Categorising for culture - what do researchers think the academy values?

Author:  Steve Meaney

Organisation: Technological University Dublin

Managing research information is an ongoing challenge for all research performing organisations. Within the academic research ecosystem in Ireland, the use of research information systems to capture research outputs is widespread. These systems are populated by individual researchers who include details of research outputs. The data present in these systems provides a unique lens with which to interrogate what researchers consider of value to the University and to their disciplinary research communities. We use the data available on public-facing websites of research performing organisations to carry out a content analysis, with a view to understanding how researchers ascribe importance to their activities based on content of such systems. The results are discussed in the context of ‘mainstream’ and ‘shadow’ research cultures within the academy.