and research materials
Most respondents used Endnote to manage their references (44%)
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Storing, Sharing and Managing Documents…Continued
Findings:
Most respondents did not use collaboration tools to share information (81%)
Collaboration tools may be used only for individual projects and not part of day-to-day research activities
The top priority for an online shared repository was to enable saving references and bookmarks automatically to a standard citation style
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Discussion forums
Findings:
Most respondents did not use an online forum to discuss ideas with others in the scientific community (78%)
Of those who did use a discussion forum, 13% used LinkedIn; other sites used were very specific to their research field
Used for social not research purposes
Top priority was to make it keyword searchable
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Finding collaborators
Findings:
Most respondents never used social networking sites to help them find collaborators (70%)
Would like to use more, but no time
Face-to-face networking at research-specific events still the main way to find collaborators/partners/clients
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Resource Discovery
Findings:
Most respondents used PubMed as the main online source for literature search (80%)
Top priority was to have an online resource discovery tool that enables a federated search across all information sources
Google is always used because of its superior search functionality
Need access to resources specific to individual projects on an ad hoc basis
Most subscribed to RSS but preferred to manage information by email
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Obtaining Funding
Findings:
Top priority was to enable a search for appropriate funding bodies
But actually want to know more about funding schemes
Need a secure and easy way to manage grant applications from multiple institutions
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Tools to Assist Experimentation
Findings:
Most respondents produced numerical research data (83%)
Most highly cited tools for analysing numerical data were Excel, Matlab and SPSS
Top priority was to provide access to relevant data and statistical analysis tools in one place
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Dissemination of Research Outputs
Findings:
Top priority was to help find an appropriate journal for publishing based on the researcher’s abstract
SMEs don’t necessarily need to publish research
But all need a structured system for collaborative generation of documents without emailing every version to every person
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Next Steps for BL Researcher Engagement
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Next Steps
More follow-up interviews with survey respondents
Engagement with biomedical researchers from various industry sectors
Growing Knowledge Exhibition – BL actively promoting RIC
RIC website
Beta test RIC V2.0 with biomedical researchers
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THANKS FOR LISTENING!Contact Christina Murphy,
Research Liaison Officer, STM, The British Library
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