United Arab Emirates – June 2023 – Zendy, a UAE-based education technology startup, announced the addition of metadata from IEEE open access content to its digital research library.
IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for humanity, will add its metadata to Zendy’s growing platform. This agreement helps to further increase the discoverability of IEEE’s top-cited content which covers a wide range of technologies including aerospace, artificial intelligence, computing, power systems, renewable energy, robotics, semiconductors, and more. With this agreement, IEEE open access content is now discoverable within the Zendy platform, enabling any users to link through to access the full-text from the IEEE Xplore Digital Library.
Zendy is an intuitive digital academic library hosting millions of Open Access resources that make the research process easier with the use of AI. Zendy’s AI-based summarisation and keyphrase highlighting tools comprehends the underlying meaning of research papers, resulting in more accurate information for the researcher.
A combination of machine learning algorithms, content-based filtering, and collaborative filtering combine to deliver personalised search results for the end user based on their area of interest.
Zendy provides access to an international offering with resources in more than 75 languages, including Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.
IEEE’s metadata addition to Zendy’s Open Access offering, which features over 43 million Open Access publications, further strengthens both companies’ mission to enhance and empower lifelong learning opportunities for knowledge communities globally.
CEO of Knowledge E and Zendy Co-Founder, Kamran Kardan, commented, “Zendy’s agreements with leading publishers such as IEEE are a core step in our vision to empower discoverability and accessibility to top-tier content. These agreements play a crucial role in providing inclusive access to academic research, and it’s great to see the industry creating an ecosystem of collaboration that ensures more people can leverage evidence-based research to further their knowledge in any respective field.”
Zendy is a product of Knowledge E. Since its inception in 2019, Zendy has connected over 150,000 users to academic journals, proceedings, articles, e-books, and more. Zendy 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.
The SJR (Scimago Journal Rank) is a metric that measures the prestige and impact of scientific journals. It is based on the concept of prestige transfer via citation links. Developed by the Scimago Lab, the metric ranks journals based on the citations received by their articles and the SJR scores of the citing journals. The SJR metric considers not only the total number of citations but also the quality of the citing journals as the subject field, quality and reputation of the journal have a direct effect on the citation of SJR.
A higher SJR score indicates that a journal has received more citations from other prestigious journals, signifying a higher level of influence and impact within the scientific community. However, the Scimago Journal Rank is just one of many metrics utilised to evaluate the quality and impact of scientific journals, and it should be considered alongside other measures such as the impact factor, h-index, and expert opinion when assessing the significance of a journal.
Why should you utilise SJR?
The Scimago Journal Rank is a public resource, meaning no subscription is needed to access and view any journal’s rank or score. SJR covers all disciplines, taking into account all relevant aspects of a journal tailored to the subject area. Moreover, the rankings are optimised to factor in the differences in citation behaviour between disciplines. It can be argued that SJR is a well-rounded metric, here are some key benefits of utilising it:
Evaluate journal quality
SJR provides a quantitative measure of the prestige and impact of scientific journals. The score considers both the number of citations received by a journal and the quality of the citing journal. By utilising SJR, you can easily assess the relative importance and influence of different journals within a discipline.
Identify influential journals
SJR scores journals based on their impact and visibility within the scientific community. The score can identify the most influential journals in your area of research, allowing you to target your publications to maximise their impact and reach.
Compare journals within a field
SJR provides a comprehensive comparison of different journals within a discipline. You can assess the standing and ranks of journals based on their SJR scores and determine which ones are more widely recognised by the scientific community.
Benchmark research output
SJR also provides rankings at national and institutional levels. It can assist in benchmarking the research output of different countries or institutions, enabling you to assess their scientific productivity.
Stay updated on scientific trends
By regularly consulting SJR, you can keep track of the evolving landscape of scientific journals, including emerging journals, new research areas, and trends within your field of interest.
How is SJR calculated?
The SJR (Scimago Journal Rank) is calculated using a methodology that counts the number of citations a journal receives. The source of citations is also taken into account; citations from prestigious citing journals. The steps involved in calculating the SJR score are:
Collection of data: The methodology is initiated by collecting data on citations from Scopus, which is a comprehensive bibliographic database of scientific literature.
Weighting citations: Each citation received by an article within the journal is weighted based on the importance of the citing journal. The methodology considers the SJR of the citing journal as an indicator of its prestige. Higher-ranked journals contribute more to the SJR score of the journal being evaluated.
Normalisation: To account for differences in citation practices between fields of study, the SJR algorithm implements a normalisation process. This process adjusts variations in citation patterns and citation potential across different disciplines.
Prestige of the citing journals: Journals that receive citations from more prestigious and influential journals are given higher weight in the calculation.
Journal self-citations: Self-citations, which are citations made by a journal to its own articles, are excluded from the SJR calculation. This ensures that self-referencing does not influence a journal’s SJR score.
Iterative calculation: The Scimago Journal Rank is calculated iteratively, taking into account the rank scores of the citing journals. This iterative process helps adjust the scores and establish a relative ranking of journals within specific subject categories.
What are the limitations of SJR?
While the SJR (Scimago Journal Rank) metric is widely used and provides valuable insights regarding the impact of scientific journals, it is important to consider its limitations. Some of the limitations of the SJR metric are:
Subjectivity of Journal Rankings
The rankings provided by SJR are based on algorithms that consider citation data and the prestige of citing journals. However, the determination of prestige is subjective and can vary across different research communities or disciplines. The choice of specific journals in the Scopus database can also have biases in the rankings.
Limited Coverage
SJR relies on the Scopus database for citation data, which may not include all journals across all disciplines. Certain fields or niche journals may be underrepresented in the database, leading to an incomplete representation of the research landscape.
Focus on Citations
SJR heavily relies on citation data as the primary focus of a journal’s impact. While citations can be a significant unit of measurement, they do not capture other aspects of a journal’s quality, such as editorial standards, scientific rigour, or societal impact. The metric does not assess factors like the published research’s novelty, originality, or practical applicability.
Time Lag
SJR scores are updated annually, which means there can be a time lag in reflecting the most recent developments and impact of journals. This delay may not capture the immediate influence of newly published research.
Field Normalisation Challenges
While the Scimago Journal Rank attempts to normalise citations across different fields, variations in citation practices and publishing patterns can still have biases. Certain disciplines may have higher citation rates due to their nature or popularity, leading to potential imbalances in the rankings.
Limited Transparency
The specific details of the algorithm used to calculate SJR scores, including the weighting and normalisation methods, are proprietary information and not publicly disclosed. This lack of transparency can make it difficult to fully understand and critique the metric.
What is the difference between Scimago Journal Rank and Journal Impact Factor?
The journal impact factor is a measure of the frequency with which the average article in a journal has been cited in a particular year. It is used to measure the importance or rank of a journal by calculating the times its articles are cited. The calculation is based on a two-year period and involves dividing the number of times articles were cited by the number of articles that are citable.
The main differentiating point of SJR and Journal Impact Factor is that the Scimago Journal Rank measures prestige and Journal Impact Factor measures citation impact. Both metrics utilise citations to settle a journal’s score. Moreover, both metrics rely on different databases, SJR relies on Scopus while Journal Impact Factor relies on Journal Citation Reports (JCR), these well-reputed databases assist the algorithms with which each score is decided. Additionally, SJR scores are optimised to compare journals across disciplines while the journal impact factor is not; using this metric you may only compare journals within one discipline.
In conclusion, the Scimago Journal Rank is a valuable metric that determines the prestige of a specific journal. This article explored why as researchers, you should be utilising SJR and how it is calculated while highlighting the metric’s limitations. To help you gain a better understanding, the article also included a brief comparison between the Scimago Journal Rank and Journal Impact Factor. While SJR is arguably a well-rounded metric, it should not be the only method of analysis and should be considered along with other metrics and expert opinions to draw final conclusions about a specific journal.
Research is the systematic study of knowledge or information on a specific topic of interest. The advancement of technology we see in our world today across the fields of engineering, medicine, architecture, agriculture and more is possible because of the contribution of researchers. If you have a natural curiosity for exploring new ideas, a career in research might be the perfect fit for you. However, getting started in this field can seem daunting, as there are various paths you can take.
In this blog, we will guide you through the measures you can take to launch a career in the ever-growing field of research; we discuss everything from identifying your research interests to obtaining the necessary qualifications and exploring different job opportunities.
Educational Requirements to Have A Career in Research
A career in research is immensely beneficial for postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers. The beauty of having a career in research is all the different branches of subjects that are open to exploration; scientific research and a plethora of commercial and public sector research are great examples of the variety. To excel in research, the key quality is to have knowledge and dedication towards your chosen specialism; since research is a field heavily associated with academia and education, a strong educational background is also required, you must have a bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree.
A career in research can also be obtained with just a bachelor’s degree. As you progress within your education, you may also climb up the career ladder within research, most positions in the field of research require a master’s degree and experience with research coursework.
Potential Jobs and Industries To Pursue
Launching a career in research opens doors across various industries like educational institutions, government institutions, industrial laboratories, corporate institutions, hospitals, insurance companies, private companies and industries. These fields can advance their policies, technology and progress because of the research conducted to find solutions and further improve practices.
Listed below are the positions you can take on to build your career in research.
Research Psychologist: As a researcher in psychology, you will be working across studies and research projects specialising in the study of human and animal behaviour. This area of study is usually beneficial to the health sector and experiments are typically conducted under the supervision of universities and relevant health organisations.
Medical Research Scientist: The field of medicine is always evolving. As a researcher in medicine, you will be tasked to develop medicinal cures for diseases; the responsibilities that come with this role are to plan, conduct, record & derive solutions from relevant experiments. This area of study is typically required in research institutions, hospitals, and government laboratories.
Biological Science Researcher: The field of biology leads you to discoveries and explorations that are directly connected to organisms. The scope of research within this field is to closely study the life cycle of organisms and find effective solutions to issues they may face. This area of study is usually utilised in government agencies.
Market Research Analyst: This role assesses consumer behaviour to analyse and predict the suitability of a product or service within the relevant market and demographic. This role also delves into the financial information of companies to analyse and derive profits and losses.
Agriculture and food scientist: This role is dedicated to researching methods to improve the efficiency and safety of agricultural establishments and products. Agriculture and food scientists usually work in food manufacturing facilities, research & development in life sciences and universities and government entities.
Physical scientist: Specialising in sciences dedicated to non-living objects, physical scientists are involved in physics, chemistry, astronomy and geology. The research involved in these disciplines focuses on physical properties and energies. Physical scientists usually work in academic settings and private industry or research organisations.
Research mathematician: As a research mathematician, you would be involved in providing abstract theorems, and developing mathematical descriptions to interpret and predict real-life concepts. You would also be involved in the application of mathematical principles to identify key trends in data sets. This role presents the opportunity to pursue a particularly diverse range of pure and applied maths like algebra, combinatorics and numerical analysis to name a few. Research mathematicians usually work in research or commercial organisations.
Economic research analyst: The role of an economic research analyst is to review and analyse economic data to prepare reports detailing the results of executed research. This role also requires you to conduct surveys to determine and analyse occupational employment statistics, wage information, labour supply and demand, tax revenues, agriculture production and insurance and utility rate structures. Being an economic research analyst is a well-rounded role that is in demand in an array of sectors.
How can you conduct effective research within your discipline?
Conducting adequate research is a crucial skill for academics and professionals. The process of conducting research can be complex and time-consuming, requiring careful planning, attention to detail, and critical thinking skills. To execute effective research, you must be able to identify your research question or objective, locate and evaluate relevant sources, and synthesise information into a meaningful and coherent body of knowledge. However, to stay on top of the exchange of information and research within your area of study, you must implement the following practices and strategies:
Work on important problems
To build a successful career in research, it’s imperative to develop an acute sense of importance to assess which problems are worth solving. As conducting research is not simply answering a question, it is a deep exploration of all aspects of a single issue; with limited resources, the most pressing issue is awarded a solution. Furthermore, the research you take on builds your portfolio as a researcher. Addressing and working on important and prevailing issues gives noteworthy results that can improve your leverage as a researcher within your field.
Be welcoming to new issues
While researching a specific topic, as a researcher, you may encounter another issue that does not have as much research on it. It’s important to look for new questions and aspects of research within problem areas in your respective field as these are usually motivated by current affairs within the discipline. You will need to acquire the skill to explore something entirely new within an area of study, not only will this bring your research more visibility as it will give new insight and perspective but it will also be a topic that you explored first.
Know the literature
The best practice to stay informed within your discipline is to read the available academic literature. This will sharpen your ability to not only write your own research but also recognise which topics are emerging and what has been previously done. As a researcher, the best habit you can create for yourself is to read. Any research paper that is accessible to you will potentially provide not only new aspects of research to you but also become more knowledgeable of your discipline.
In conclusion, starting a career in research can be daunting, however, with these key strategies and roles; you can map out which sector and position your abilities and qualifications are best suited for. Due to research being an ever-growing field, there are endless discoveries to be made and with the growth of the open access movement; the field of research is becoming more diverse and open to the contribution of all relevant demographics.
Valuable scientific research papers are usually stored behind paywalls. Sci-Hub is a platform that emerged in 2011 as a means to ‘remove all barriers in science’ while the initiative and establishment of Sci-Hub made strides within the open access movement, various questions and concerns have been raised about piracy and intellectual rights infringements as well is how the future of research will be impacted. From individual authors and researchers to publishing giants, this blog presents a comprehensive framework of the strengths and limitations of platforms like Sci-Hub.
What is Sci-Hub?
Sci-Hub is a website that provides free access to scientific research papers and academic articles that are behind paywalls. It was founded by Alexandra Elbakyan in 2011, with the goal of making scientific knowledge accessible to anyone, regardless of their financial resources or institutional affiliations. The site uses proxy servers to bypass the paywalls of major scientific publishers and provide users with free access to articles that would otherwise require a paid subscription. The use of Sci-Hub is controversial, as it is illegal in many countries and has been the subject of lawsuits by major publishers. However, it has also gained a large following among researchers and scholars who see it as a way to access scientific research.
Why so many are attracted to Sci-Hub?
An eminent argument is that Sci-Hub disseminates scientific research papers within emerging regions globally, this is done with no restrictions and in an effort to enhance the accessibility of research. As an open access platform, the establishment of Sci-Hub adds pressure on publishers, libraries and databases alike to provide open access alternatives to level the field within academia.
Providing access to high-quality scientific research in emerging countries not only promotes equality within academia but also has the potential to increase the contribution from these countries and provide new perspectives and areas of study within research communities. Moreover, research papers are undoubtedly impacted positively by increased visibility and transparency.
Why is Sci-Hub controversial?
As Sci-Hub gains popularity, it is a controversial platform known to part-take in copyright infringement. The platform operates by providing free access to scientific research papers that are behind paywalls. By bypassing these restrictions, Sci-Hub has published and disseminated a vast collection of copyrighted material without the permission of publishers, making it a hub for copyright infringement.
Due to Sci-Hub operating outside the traditional publishing model and obtaining its content illegally, this flags significant quality control issues; without the peer review process and editorial supervision provided by reputable journals, there is a concern about the research being disseminated by Sci-Hub.
While Sci-Hub has gained popularity; Sci-Hub also does not provide key metrics. This impacts the revenue streams of publishers and individual authors as the metrics to track and produce credibility are not taken into account. This lost data has the potential to negatively impact current and future research communities. Metrics like downloads and citations are significant to assessing a researcher’s credibility and career, Sci-Hub does not allow researchers or readers to access this information which creates a roadblock for research communities to operate on reliable metrics.
Furthermore, Sci-Hub undermines traditional publishing methods. Due to the platform not relying on article fees and subscriptions; the platform cannot fund the dissemination of quality scientific research. While Sci-Hub’s mission is to increase accessibility, this can be challenging as the platform has been banned in several countries because of Sci-Hub’s illegal methods of obtaining content, it is worth mentioning that the platform has been accused of using email phishing methods and gaining access to 42 university databases. In addition, the research available on Sci-Hub is not reviewed or updated making the research old and less relevant.
What actions can the research industry take?
Undoubtedly, platforms like Sci-Hub exist because of the gaps present in the research sector. To discourage the use of illegal platforms like Sci-Hub, the research industry can take several significant actions, such as making research papers more affordable and widely available, improving the quality and scope of open access research papers, negotiating better deals with publishers, and substantially increasing public funding for research. Additionally, researchers can publish their work in open access journals or deposit their manuscripts in institutional repositories, which can make their work more accessible. An increase in awareness about the implications on the research community of using pirated content can also help discourage the use of sites like Sci-Hub by readers and learners.
In conclusion, the principle that Sci-Hub was built on is to grant access to emerging regions, low-income students and researchers to the world of scientific research. While this is an admirable foundation, the dismissal of the established processes in the industry is harmful to the future of researchers. To significantly reduce the usage of pirated platforms, all stakeholders in the publishing spectrum must work together to create and promote affordable and accessible models of dissemination.
Discover millions of journal articles, e-books, proceedings and so much more now on Zendy.
In the current data-driven era, the importance of analytics in academic research cannot be overstated. Analytics help determine editorial decisions and give publishers insight into how their publications are being consumed, making analytics an indispensable tool for researchers across both STEM and HSS fields. In this blog, we assess and explore how analytics enable researchers to extract insights and make evidence-based decisions while also considering the benefits and limitations of analytics within academic research.
Benefits of analytics
Analytics within academic research provides insight into how research papers are being utilised by readers, taking into account the platforms the research is being consumed on, the citations it receives and how it is being shared.
Analysing metrics relevant to academic research helps to identify author and reader behaviour. This results in informed editorial decisions, along with better
Analytics also allow academic research publishers to streamline their workflow by calculating submission and acceptance timelines. This also has the potential to depict and analyse peer-review times and provides a thorough analysis of the data mentioned within a manuscript submission.
Identifying the most cited research within a specific discipline can benefit authors’ own academic research with accurate sources from well-reputed journals and/or authors.
Consuming academic research from legal platforms which respect copyright guidelines aid publishers in collecting accurate data to produce and publish new academic research papers. Furthermore, this collection of data and metrics aids researchers advance within their careers as it helps establish researcher credibility through H-index scores and other metrics.
Drawbacks of analytics
The collection and analysis of reader data to depict usage and engagement can raise privacy concerns especially if personal details are also extracted.
The data collected within academic research can be biased or misinterpreted if not examined rigorously. For example, data on citations and downloads may not accurately convey the impact of research but rather the popularity of the author or journal.
The growth of analytics in academic research may create an overreliance on metrics. This can potentially shift the focus to trending topics and authors rather than original, relevant and impactful research.
Currently, there is no standard method for collecting and reporting analytical data within academic research. This lack of standardisation leaves room for misinterpretation, fabrication and biased numbers.
Platforms like Z-library, which provide free but illegal access to academic research and publications, pose a threat to the analytics used by publishers. Z Library bypasses traditional publishing by engaging in the unauthorised sharing of copyrighted content. It hosts digital copies of books without the explicit permission of the authors or publishers. This violates copyright laws and intellectual property rights. This can undermine the ability of publishers to make data-driven decisions about which articles to publish and promote, and can also affect the accuracy of analytics data. Which in turn affects the measurement of the true impact of academic research publications.
In conclusion, the growth of analytics within academic research is undeniable. While metrics allow publishers, authors and readers to depict how accurate their sources are and how well their research papers are performing, this comes at the cost of potential privacy concerns, fabrication of data and the lack of a standardised approach to collecting and reporting analytical data. However, investing time and resources to establish safe practices that produce accurate metrics can greatly benefit all parties involved in academic research; publishers can use this data to cater to readers by creating personalised lists and recommendations while also encouraging researchers to work within certain subject areas across different disciplines.
Discover millions of journal articles, e-books, proceedings and so much more now on Zendy.
Zendy announced today the launch of its new AI-powered features that help researchers streamline the literature discovery process. Unlike traditional tools that rely on simple statistical methods, Zendy’s AI-based summarisation and keyphrase highlighting tool comprehends the underlying meaning of research papers, resulting in more accurate information for the researcher.
With these new features, Zendy will continuously enhance its AI-based tool with new papers available in its platform. The new papers will be used to fine-tune the models to generate even more insightful information, providing researchers with the most up-to-date and relevant insights.
With the depth of content available to researchers, reviewing literature is one of the most time consuming, yet critical, aspects of the research process. AI-based summarisation can significantly optimise literature review by automating the process of identifying the most relevant information in a large body of literature.
Keyphrase highlighting within academic texts spotlights critical concepts in the text, making it easier for researchers to quickly and efficiently identify the most important information related to their research question.
We’re pleased to offer researchers a more intelligent way to utilise and continue their discovery through research papers,” said Zendy Co-founder Kamran Kardan. “It’s critical that the industry leverage the best technologies to deliver value to the research discovery process and enable a more effective and equitable experience for students, researchers, and professionals. The correct use and implementation of AI and machine learning has the power to make a true difference in creating a more knowledgeable world.”
In addition, Zendy’s is building topic classification models that will deliver AI-based personalised search results to enable researchers to discover papers based on their interests and preferences.
Zendy’s latest AI-based summarisation and keyphrase highlighting features are now available in beta-mode to users, and the platform will continue to evolve with new papers and enhanced AI capabilities, providing researchers with the industry’s most advanced research tools available.
Zendy is pleased to announce that it has signed an agreement with IntechOpen, a leading global publisher of Journals and Books within the fields of Science, Technology and Medicine. Zendy will host IntechOpen’s Book Series and open science journals, offering all the benefits of open access to authors, users, and readers.
Zendy a product of Knowledge E, provides seamless access to millions of articles, journals, e-books, and more. Comprehensive filters enable users to search effectively for content, making it easier for them to identify, read, cite, and save the content that they need.
As members of the SDG Publishers Compact, both Knowledge E and IntechOpen share the same commitment to increase awareness, publish and disseminate scientific research that supports the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This is why we are thrilled that the Sustainable Development series will be featured on the Zendy platform, as this is how we can all work together to contribute and achieve the SDGs.
Zendy Co-founder Kamran Kardan said, “IntechOpen has been a driving force in the open access movement, and we are proud to partner with them to further our shared mission of democratising access to knowledge. With IntechOpen’s extensive portfolio of scholarly work and Zendy’s cutting-edge technology, we can make a significant impact on improving the accessibility of scientific research in developing regions, ultimately contributing to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.”
Viktorija Žgela, Head of Editorial Development at IntechOpen, commented: “The journey towards more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable future starts with collaborative efforts. The scholarly communication landscape with all its stakeholders, including researchers, publishers, online libraries, and service providers that facilitate and enrich the publishing experience and the communication of the scientific output, is part of this journey. Therefore, it is a pleasure to partner with Zendy because we share the same vision, mission, and values: to make academic content accessible to everyone in the world.”
April brings all semester deadlines closer, this past month’s trending research papers on Zendy were a diverse bunch. Discover and dive into everything from the United Nations universal period review, a study on bio emulsifiers derived from micro-organisms, a comprehensive analysis of the effects of social media within specific industries, the factors that cause academic stress among college students and finally, the issues that organic farming causes within the agriculture sector. From mental health studies to biological proposals and general information on the United Nations imperative initiatives; we’ve covered it all.
Introduction to Universal Periodic Review
Introduced in 2006, the universal periodic review is an opportunity through which all UN member states are given the opportunity to objectively review and scrutinise the human rights records of all other member states. This was established in an effort to eliminate the self-regulatory mechanism and open conversation for accountability and detailed records of human rights policies and initiatives.
Bioemulsifiers Derived From Micro-organisms: Application in Food and Drug
Emulsifiers are known to reduce the speed of chemical reactions and enhance their stability. Bio emulsifiers have unique features like non-toxicity, biodegradability, biocompatibility, efficiency at low concentrations, and high selectivity in different pH balances, temperatures, and salinities. This research paper closely studies organisms with biosurfactant-producing abilities and how this can be utilised in environmental remediation and the petroleum industry.
An Integrated Analysis of the Impact of Social Media
This journal article observes the impact of social media within the fields of business, education, society and youth by determining precisely what social media is utilised for and how these key features can benefit but also serve as drawbacks within each industry mentioned earlier. Published in 2016, this study takes place at a time when social media culture was shifting to the modernisation we are familiar with today.
The Factors That Cause Academic Stress on College Students
This case study identifies examination fear, fear of failure, the discriminating nature of teachers and peers, and poor classroom experience as academic stress triggers. Using this guideline, the study discovers the findings through a comprehensive survey to determine which remedial measures should be incorporated within curriculums and educational systems across the world.
This research paper states that organic farming bans all uses of almost every synthetic fertilizer and pesticide. This ban does not take into account the range of differences in the materials from dangerous to benign components; it also neglects the scientific research depicting that synthetic fertilizers and pesticides can be the best solution for specific agricultural issues.
To combat global challenges like climate change, poverty, inequality, and environmental degradation, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) organised a framework in 2015 to effectively rectify these issues. In this blog, we highlight how research and academia play a vital role in advancing the SDGs through the Publishers Compact, from generating evidence-based solutions to shaping policies that drive sustainable development. We also explore the ways in which the SDGs are helping to reduce inequalities in research communities.
What are the sustainable development goals?
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a total of 17 goals adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a global call to action to prioritise and overcome the world’s most imperative social, economic, and environmental issues. They provide a clear roadmap for countries, organisations, and individuals to transform our world into an equitable, inclusive, and sustainable place for present and future generations.
This sustainable development goal is focused on promoting equal access to quality education for all. Mainly targeting STEM fields, SDG 4 aims to increase the skill and knowledge of the global workforce to encourage and increase contributions to research and innovation. By 2030, SDG 4 will ensure that gender disparities in educational sectors are eliminated, increase the supply of qualified teachers in developing countries and build educational facilities that are child and disability friendly.
SDG 5 strongly focuses on eliminating discrimination against women and girls to promote their equal participation in all aspects of life. By addressing gender inequality in research communities, such as the underrepresentation of women in STEM disciplines, the sustainable development goals can create a more diverse and inclusive scientific community.
SDG 10 aims to reduce social, economic and political inequalities in all aspects of life, including research communities. By promoting equal access to research opportunities, resources, and funding, SDG 10 aims to level the playing field and reduce disparities in the scientific community.
SDG 17 places an emphasis on the importance of collaboration to achieve all social development goals. By encouraging and promoting collaboration between researchers, academic institutions, governments and other relevant bodies; the SDGs can create a more integrated research community.
To further encourage participation in the succession of the SDGs, the general public needs to be aware of the progress made and the research conducted to progress each SDG. To understand the growth since the launch of the SDGs in 2015, the United Nations has created an accurate SDG tracker.
What is the SDGs Publishers Compact?
Launched in 2020, the Publishers Compact consists of fellows segregated into 4 groups to tackle 4 key initiatives to amplify SDG content in the publishing sector which will disseminate worldwide and encourage the application and general practice of the SDGs within other industries.
Firstly, the Compact ensures the integration of SDG educational materials. Academic societies have been developing methods for publishers to recognise and rectify the lack of SDG-related content and activities in their education systems and materials. An increase in SDG-related content within schools and universities will likely result in a higher participation and contribution from students, professors, researchers and life long learners in the succession of the 17 goals.
Moreover, the compact promotes applying and practicing the SDGs. This is to encourage authors, editors, and publishers to create summarised content and formats that are useful and appealing to various industries and sectors (such as businesses, services etc). There is also a list of “Top Actions” tips to encourage the integration of SDGs into daily practice and to catalyse research based on the challenges and opportunities practitioners face.
Furthermore, the Publishers Compact is dedicated to redefining the impact indicators of research, like academic rankings and incentives. This is a work in progress, as a list of “Top Actions” tips for publishers, editors, authors, librarians and graduate students is being developed and completed. The committee is preparing a resource to highlight SDG research papers and their impact on policy, education, society and more.
Finally, the Publishers Compact is committed to shifting culture in higher education. This initiative is dedicated to taking steps to affect culture change throughout the academic and publishing ecosystem. This requires evaluating the various stakeholders and their needs, to move the focus toward the SDGs. While the initial focus will be on connecting with and elevating those already working with SDGs, eventually this will transition to highlighting additional associations (e.g. journal editors), companies (e.g. publishers) and institutions (e.g. educators and researchers) and the spaces where the SDGs can be incorporated.
Zendy, which is a product of Knowledge E, is a signatory of the United Nations Publishers Compact. In our efforts to democratise knowledge, we are committed to the causes and principles that the SDGs are striving to achieve by 2030. By increasing the dissemination of research globally, we aim to contribute in creating a sustainable world driven by knowledge and research.
How is open science contributing to the implementation of SDGs?
Open science encourages transparency, collaboration and inclusivity in scientific research by publishing research without restrictions; making it as accessible as possible. This has the potential to significantly contribute to the implementation and succession of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Open science facilitates the dissemination and usage of research to promote evidence-based solutions, which will accelerate the progress towards the SDGs in the following ways.
Promotes collaborative research and innovation – This enables scientists, policymakers, practitioners, and other relevant bodies to work together across disciplines and regions. This collaborative approach will contribute to interdisciplinary research, the integration of local and indigenous knowledge, and allow diverse perspectives and expertise to be included in the development of sustainable solutions.
Enhances the accessibility and usability of research outputs – This makes scientific knowledge widely accessible and usable. Open access publishing of research articles, data, books and other research outputs can enable researchers, policymakers, and practitioners from developing regions to access the latest scientific findings and potentially apply them.
Supports evidence-based policymaking and decision-making processes – By openly sharing research findings, data, and methodologies, policymakers can access a database of research-based evidence to further advance policy development and implementation. Open science also promotes transparency in the evaluation of policies, allowing for accountability and learning from successes and failures.
Facilitates advancements that contribute to the SDGs – Openly sharing research data, methodologies, and software can allow collaboration among researchers and enable the development of new technologies and solutions that address complex challenges.
Promotes inclusivity and diversity in the scientific community – By promoting open and transparent research practices, open science can create opportunities for underrepresented groups, including women and people from low-income countries, to participate in the scientific process and contribute their unique perspectives and knowledge to address the SDGs.
At Zendy, we believe research papers and educational materials should be affordable and accessible to anyone anywhere. Zendy Open was launched in an effort to disseminate research papers without paywalls or restrictions. We stand to democratise knowledge so that policymakers, governments, researchers, students and relevant authoritative bodies can make informed research-based decisions that impact society. By creating an open access and open science platform, we look to eliminate discrimination and empower the world through knowledge to create a healthy and equally participative educational environment worldwide.
What impact will the implementation of SGDs have on the research community?
The implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is expected to have a significant impact on the research community in several ways:
Research Priorities: Global research priorities will be aligned with the SDGs, leading to an increased emphasis on research that contributes to the achievement of the goals. This could result in greater funding and resources being allocated to research areas that are aligned with the SDGs.
Interdisciplinary Research: The SDGs encourage integrated approaches to sustainable development. This will promote interdisciplinary research, where researchers from different disciplines collaborate to address complex and interconnected challenges.
Collaboration and Partnerships: The SDGs emphasise the need for partnerships, wherein governments, academia, civil society, private sector, and local communities come together, to collectively work towards achieving the goals. This will result in increased collaboration and partnerships within the research community as well.
Open Science and Data Sharing: The SDGs highlight the importance of data and evidence-based decision-making for monitoring progress towards the goals. This may lead to increased demand for open science practices, such as open access publishing, data sharing, and transparent research methodologies. The research community may witness a greater emphasis on open science, data sharing, and transparent research practices to facilitate knowledge exchange, collaboration, and enable evidence-based policymaking.
Global and Regional Collaboration: The SDGs are a global agenda, but their implementation requires localised actions and context-specific solutions. The research community may witness increased global and regional collaboration to address local challenges in alignment with the SDGs. This could involve cross-border research collaborations, knowledge-sharing platforms, and policy exchanges to learn from different contexts and promote solutions that are relevant to specific regions.
In summary, the implementation of the SDGs is expected to have a significant impact on the research community. This will result in an increase in publications being disseminated in open access databases to eliminate discrimination in educational sectors and other aspects of society while also promoting interdisciplinary research to find sustainable solutions to the pressing matters the SDGs aim to rectify; furthermore, the Publishers Compact will play a significant role in ensuring that educational sector abides by their commitment to equal access which will accelerate the progress towards the 17 sustainable development goals. The research community is likely to play a critical role in generating knowledge and evidence-based solutions that contribute to the achievement of the SDGs and drive sustainable development worldwide.
Zendy, which is a product of Knowledge E, is a proud signatory of the United Nations Publishers Compact. Discover millions of journal articles, e-books, proceedings and so much more now on Zendy.
The Zendy academic library is designed to accompany users on their journey of discovery across a broad spectrum of disciplines. It is an intuitive and user-friendly platform that accommodates a vast collection of academic research covering all major fields. Developed in close collaboration with researchers, students, institutions, and publishers, Zendy aims to democratise knowledge and make it accessible to all. Zendy was established with the vision of making academic content more accessible and affordable for individuals worldwide, regardless of their field of study, area of interest or geographic location.
Welcome to Zendy! When you log in, you’ll be met with recommended articles.
Using Zendy To Your Advantage
Zendy offers a wide selection of academic research. Discover peer-reviewed journal articles, e-books and proceedings across disciplines; from science and technology to arts and humanities, Zendy has it all. The academic library provides access to full-text articles and books from various leading publishers, making it a tool students, professors and avid readers can benefit from.
What Makes Zendy Stand Out?
With an aim to democratise access, Zendy offers two unique solutions to users. The first is Zendy Plus, a subscription service giving users unlimited access to premium academic content for the monthly price of a single research paper. Secondly, Zendy Open – a free open access research library packed with research tools to make content easier to navigate and discover.
With a single Zendy Plus subscription; you can access academic content across numerous fields from leading publishers like Taylor & Francis, Wiley, Emerald, EBSCO, Sage and many more. Zendy Plus is available in UAE, KSA, Bahrain, Jordan, Nigeria, Morocco, and Algeria. To facilitate Zendy’s vision of democratising access and promoting research-based solutions and decision-making, the subscription offers access to millions of academic articles in over 45 languages in an active effort to make academic material inclusive and accessible. Zendy Plus allows users to access a vast collection of premium academic research for the monthly price of a single research paper.
Easy Citations
Researchers and students know that generating citations and reference lists are time-consuming tasks. On Zendy, we’ve simplified how you can get your citations done. It only takes one click to access citations in multiple formats as shown below.
Simply click “Cite” to get an accurate citation for the academic material you’re referencingOnce clicking on “cite” you’ll have this window on your screen and you may pick the citation format you’d like to use from the top right drop-down menu
Advanced filters
Zendy’s comprehensive filters will effortlessly refine your research discoverability process. Your searches can be filtered by author, publication, title, H-index score, Scientific Journal Rank (SJR), International Standard Serial Number (ISSN), International Standard Book Number (ISBN), and keyword.
To utilise Zendy’s advanced filters, click on the arrow within the search bar on the right.From this drop-down menu, you may select the filter you’d like to apply and proceed from there
Favourites
This particular feature serves as a wish list for research you find intriguing. You can essentially add articles to read either later or come back to for quick references. Save time scrolling by simply just clicking on the ‘thumbs up’ icon at the bottom right of the research you’re interested in.
To add a research paper to your favourites, simply click the thumbs-up icon located on the bottom right.Access your favourites by logging in and selecting ‘My Library’ from the drop-down menu on the top right or simply click ‘My Library’ located to the right of the Zendy icon at the topBy selecting ‘Favourites’ at the top of the page, you can access all the research you’ve liked and saved here.
Read History
This feature collates every piece of research you have accessed on Zendy. In case you forget to add some academic research to your reading list, you now have the option to go into your read history and locate key research easily.
Just like how you accessed your Favorites list, you’ll need to go to ‘My Library’ from either one of the options shown above.Click on ‘Read History’ and easily access all the academic research you’ve previously read or visited.
Reading Lists
Customise your very own reading list now on Zendy. Arrange your academic research based on genre, publication or simply your area of interest. Pick up right where you left off across articles, e-books, proceedings and much more, you’ll never need to search again for a source you know you’ll come back to.
From either the drop-down menu on the top right or the option on the top left, you need to select ‘My Lists’ From this page, you’ll need to select the ‘Create List’ Option to organise your reads.Simply name your list and save it, you can now begin adding academic research papers to this list.Once the list has been created, you can begin adding academic content to it by clicking on the ‘add to list’ on the bottom right.You may then select the list you’d like to segregate the research paper into and click ‘done’.Your academic research material has been successfully saved to your desired list for you to access at any time you need it.
Dive into research papers across many disciplines while taking advantage of Zendy’s amazing features and discover millions of e-books, journal articles, proceedings and more on Zendy now.
