Hip, hip, hooray to Hans Malmström, Christian Stöhr, and Amy Wanyu Ou from CLS, who have been awarded Chalmers Library’s Open Access Award for 2024. Their report, “Chatbots and other AI for learning: A survey of use and views among university students in Sweden”, is the most downloaded report of the year from research.chalmers.se.
Congratulations! What are your thoughts on this award?
- We are, of course, incredibly proud! This is an important award as it highlights Chalmers' efforts to make research results and data accessible to more people.
Your report has been downloaded over 1,000 times, more than 30 percent more than the next most downloaded one – what do you think is the reason for that?
- The simple answer to that is timing. It so happened that we were one of the first groups to explore the challenges and opportunities of generative AI from a student perspective, and this occurred at a time (spring 2023) when everyone, absolutely everyone, was talking about generative AI, while the collective knowledge of generative AI within the higher education sector was still quite poor. As a result, there was great interest when we were able to present data on students’ attitudes and use, and we could do this based on a relatively large dataset (almost 6,000 students) from many Swedish universities and colleges.
What does open access mean to you? Why is it important?
- OA is fundamentally about giving back to society, both in a narrow and broad sense. Government-funded research constitutes a significant and important part of the total research funding, and therefore we have an obligation to give back by making the research results accessible, both to the public and to other researchers. But just as important is the fact that the research we do gains wider dissemination, and genuine dissemination can only happen if it is made available to everyone. It’s easy to forget that there are researchers in many countries who do not have nearly the same access to databases and publisher products as we do in this privileged part of the world.
How can we encourage more people to publish their research openly? Are there any challenges that universities need to overcome as you see it?
- By challenging conventions and traditions, but that’s easier said than done. As researchers, we are not only driven by the idea of disseminating our research to others; there’s also an ambition for the research to make a real impact, by being cited and used by other researchers or having a direct practical application. The merit systems for research are still structured in such a way that publishing in high-impact channels (in a bibliometric sense) is rewarded over open access publishing. We’re certainly no saints here – we’re just as influenced as many others when it comes to choosing channels for publication. The solution? It’s tricky, but it likely requires joint and powerful efforts from key stakeholders, including the research community, but especially the leading universities, to continue their efforts to put pressure on publishers to lower the barriers (particularly the costs) for open access publishing.
Jessica Lindholm, acting head of the Division of Information Resources and Scientific Publishing at Chalmers Library, presented the award:
-The fact that each year during International Open Access Week we highlight someone who has stood out by reaching a wide audience with their research makes me proud of our workplace. It makes it easier for more people to access current issues within research at Chalmers. This is an important aspect of building an open and democratic knowledge society, in line with Chalmers' vision of creating a better future. Researchers who publish openly also receive more citations than closed-off research, which can potentially benefit their careers.
If you want to read the full report, you can find it here!
What is Chalmers Library’s Open Access Prize?
The award has been given since 2015 and is a way for Chalmers Library to highlight the global event, Open Access Week, which runs for one week in October. This year, the theme for the week is “Community over Commercialization,” and is described as follows: The theme of International Open Access Week for 2024 will continue with last year’s focus on ‘Community over Commercialization.’ This theme contributed to a growing recognition of the need to prioritize approaches to open scholarships that serve the best interests of the public and the academic community. Taking the unprecedented step to build on this theme for a second year highlights the importance of this conversation and presents the opportunity to turn more of these deliberations into collective action.
Questions?
- Professor Pedagogical Merits, Language and Communication, Communication and Learning in Science