We are excited to announce that Zendy is a Gold Sponsor at PLANNER 2024, a biennial convention with a special focus to uplift academic libraries in the North-Eastern region of India
Zendy’s Co-founder, Kamran R. Kardan, will be speaking about how Zendy’s AI-powered tools, the next generation for academic research, have an impact on the research process, making it more accessible and easy to use as AI keeps evolving academic sector
The theme of the event is “Libraries in the AI Era: Applications and Perspectives” When? 19-21 September Where? The event is organized by INFLIBNET Centre at Rajiv Gandhi University.
If you’re attending PLANNER 2024, make sure you visit our booth.
PLANNER stands for Promotion of Library Automation and Networking in North-Eastern Region (PLANNER). The convention of this event aims to explore latest tools and techniques, especially ICT applications, that are influencing today’s library management.
The event will focus on promoting library automation and networking, particularly in North-Eastern India, and offer participants a chance to learn new skills and address current issues in library services.
[Dubai, August 2024] – Zendy has signed an agreement with Lexxion, a leading academic publisher that specialises in research in the field of law. This agreement enables Lexxion’s diverse collection to be discoverable to Zendy’s growing user base of over 600,000 readers from 200 countries and territories.
Berlin-based publisher Lexxion was established in 2000 and has since built a valuable reputation in disseminating academic research on the EU’s legal and regulatory system. Working with academic institutions and leading law firms across the globe, Lexxion hosts scholarly literature that addresses challenges and pivotal research in European legal systems.
“We are happy to partner with Lexxion to bring an influx of legal academic research on Zendy. Integrating Lexxion’s scholarly content on Zendy will not only diversify the research already available on Zendy but accelerate our mission in making academic research accessible everywhere across all disciplines.” said Zendy Co-founder, Kamran Kardan.
This partnership with Lexxion facilitates Zendy’s mission to expand the content on its digital library and take further steps towards creating a more equitable research discovery ecosystem.
About Zendy: Zendy is a product of Knowledge E. Since its inception in 2019, Zendy has connected over 600,000 users to academic journals, proceedings, articles, e-books, and more. Zendy is an AI-powered library that is on a mission to make academic literature more affordable and accessible for students, researchers, and professionals worldwide. Zendy recently launched ZAIA – Zendy’s AI assistant for research. ZAIA is a domain specific Large Language Model designed to help researchers deepen their knowledge base credible answers backed by references. To learn more, visit www.zendy.io.
About Lexxion: Lexxion is an academic publisher that specialises in legal research. Since its establishment in 2000, Lexxion has worked with academic institutions and leading law firms to disseminate quality academic content that addresses legal frameworks in the EU. To learn more, visit www.lexxion.eu/en/
[Dubai, July 2024] – The AI-powered digital library, Zendy, has signed a partnership agreement with prominent science, medical and technology publisher Bentham Science. This agreement is set to further diversify Zendy’s open access offering with research across the fields of pharmacy, medical subspecialities, engineering, technology, and social sciences.
Founded in 1993, Bentham Science Publishers has developed a formidable reputation by disseminating peer-reviewed research papers in science, technology, and medicine. Currently, Bentham publishes more than 160 journals in print and digital formats, out of which more than 70 have now received impact factor rankings.
Zendy’s Co-founder, Kamran Kardan said, “As an evolving digital library, we’re always happy to welcome open access content to Zendy to accelerate our mission in making academic content accessible and discoverable. This partnership with Bentham Science Publishers will add a diverse collection to Zendy in the disciplines of science, medicine, and technology”
This partnership plays a significant role in Zendy’s mission to advance SDG-4 (Quality Education) and SDG-10 (Reduced Inequalities) by publishing and disseminating open access research across the globe.
About Zendy: Zendy is a product of Knowledge E. Since its inception in 2019, Zendy has connected over 500,000 users to academic journals, proceedings, articles, e-books, and more. Zendy is an AI-powered library that is on a mission to make academic literature more affordable and accessible for students, researchers, and professionals worldwide. Zendy was awarded Best Startup – Education at the Middle East Technology Excellence Awards 2022. To learn more, visit www.zendy.io.
Bentham Science Publishers is a leading academic publisher that specialises in medical and general STM (Science, Technology, and Medicine) disciplines. With a diverse portfolio of over 130 hybrid and Open Access journals, Bentham Science aims to disseminate high-quality research to the scientific community worldwide. Founded in 1992, Bentham Science was established “by scientists for scientists” and has always been committed to quality. The publisher maintains the most robust peer review process in the scholarly publishing industry with all papers undergoing a blind review, from a verified pool of experts. For media inquiries, please contact: marketing@benthamscience.net
[Dubai, July 15, 2024] – Zendy, a global AI-powered digital research library, has signed an agreement with academic publisher, British Online Archives (BOA). This partnership will bring an influx of primary sources covering the humanities and social sciences to Zendy.
British Online Archives is a leading academic publisher that hosts over five million records, carefully sourced from private and public archives, such as The National Archives (UK) and British Library. BOA’s specially curated primary source collections cover over 500 years of world history. They boast extensive documentation from across the globe, providing invaluable source material for students and researchers working within a wide range of scholarly disciplines.
Zendy Co-founder, Kamran Kardan said, “We’re happy to partner with British Online Archives to diversify the academic content available on Zendy. The humanities and social sciences are pivotal in understanding the landscape of the current world. We’re delighted to welcome archival content onto our platform. Offering our users a diverse range of enriching scholarly literature is part of our core mission. Through partnerships, we can make a significant impact to ensure that accessibility remains at the forefront of innovation in the academic publishing industry.”
Head of Publishing at British Online Archives, Katherine Waite, said, “We are delighted to be forming this partnership with Zendy, whose ethos of providing access to all researchers regardless of their location greatly aligns with our own goal of being an ethically conscious publisher. We look forward to working with them as we open new doors for researchers to access some of our great content.”
This partnership with British Online Archives facilitates Zendy’s mission to enhance the discoverability of quality academic content all over the globe. With a significant increase in scholarly literature from the humanities and social sciences, Zendy aims to provide a seamless solution for accessibility with the convenience of having a wide range of research available on one easy-to-use platform.
About Zendy: Zendy is a product of Knowledge E. Since its inception in 2019, Zendy has connected over 500,000 users to academic journals, proceedings, articles, e-books, and more. Zendy is an AI-powered library that aims to make academic literature more affordable and accessible for students, researchers, and professionals worldwide. Zendy recently launched ZAIA – Zendy’s AI assistant for research. ZAIA is a domain-specific Large Language Model designed to help researchers deepen their knowledge base with credible answers backed by references. To learn more, visit www.zendy.io.
About British Online Archives: British Online Archives is one of the United Kingdom’s leading academic publishers whose goal is to provide students and researchers in the humanities and social sciences with access to unique collections of primary source documents. To learn more, visit www.microform.digital/boa/.
Peer review is the assessment of research papers by field experts, it is a collaborative process between research paper authors and field experts. The purpose of this process is to evaluate the quality of the research, suitability of publication, and acts as a rigorous quality control measure while also serving the author with valuable feedback.
Understanding peer review
The peer review process is vital to upholding the standard and quality of scholarly research, it also serves as an important support for authors. Peer reviews can alert authors to overlooked gaps in research and general errors as well. A survey conducted by sense about science found that 91% of respondents say their papers were significantly improved through peer review.
The different types of peer review
Single-anonymous
Double-anonymous
Open
In this approach, reviewers are aware of the author’s identity; however, the author does not know the identity of the reviewer. This method is usually applied in science and medical journals
The double-anonymous process is when neither the author or reviewer is aware of each other’s identities, this is when utmost objectivity is achieved. This method is usually applied in fields of humanities and social sciences.
The open method does not have a singular definition, however, it is when the author and reviewer are aware of each other’s identities. Furthermore, once the paper is published, the reviewers names and reports are also present alongside the article.
The benefits of peer review
Ensures quality and accuracy
Peer review encourages authors to adhere to high standards in academic research, it stands to ensure only the best quality of research is disseminated. The process is designed to assess the validity, quality, and originality of submitted articles, hence filtering out those that are invalid. Furthermore, the reviewers are selected by journal editors that adhere to high standards and a comprehensive criteria to find the correct reviewer.
Promotes objectivity and fairness
The double-anonymous method is the most reliable method to reduce bias as both parties are not aware of each other’s identity, the process is designed to tackle inequality in scholarly publishing as it reduces bias with respect to gender, race, country, origin or affiliation.
Encourages scholarly collaboration
Peer reviews provide authors the platform to exchange ideas, methodologies, and findings while receiving insight from field experts, which enriches the academic landscape. It serves as a good networking opportunity and knowledge exchange. A taylor and francis study found that most researchers across all subject areas rated the contribution of peer review towards improving their articles as 8 or above, out of 10.
Identifies and mitigates ethical issues
Peer review catches ethical considerations like plagiarism, data fabrication, and conflicts of interest. To ensure an ethical process takes place, all conflicts of interest should be disclosed and confidentiality should be maintained. Ethics ensure the responsible conduct of research by providing clear guidelines, while also monitoring researchers and practices to ensure everything meets ethical standards.
Find peer reviewed articles on Zendy
In this blog, we covered the various aspects of peer review by explaining the purpose of the process and the factors it is designed to consider; we also dove into the different types of peer review and closed off with the benefits. To continue your research, you can log in to zendy.io and access millions of credible peer reviewed papers across all disciplines.
As a mission driven digital research library, Zendy is committed to helping reduce inequality in access to academic literature for audiences worldwide.
By working closely in partnership with publishers and data providers to create an affordable and accessible route to quality, peer reviewed content, we aim to even the playing field of global research, enabling students and researchers from underserved markets to participate in the global academic and policy dialogue and to contribute to identifying solutions to our planet’s major challenges.
We believe that AI has an important role to play in fostering a fairer research and publishing ecosystem. By leveraging AI, we can offer a range of innovative solutions to facilitate access to content and to make the search journey quicker and more efficient, thereby supporting researchers’ needs irrespective of funding or location.
Whilst AI has the potential to transform research and education, Zendy acknowledges that it also raises ethical concerns around issues such as bias, privacy, and accountability. In response to these concerns and to the growing discussion around AI, we have formulated a list of AI imperatives to guide Zendy’s strategy for the development and integration of AI technologies into our products.
Zendy’s AI Imperatives:
AI in service of a better world
In line with our mission to reduce inequality in research and publishing, we believe AI can help to positively impact society by facilitating access to and use of academic content. Our portfolio of AI solutions and our ongoing development work reflects this ethos, with a focus on solutions designed to support our users in their search for quality, reliable data. As a signatory to the UN’s Global Publishing Compact, and working hand in hand with our partners, we aim to offer a more enriched, personalised learning and discovery environment for all users globally, with AI very much in service of a better world.
Openness, trust and transparency
We explain our use of AI tools, defining them in terms of their abilities and limitations. We clarify how they fit in to our platform’s ecosystem and how users can make the most of them. If the tool makes use of partner copyrighted data, as per licensed agreements, we put in place limitations and clear safeguards on that use. We recognise the need for openness, trust and transparency across all our activities, and we are open to feedback from all of our stakeholders.
Personal privacy and data governance
Zendy is a committed advocate of personal privacy. As we continue to develop new solutions and acquire larger data sets, we safeguard the personal information which is shared with us through security policies and procedures to secure our systems. We also ensure that data is collected, reproduced, and protected in a compliant and appropriate manner in accordance with applicable privacy laws and regulations.
Equity and unfair bias
Fairness and equity are at the heart of our mission to help create a better world. As we develop and implement new AI tools and solutions, we put in place procedures to ensure reliability, and carry out extensive review. We recognise that biases and hallucinations present challenges in machine learning models, similar to their presence in human cognition. Completely eliminating these issues may compromise the reasoning abilities of our models. Therefore, to minimise these challenges, we have implemented state-of-the-art techniques derived from recent research. These include prevention and mitigation mechanisms like “chain-of-verification” and “counterfactual reasoning”, which are integrated into our models.
Human oversight and accountability
We believe human oversight is key to the successful development and deployment of a useful and reliable AI-powered solution. We maintain human oversight of the development of our AI tools and their output from design to deployment to ensure reliability and quality. We routinely conduct evaluation benchmarks on our models to assess their tendency to reproduce falsehoods and biases, as well as to measure their accuracy. This ongoing evaluation process enables us to continually enhance and refine our models.
Before a researcher begins their research, they would need to establish whether their research results will be quantitative or qualitative.
Qualitative research observes any subjective matter that can’t be measured with numbers or units, usually answering the questions “how” or “why”. This type of data is usually derived from exploratory sources like, journal entries, semi-structured interviews, videos, and photographs.
On the other hand, quantitative research is numeric and objective, which usually answers the questions “when” or “where”. This data is derived from controlled environments like surveys, structured interviews, and traditional experimental designs. Quantitative data is meant to find objective information.
What are the main differences between qualitative and quantitative research?
The main factor of differentiation between qualitative and quantitative data are the sources that the data is gathered from, as this effects the format of the results.
Sources of Qualitative Data
Sources of Quantitative Data
Participants’ recollection of events
Polls, surveys and experiments
Focus groups
Databases of records and information
Observing ethnographic studies
Analysis of other research to identify patterns
Semi-structured interviews
Questionnaires with close-ended questions
Questionnaires with open-ended questions
Structured Interviews
When to use qualitative and quantitative research?
When conducting a study, knowing how the results will be depicted drive the methodology and overall approach to the study. To understand whether qualitative or quantitative research results are best suited for your current project, we take a deeper dive at the several advantages and disadvantages of each.
Qualitative research
Advantages:
Allows researchers to understand “human experience” that cannot be quantified
Has fewer limitations, out-of-the-box answers, opinions and beliefs are included in data gathering and analysis
Researchers can utilise personal instinct and subjective experience to identify and extract information
Easier to derive and conduct as researchers can adapt to any changes to optimise results
Disadvantages:
Responses can be biased, as participants may opt for answers that are desirable.
Qualitative studies usually have small sample sizes, this impacts the reliability of the study as it cannot be generalised to certain demographics.
Researchers and other’s who read the study can have interpretation bias as the information is subjective and open to interpretation
Quantitative research
Advantages:
Usually observes a large sample, ensuring a broad percentage is taken into consideration and reflected
Produces precise results that can be widely interpreted
Minimises any research bias through the collection and representation of objective information
Data driven research method that depicts effectiveness, comparisons and further analysis.
Disadvantages:
Does not derive “meaningful” and in-depth responses, only precise figures are included in findings
Quantitative studies are expensive to conduct as they require a large sample
When designing a quantitative study, it is important to pay extra attention to all factors within the study, as a small fault can largely impact all results.
How to effectively analyse qualitative and quantitative data?
Since the data collection method for qualitative and quantitative studies are different, so is the analysis and organisation of the gathered information. In this section, we dive into a step-by-step guide to effectively analyse both types of data and information to derive accurate findings and results.
Analysing qualitative data
Types of qualitative data analysis
Content analysis
Identifies patterns derived from text. This is done by categorising information into themes, concepts and keywords.
Narrative analysis
Observes the manner in which people tell stories and the specific language they use to describe their narrative experience.
Discourse analysis
Used to understand political, cultural and power dynamics. This methos specifically focuses on the manner in which individuals express themselves in social contexts.
Thematic analysis
This method is used to understand the meaning behind the words participants use. This can be deduced by observing repeated themes in text.
Grounded theory
Mostly used when very little information is known about a case or phenomenon. The grounded theory is an “origin” theory and other cases and experiences are examined in comparison to the grounded theory.
Steps to analyse qualitative data
Once your data has been collected, it is important to code and categorise the information to easily identify the source.
After organising the information, you will need to correlate the information logically and derive valuable insights.
Once the correlations are solid, you will need to choose how to depict the information. In qualitative data, researchers usually provide transcripts from interviews and visual evidence from various sources.
Analysing quantitative data
Types of quantitative data analysis
Descriptive analysis
This method focuses on summarising the collected data and describing its attributes. This is when mean, median, mode, frequency or distribution is calculated.
Inferential analysis
This method allows researchers to draw conclusions from the gathered statistics. It allows researchers to analyse the relationship between variables and make predictions; this includes cross-tabulation, t-tests and factor analysis.
Steps to analyse quantitative data
Once the data has been collected, you will need to “clean” the data. This essentially means that you’ll need to observe any duplications, errors or omissions and remove them. This ensures the data is accurate and clear before analysis.
You will now need to decide whether you will analyse the data using descriptive or inferential analysis, depending on the gathered data set and the findings you’d like to depict.
Now, you’ll need to visualise the data using charts and graphs to easily communicate the information in your research paper.
Conduct your research on Zendy todayThis blog thoroughly covered qualitative and quantitative data and took you through how to analyse, depict and utilise each type appropriately. Continue your research into different types of studies on Zendy today, search and read through millions of studies, research and experiments now.
A research outline guides the flow of the research paper, it is meant to ensure that the ideas, concepts and points are coherent and that the study and research has a well-defined point of focus. The outline sets guidelines for each section of the research paper, what it will address, explore and highlight. Working on a research paper outline is considered an important preliminary activity that improves the structure of the research paper, this is critical for categorising collected data. Think of it as a brainstorm session for your research paper that also implements effective time management.
Understanding research paper outline
A research paper ideally consists of 5 sections; abstract, introduction, body, conclusion and references. Each of these sections contributes to collating key information on the research design, in this section of the blog we dive into the purpose or each section.
Abstract
The abstract sits on the first page of the research paper. It’s main purpose is to provide a brief overview of the paper by highlighting key findings, describing methodology, and summarising conclusive points.
Introduction
The introduction is crucial as it presents the research question, states the objectives or hypotheses, and outlines the scope and structure of the paper.
Body
The body of the research paper is where the content is discussed and highlighted. It can present detailed analysis, support arguments with evidence, address counterarguments and limitations, draw conclusions.
Conclusion
The conclusion is a closing statement, it summarises the key findings, restates the aims and research question, reflects on the research process, discusses implications and contributions.
References
The reference list is a crucial part of the paper, it ensures plagiarism is avoided, builds credibility, facilitates further reading to support claims and arguments.
Step-by-step guide to conducting research outline
Select a Topic:
Choose a topic that aligns with your research requirements.
Conduct Preliminary Research:
Gather background information on your topic by reading through key scholarly articles, books, and credible online sources.
Take notes on key ideas, findings, and arguments from reviewing the literature.
Identify the Research Question or Thesis Statement:
Formulate a focused research question or thesis statement that defines the purpose of your study.
Create the Title:
Write an informative title that accurately reflects the main topic and focus of your research paper.
Write the Abstract:
Summarize the objectives, methods, results, and conclusions of your research in a brief abstract.
Develop the Introduction:
Include background information to contextualize the research.
Present the research question or thesis statement.
Outline the scope and objectives of the study.
Take the reader through the structure of the paper by mapping it out.
Outline the Body:
Organise and structure the main points and subpoints of your research.
Ensure the content flows cohesively.
Include supporting evidence, examples, data, or arguments.
Craft the Conclusion:
Summarise the key findings and insights.
Highlight the thesis statement or research question.
Discuss the implications of your findings and suggest methods for future research.
End the conclusion by highlighting the significance of the study.
Compile the References:
Create a list of references following the appropriate citation style (e.g., Harvard, APA, MLA, Chicago).
Ensure that all sources are accurately cited and formatted.
Review and Revise:
Review your research outline for coherence and clarity.
Edit the outline as needed to improve organization, flow, and accuracy of information.
Ensure the reference list follows the requirements of the correct format
Research outline formats
Traditional outline – Where thesis statement is provided at the end of the introduction, body paragraphs support thesis with research and a conclusion is included to emphasise key concepts of research paper.
Alphanumeric outline – Outline format uses letters and numbers in this order: A, I, II, III
Decimal outline – This format requires each main point to be labeled with a whole number, and each sub-point
Conduct your research on Zendy Today
As a thriving AI-powered academic research library, Zendy hosts a wide variety of academic research across various disciplines and branches of study. Draft your next or brush up your current research paper outline by skimming through the millions of credible resources Zendy offers!
On the 25th of April, Zendy partnered with Bristol University Press to host an insightful joint webinar titled, supporting the publishing and discovery journey of young and emerging scholars in the Global South.
Addressed key systematic issues within publishing in the Global South
Academic research is predominantly published in English, which is not the first language of many in the Global South, hence publishers should be open to accepting research in different languages.
Discussed the concept of “helicopter research syndrome” wherein more established researchers allocate data collection tasks to locals in the Global South and monitor their work but don’t credit them in the final academic papers
Highlighted the book published by Bristol University Press titled, Race and cultural inclusion: Innovation, decolonization, and transformation. The book had a total of 30 contributing writers. 10 young scholars, 10 seasoned scholars and 10 senior scholars to facilitate emerging scholars get published.
Stephen Wenham – Deputy Editorial Director at Bristol University Press
Highlighted BUP’s international reach and efforts to work with young authors
Bristol University Press has publications that are available globally. In the global south, BUP tries to match the books to the local market.
Local distributors receive a discount and local publishers assist in localising the publications and releasing local editions of books
Works with sales agents to ensure publications by local authors are highlighted in relevant regions
Sara Crowley Vigneau – Partnerships Relations Manager at Zendy
Highlighted the relationship between publishers and libraries in advancing access in developing regions
Zendy supports scholars in the Global South through offering an affordable global subscription, while also working with publishers to include research generated by researchers in the Global South.
Most of Zendy’s global users are aged between 18-34 and 20% of Zendy’s userbase is situated in African countries and territories.
Zendy is actively working on “countries in crisis’ initiative where in Zendy works with publishers to make research content free in developing regions
Conduct your research on Zendy
As a growing AI-powered research library, Zendy is committed to hosting webinars that address important challenges and highlight key initiatives in the world of academia. Head to Zendy’s YouTube channel now to watch all our webinar recordings. Furthermore, take your research to the next level and head to Zendy now to try out our suite of AI tools including ZAIA!
