Research functionality and academic publishing: Gaming with altmetrics in the digital age

Abstract

This paper aims at introducing and testing the novel measures of research functionality and efficiency from the point of view of internationalization of academic publishing and introduction of global research career paths in the digital epoch. We analyse the recent trends in research productivity and academic publishing and scrutinize the novelties such as PlumX and Publons. Moreover, we tackle the issue of gaming with altmetrics using new digital technologies. Apart from that, we focus on the world’s two most prestigious journal indexation databases, Scopus and Web of Science, and demonstrate how academic productivity might differ across academic fields and countries using their data and analytical tools. Our results might be helpful and useful in finding connections and links between research functionality, efficiency and classifications of academic productivity yielded in published research output (such as the number of papers, books, or book chapters calibrated by the impact factor (IF) or Scopus journal ranking (SJR)). The outcomes of our research would be of a special importance for bibliometricians, librarians, research policy specialists, and other global research, education, and academic stakeholders.