In this essay the current and previous editors discuss the history of the Journal of Aging & Social Policy. In reviewing the past thirty years of publishing the Journal, one can see three phases: Phase 1 took pace during the first decade (1989–1997), Phase 2 covered the next decade and a half or so (1998–2015), and Phase 3 reflects the past five years, a period of continuing growth and success (2016-Present). Despite its inevitable challenges, the Journal of Aging & Social Policy overcame each and has arrived. Today, it is a well-respected Journal that attracts excellent scholarship from around the world, that is well-cited, and that has earned the Journal a commendable impact factor. The editors are proud of that evolution. However, success is never final. The Journal will require continued effective stewardship as it looks to the next thirty years and beyond.
This study examines the social media uptake of scientific journals on two different platforms - X and WeChat - by comparing the adoption of X among journals indexed in the Science Citation Index-Expanded (SCIE) with the adoption of WeChat among journals indexed in the Chinese Science Citation Database (CSCD). The findings reveal substantial differences in platform adoption and user engagement, shaped by local contexts. While only 22.7% of SCIE journals maintain an X account, 84.4% of CSCD journals have a WeChat official account. Journals in Life Sciences & Biomedicine lead in uptake on both platforms, whereas those in Technology and Physical Sciences show high WeChat uptake but comparatively lower presence on X. User engagement on both platforms is dominated by low-effort interactions rather than more conversational behaviors. Correlation analyses indicate weak-to-moderate relationships between bibliometric indicators and social media metrics, confirming that online engagement reflects a distinct dimension of journal impact, whether on an international or a local platform. These findings underscore the need for broader social media metric frameworks that incorporate locally dom
Social media platforms have now emerged as an important medium for wider dissemination of research articles; with authors, readers and publishers creating different kinds of social media activity about the article. Some research studies have even shown that articles that get more social media attention may get higher visibility and citations. These factors are now persuading journal publishers to integrate social media plugins in their webpages to facilitate sharing and dissemination of articles in social media platforms. Many past studies have analyzed several factors (like journal impact factor, open access, collaboration etc.) that may impact social media attention of scholarly articles. However, there are no studies to analyze whether the presence of social media plugin in a journal could result in higher social media attention of articles published in the journal. This paper aims to bridge this gap in knowledge by analyzing a sufficiently large-sized sample of 99,749 articles from 100 different journals. Results obtained show that journals that have social media plugins integrated in their webpages get significantly higher social media mentions and shares for their articles as
The urbanization of the world, which is one of the most impressive facts of modern times, has wrought profound changes in virtually every phase of social life. The recency and rapidity of urbanization in the United States accounts for the acuteness of our urban problems and our lack of awareness of them. Despite the dominance of urbanism in the modern world we still lack a sociological definition of the city which would take adequate account of the fact that while the city is the characteristic locus of urbanism, the urban mode of life is not confined to cities. For sociological purpose a city is a relatively large, dense, and permanent settlement of heterogenous individuals. Large numbers account for inidividual variability, the relative absence of intimate personal acquaintanceship, the segmentalization of human relations which are largely anonymous, superficial, and transitory, and associated characteristic. Density involves diversification and specialization, the coincidence of social relations, glaring contrasts, a complex pattern of segregation, the predominance of formal social control, and accentuated friction, among other phenomena. Heterogeneity tends to break down rigid social structures and to produce increased mobility, instability, and insecurity, and the affilitation of the individuals with a variety of intersecting and tangential social groups with a high rate of membership turnover. The pecuniary nexus tends to displace personal relations, institutions tend to cater to mass rather than to individual requirements. The individual thus becomes effective only as he acts through organized groups. The complicated phenomena of urbanism may acquire unity and coherence if the sociological analysis proceeds in the light of such a body of theory. The empirical evidence concerning the ecology, the social organization, and the social psychology of the urban mode of life confirms the fruitfulness of this approach.
The Financial Times 50 (FT50) journal list shapes hiring, promotion, accreditation, and research evaluation across business schools worldwide. Yet journals on the list are typically treated as if they represent a homogeneous tier of excellence. We test this assumption by comparing 53 FT50 and recently removed journals across three distinct impact channels: scholarly influence (field-weighted citations and visibility), policy uptake, and technological reach through patent citations. Using a panel of more than 60,000 publications from 2005 to 2019, we find striking heterogeneity hidden beneath the binary FT50 label. Elite economics journals dominate policy influence, information systems and marketing journals lead technological impact, while many highly cited management journals exhibit limited reach beyond academia. Citation, policy, and patent indicators behave as largely independent dimensions of impact, with a citation-only ranking correlating only moderately with a multidimensional ranking. Nearly half of all journals change quartile once policy and patent indicators are incorporated, demonstrating that assessments based solely on scholarly citations overlook important dimension
Although beneficial information abounds on social media, the dissemination of harmful information such as so-called ``fake news'' has become a serious issue. Therefore, many researchers have devoted considerable effort to limiting the diffusion of harmful information. A promising approach to limiting diffusion of such information is link deletion methods in social networks. Link deletion methods have been shown to be effective in reducing the size of information diffusion cascades generated by synthetic models on a given social network. In this study, we evaluate the effectiveness of link deletion methods by using actual logs of retweet cascades, rather than by using synthetic diffusion models. Our results show that even after deleting 10\%--50\% of links from a social network, the size of cascades after link deletion is estimated to be only 50\% the original size under the optimistic estimation, which suggests that the effectiveness of the link deletion strategy for suppressing information diffusion is limited. Moreover, our results also show that there is a considerable number of cascades with many seed users, which renders link deletion methods inefficient.
Rankings of scholarly journals based on citation data are often met with skepticism by the scientific community. Part of the skepticism is due to disparity between the common perception of journals' prestige and their ranking based on citation counts. A more serious concern is the inappropriate use of journal rankings to evaluate the scientific influence of authors. This paper focuses on analysis of the table of cross-citations among a selection of Statistics journals. Data are collected from the Web of Science database published by Thomson Reuters. Our results suggest that modelling the exchange of citations between journals is useful to highlight the most prestigious journals, but also that journal citation data are characterized by considerable heterogeneity, which needs to be properly summarized. Inferential conclusions require care in order to avoid potential over-interpretation of insignificant differences between journal ratings. Comparison with published ratings of institutions from the UK's Research Assessment Exercise shows strong correlation at aggregate level between assessed research quality and journal citation `export scores' within the discipline of Statistics.
Preface to the Fifth Edition Chapter 1 Language, Learning, and Teaching Questions about Second Language Acquisition Learner Characteristics Linguistic Factors Learning Processes Age and Acquisition Instructional Variables Context Purpose Rejoicing in Our Defeats Language Learning and Teaching Schools of Thought in Second Language Acquisition Structural Linguistics and Behavioral Psychology Generative Linguistics and Cognitive Psychology Constructivism: A Multidisciplinary Approach Nineteen Centuries of Language Teaching Language Teaching in the Twentieth Century Topics and Questions for Study and Discussion Suggested Readings Language Learning Experience: Journal Entry Guidelines for Entry 1 PART I. AGE FACTORS Chapter 2 First Language Acquisition Theories of First Language Acquisition Behavioral Approaches Challenges to Behavioral Approaches The Nativist Approach Challenges to Nativist Approach Functional Approaches Issues in First Language Acquisition Competence and Performance Comprehension and Production Nature or Nurture? Universals Systematicity and Variability Language and Thought Imitation Practice and Frequency Input Discourse First Language Acquisition Insights Applied to Language Teaching Topics and Questions for Study and Discussion Suggested Readings Language Learning Experience: Journal Entry 2 Chapter 3 Age and Acquisition Dispelling Myths Types of Comparison and Contrast The Critical Period Hypothesis Neurobiological Considerations Hemispheric Lateralization Biological Timetables Right-Hemispheric Participation Anthropological Evidence The Significance of Accent Cognitive Considerations Affective Considerations Linguistics Considerations Bilingualism Interference Between First and Second Languages Order of Acquisition Issues in First Language Acquisition Revisited Competence and Performance Comprehension and Production Nature or Nurture? Universals Systematicity and Variability Language and Thought Imitation Practice and Frequency Input Discourse Some Age-and-Acquisition-Inspired Language Teaching Methods Total Physical Response The Natural Approach, 79 Topics and Questions for Study and Discussion Suggested Readings Language Learning Experience: Journal Entry 3 PART II. PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS Chapter 4 Human Learning Learning and Training Pavlov's Classical Behaviorism Skinner's Operant Conditioning Ausubel's Subsumption Theory Rote vs. Meaningful Learning Systematic Forgetting Rogers's Humanistic Psychology Types of Learning Transfer, Interference, and Overgeneralization Inductive and Deductive Reasoning Language Aptitude Intelligence and Language Learning Learning Theories in Action: Two Language Teaching Methods in Contrast The Audiolingual Method Community Language Learning Topics and Questions for Study and Discussion Suggested Readings Language Learning Experience: Journal Entry 4 Chapter 5 Styles and Strategies Process, Style, and Strategy Learning Styles Field Independence Left- and Right-Brain Dominance Ambiguity Tolerance Reflectivity and Impulsivity Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic Styles Autonomy, Awareness and Action Strategies Learning Strategies Communication Strategies Avoidance Strategies Compensatory Strategies Strategies-Based Instruction Identifying Learners' Styles and Strategies Incorporating SBI into the Language Classroom Stimulating Strategic Action Beyond the Classroom Topics and Questions for Study and Discussion Suggested Readings Language Learning Experience: Journal Entry 5 Chapter 6 Personality Factors The Affective Domain Affective Factors in Second Language Acquisition Self-Esteem Attribution Theory and Self-Efficacy Willingness to Communicate Inhibition Risk-Taking Anxiety Empathy Extroversion Motivation Theories of Motivation Instrumental and Integrative Orientations Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation The Neurobiology of Affect Personality Types and Language Acquisition Measuring Affective Factors Intrinsic Motivation in the Classroom Topics and Questions for Study and Discussion Suggested Readings Language Learning Experience: Journal Entry PART III. SOCIOCULTURAL FACTORS Chapter 7 Sociocultural Factors Culture Definitions and Theories Stereotypes or Generalizations? Attitudes Second Culture Acquisition Social Distance Teaching Intercultural Competance Language Policy and Politics World Englishes ESL and EFL Linguistic Imperialism and Language Rights Language Policy and the English Only Debate Language, Thought, and Culture Framing Our Conceptual Universe The Whorfian Hypothesis Culture in the Language Classroom Topics and Questions for Study and Discussion Suggested Readings Language Learning Experience: Journal Entry 7 Chapter 8 Communicative Competence Defining Communicative Competence Language Functions Halliday's Seven Functions of Language Functional Approaches to Language Teaching Discourse Analysis Conversation Analysis Corpus Linguistics Contrastive Rhetoric Pragmatics Sociopragmatics and Pragmalinguistics Language and Gender Discourse Styles Nonverbal Communication Kinesics Eye Contact Proxemics Artifacts Kinesthetics Olfactory Dimensions CC in the Classroom: CLT and Task-Based Teaching Communicative Language Teaching Task-Based Instruction Topics and Questions for Study and Discussion Suggested Readings Language Learning Experience: Journal Entry 8 PART IV. LINGUISTIC FACTORS Chapter 9 Cross-Linguistic Influential and Learner Language The Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis From the CAH to CLI Markedness and Universal Grammar Learner Language Error Analysis Mistakes and Errors Errors in Error Analysis Identifying and Describing Errors Sources of Error Interlingual Transfer Intralingual Transfer Context of Learning Communication Strategies Stages of Learner Language Development Variation in Learner Language Fossilization or Stabilization? Errors in the Classroom: A Brief History Form-Focused Instruction Categories of Error Treatment Effectiveness of FFI Topics and Questions for Study and Discussion Suggested Readings Language Learning Experience: Journal Entry 9 Chapter 10 Toward a Theory of Second Language Acquisition Building a Theory of SLA Domains and Generalizations Hypotheses and Claims Criteria for a Viable Theory Hot Topics in SLA Research Explicit and Implicit Learning Awareness Input and Output Frequency An Innatist Model: Krashen's Input Hypothesis Five Hypotheses Evaluations of the Five Hypotheses The Output Hypothesis Cognitive Models McLaughlin's Attention-Processing Model Implicit and Explicit Models A Social Constructivist Model: Long's Interactive Hypothesis Out on a Limb: A Light-Hearted Horticultural Theory of SLA From Theory to Practice A Reciprocal Relationship, Not a Dichotomy Suggestions for Theory Building The Believing Game and the Doubting Game The Art and Science of SLA The Role of Intuition Topics and Questions for Study and Discussion Suggested Readings Language Learning Experience: Final Journal Entry Bibliography Glossary Index
In 2016, a network of social media accounts animated by Russian operatives attempted to divert political discourse within the American public around the presidential elections. This was a coordinated effort, part of a Russian-led complex information operation. Utilizing the anonymity and outreach of social media platforms Russian operatives created an online astroturf that is in direct contact with regular Americans, promoting Russian agenda and goals. The elusiveness of this type of adversarial approach rendered security agencies helpless, stressing the unique challenges this type of intervention presents. Building on existing scholarship on the functions within influence networks on social media, we suggest a new approach to map those types of operations. We argue that pretending to be legitimate social actors obliges the network to adhere to social expectations, leaving a social footprint. To test the robustness of this social footprint we train artificial intelligence to identify it and create a predictive model. We use Twitter data identified as part of the Russian influence network for training the artificial intelligence and to test the prediction. Our model attains 88% pred
ChatGPT, the AI-powered chatbot with a massive user base of hundreds of millions, has become a global phenomenon. However, the use of Conversational AI Systems (CAISs) like ChatGPT for research in the field of Social Simulation is still limited. Specifically, there is no evidence of its usage in Agent-Based Social Simulation (ABSS) model design. This paper takes a crucial first step toward exploring the untapped potential of this emerging technology in the context of ABSS model design. The research presented here demonstrates how CAISs can facilitate the development of innovative conceptual ABSS models in a concise timeframe and with minimal required upfront case-based knowledge. By employing advanced prompt engineering techniques and adhering to the Engineering ABSS framework, we have constructed a comprehensive prompt script that enables the design of conceptual ABSS models with or by the CAIS. A proof-of-concept application of the prompt script, used to generate the conceptual ABSS model for a case study on the impact of adaptive architecture in a museum environment, illustrates the practicality of the approach. Despite occasional inaccuracies and conversational divergence, the
Using the Scopus dataset (1996-2007) a grand matrix of aggregated journal-journal citations was constructed. This matrix can be compared in terms of the network structures with the matrix contained in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) of the Institute of Scientific Information (ISI). Since the Scopus database contains a larger number of journals and covers also the humanities, one would expect richer maps. However, the matrix is in this case sparser than in the case of the ISI data. This is due to (i) the larger number of journals covered by Scopus and (ii) the historical record of citations older than ten years contained in the ISI database. When the data is highly structured, as in the case of large journals, the maps are comparable, although one may have to vary a threshold (because of the differences in densities). In the case of interdisciplinary journals and journals in the social sciences and humanities, the new database does not add a lot to what is possible with the ISI databases.
In recent months, the social impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has gained considerable public interest, driven by the emergence of Generative AI models, ChatGPT in particular. The rapid development of these models has sparked heated discussions regarding their benefits, limitations, and associated risks. Generative models hold immense promise across multiple domains, such as healthcare, finance, and education, to cite a few, presenting diverse practical applications. Nevertheless, concerns about potential adverse effects have elicited divergent perspectives, ranging from privacy risks to escalating social inequality. This paper adopts a methodology to delve into the societal implications of Generative AI tools, focusing primarily on the case of ChatGPT. It evaluates the potential impact on several social sectors and illustrates the findings of a comprehensive literature review of both positive and negative effects, emerging trends, and areas of opportunity of Generative AI models. This analysis aims to facilitate an in-depth discussion by providing insights that can inspire policy, regulation, and responsible development practices to foster a human-centered AI.
Public engagement (PE) initiatives can lead to a long term public support of science. However most of the real impact of PE initiatives within the context of long-term science policy is not completely understood. An examination of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Hubble Space Telescope, James Webb Space Telescope, and International Sun-Earth Explorer 3 reveal how large grassroots movements led by citizen scientists and space aficionados can have profound effects on public policy. We explore the role and relevance of public grassroots movements in the policy of space astronomy initiatives, present some recent cases which illustrate policy decisions involving broader interest groups, and consider new avenues of PE including crowdfunding and crowdsourcing.
A number of journal classification systems have been developed in bibliometrics since the launch of the Citation Indices by the Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) in the 1960s. These systems are used to normalize citation counts with respect to field-specific citation patterns. The best known system is the so-called "Web-of-Science Subject Categories" (WCs). In other systems papers are classified by algorithmic solutions. Using the Journal Citation Reports 2014 of the Science Citation Index and the Social Science Citation Index (n of journals = 11,149), we examine options for developing a new system based on journal classifications into subject categories using aggregated journal-journal citation data. Combining routines in VOSviewer and Pajek, a tree-like classification is developed. At each level one can generate a map of science for all the journals subsumed under a category. Nine major fields are distinguished at the top level. Further decomposition of the social sciences is pursued for the sake of example with a focus on journals in information science (LIS) and science studies (STS). The new classification system improves on alternative options by avoiding the problem
One of the most important developments over the past three decades has been the spread of liberal economic ideas and policies throughout the world. These policies have affected the lives of millions of people, yet our most sophisticated political economy models do not adequately capture influences on these policy choices. Evidence suggests that the adoption of liberal economic practices is highly clustered both temporally and spatially. We hypothesize that this clustering might be due to processes of policy diffusion. We think of diffusion as resulting from one of two broad sets of forces: one in which mounting adoptions of a policy alter the benefits of adopting for others and another in which adoptions provide policy relevant information about the benefits of adopting. We develop arguments within these broad classes of mechanisms, construct appropriate measures of the relevant concepts, and test their effects on liberalization and restriction of the current account, the capital account, and the exchange rate regime. Our findings suggest that domestic models of foreign economic policy making are insufficient. The evidence shows that policy transitions are influenced by international economic competition as well as the policies of a country's sociocultural peers. We interpret the latter influence as a form of channeled learning reflecting governments' search for appropriate models for economic policy.
BACKGROUND: Although at present there is broad agreement among researchers, health professionals, and policy makers on the need to control and combat health misinformation, the magnitude of this problem is still unknown. Consequently, it is fundamental to discover both the most prevalent health topics and the social media platforms from which these topics are initially framed and subsequently disseminated. OBJECTIVE: This systematic review aimed to identify the main health misinformation topics and their prevalence on different social media platforms, focusing on methodological quality and the diverse solutions that are being implemented to address this public health concern. METHODS: We searched PubMed, MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science for articles published in English before March 2019, with a focus on the study of health misinformation in social media. We defined health misinformation as a health-related claim that is based on anecdotal evidence, false, or misleading owing to the lack of existing scientific knowledge. We included (1) articles that focused on health misinformation in social media, including those in which the authors discussed the consequences or purposes of health misinformation and (2) studies that described empirical findings regarding the measurement of health misinformation on these platforms. RESULTS: A total of 69 studies were identified as eligible, and they covered a wide range of health topics and social media platforms. The topics were articulated around the following six principal categories: vaccines (32%), drugs or smoking (22%), noncommunicable diseases (19%), pandemics (10%), eating disorders (9%), and medical treatments (7%). Studies were mainly based on the following five methodological approaches: social network analysis (28%), evaluating content (26%), evaluating quality (24%), content/text analysis (16%), and sentiment analysis (6%). Health misinformation was most prevalent in studies related to smoking products and drugs such as opioids and marijuana. Posts with misinformation reached 87% in some studies. Health misinformation about vaccines was also very common (43%), with the human papilloma virus vaccine being the most affected. Health misinformation related to diets or pro-eating disorder arguments were moderate in comparison to the aforementioned topics (36%). Studies focused on diseases (ie, noncommunicable diseases and pandemics) also reported moderate misinformation rates (40%), especially in the case of cancer. Finally, the lowest levels of health misinformation were related to medical treatments (30%). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of health misinformation was the highest on Twitter and on issues related to smoking products and drugs. However, misinformation on major public health issues, such as vaccines and diseases, was also high. Our study offers a comprehensive characterization of the dominant health misinformation topics and a comprehensive description of their prevalence on different social media platforms, which can guide future studies and help in the development of evidence-based digital policy action plans.
A social network confers benefits and advantages on individuals (and on groups), the literature refers to these advantages as social capital. This paper presents a micro-founded mathematical model of the evolution of a social network and of the social capital of individuals within the network. The evolution of the network is influenced by the extent to which individuals are homophilic, structurally opportunistic, socially gregarious and by the distribution of types in the society. In the analysis, we identify different kinds of social capital: bonding capital, popularity capital, and bridging capital. Bonding capital is created by forming a circle of connections, homophily increases bonding capital because it makes this circle of connections more homogeneous. Popularity capital leads to preferential attachment: individuals who become popular tend to become more popular because others are more likely to link to them. Homophily creates asymmetries in the levels of popularity attained by different social groups, more gregarious types of agents are more likely to become popular. However, in homophilic societies, individuals who belong to less gregarious, less opportunistic, or major ty
This paper proposes Bayesian Adaptive Trials (BAT) as both an efficient method to conduct trials and a unifying framework for evaluation social policy interventions, addressing limitations inherent in traditional methods such as Randomized Controlled Trials (RCT). Recognizing the crucial need for evidence-based approaches in public policy, the proposal aims to lower barriers to the adoption of evidence-based methods and align evaluation processes more closely with the dynamic nature of policy cycles. BATs, grounded in decision theory, offer a dynamic, ``learning as we go'' approach, enabling the integration of diverse information types and facilitating a continuous, iterative process of policy evaluation. BATs' adaptive nature is particularly advantageous in policy settings, allowing for more timely and context-sensitive decisions. Moreover, BATs' ability to value potential future information sources positions it as an optimal strategy for sequential data acquisition during policy implementation. While acknowledging the assumptions and models intrinsic to BATs, such as prior distributions and likelihood functions, the paper argues that these are advantageous for decision-makers in
The importance of social trust has become widely accepted in the social sciences. A number of explanations have been put forward for the stark variation in social trust among countries. Among these, participation in voluntary associations received most attention. Yet there is scant evidence that participation can lead to trust. In this article, the authors examine a variable that has not gotten the attention it deserves in the discussion about the sources of generalized trust, namely, equality. They conceptualize equality along two dimensions: economic equality and equality of opportunity. The omission of both these dimensions of equality in the social capital literature is peculiar for several reasons. First, it is obvious that the countries that score highest on social trust also rank highest on economic equality, namely, the Nordic countries, the Netherlands, and Canada. Second, these countries have put a lot of effort in creating equality of opportunity, not least in regard to their policies for public education, health care, labor market opportunities, and (more recently) gender equality. The argument for increasing social trust by reducing inequality has largely been ignored in the policy debates about social trust. Social capital research has to a large extent been used by several governments and policy organizations to send a message to people that the bad things in their society are caused by too little volunteering. The policy implications that follow from the authors' research is that the low levels of trust and social capital that plague many countries are caused by too little government action to reduce inequality. However, many countries with low levels of social trust and social capital may be stuck in what is known as a social trap . The logic of such a situation is the following. Social trust will not increase because massive social inequality prevails, but the public policies that could remedy this situation cannot be established precisely because there is a genuine lack of trust. This lack of trust concerns both “other people” and the government institutions that are needed to implement universal policies.
Using "Analyze Results" at the Web of Science, one can directly generate overlays onto global journal maps of science. The maps are based on the 10,000+ journals contained in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) of the Science and Social Science Citation Indices (2011). The disciplinary diversity of the retrieval is measured in terms of Rao-Stirling's "quadratic entropy." Since this indicator of interdisciplinarity is normalized between zero and one, the interdisciplinarity can be compared among document sets and across years, cited or citing. The colors used for the overlays are based on Blondel et al.'s (2008) community-finding algorithms operating on the relations journals included in JCRs. The results can be exported from VOSViewer with different options such as proportional labels, heat maps, or cluster density maps. The maps can also be web-started and/or animated (e.g., using PowerPoint). The "citing" dimension of the aggregated journal-journal citation matrix was found to provide a more comprehensive description than the matrix based on the cited archive. The relations between local and global maps and their different functions in studying the sciences in terms of journal lit