Scholarly Communication in Scientifi c Research Practice – A Study of Computer Sciences Faculty

Knowledge-based assets are now widely recognized by scholars as valuable resources, and scientifi c knowledge especially receives a great deal of attention. The Internet and World Wide Web have grown rapidly in the past decade and have come to play a major role in supporting knowledge sharing in scientifi c communities. In an everchanging and progressing information environment, the growth of emerging technologies and the availability of multiple information channels offer more and more opportunities for scholars to enhance their scholarly communication and scientifi c techniques. Given the growing importance of information technology and the resulting major shifts in scientifi c practice (Kling & McKim 2000), there is a need for empirical study of scientists’ modes of communication in scientifi c inquiry. Computer science as a discipline is unique for the current research topic because it involves both the research on information technology and the use of such technology for supporting research. In the fi eld, researchers are more interested and involved in technology that spills over into their professional endeavors. Computer scientists’ knowl edge-sharing skills are expected to be highly sensitive to technological advances. The study of scholarly communication in this high-resource discipline could offer suggestions for other disciplines about how to best take advantage of new electronic communication technologies to ease or improve research techniques, and to gain rich information resources.