IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v11y2024i1d10.1057_s41599-024-03821-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Emerging landscapes of “alternative-academic” careers in library and information science: Evolutionary patterns and prospects in the Chinese context

Author

Listed:
  • Ye Tian

    (National Taiwan University)

  • Kuang-Hua Chen

    (National Taiwan University)

Abstract

This study investigated the emerging landscape of alternative-academic careers in the field of library and information science in China using text mining techniques on a dataset of 7832 job postings from 334 institutions between 2016 and 2023. The findings revealed that alternative-academic positions are widely distributed across academic, cultural, governmental, and commercial institutions, with a growing presence in interdisciplinary and applied research domains. The results highlight the emergence of four distinct functional types: resource construction, academic services, intelligence research, and social functions. Alternative-academic roles have evolved towards greater professionalization, specialization, and collaboration, reflecting the shifting demands of the digital information landscape.

Suggested Citation

  • Ye Tian & Kuang-Hua Chen, 2024. "Emerging landscapes of “alternative-academic” careers in library and information science: Evolutionary patterns and prospects in the Chinese context," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:11:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-024-03821-9
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-024-03821-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-024-03821-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-024-03821-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:pal:palcom:v:2016:y:2016:i:palcomms201657:p:16057- is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Stacy Konkiel, 2016. "Altmetrics: diversifying the understanding of influential scholarship," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 2(1), pages 1-7, December.
    3. Richard C. Larson & Navid Ghaffarzadegan & Yi Xue, 2014. "Too Many PhD Graduates or Too Few Academic Job Openings: The Basic Reproductive Number R0 in Academia," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(6), pages 745-750, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ghaffarzadegan, Navid & Xue, Yi & Larson, Richard C., 2017. "Work-education mismatch: An endogenous theory of professionalization," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 261(3), pages 1085-1097.
    2. Hyungjo Hur & Maryam A Andalib & Julie A Maurer & Joshua D Hawley & Navid Ghaffarzadegan, 2017. "Recent trends in the U.S. Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (BSSR) workforce," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(2), pages 1-18, February.
    3. Jeongeun Kim & Molly Ott & Lindsey Dippold, 2020. "University and Department Influences on Scientists’ Occupational Outcomes," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 61(2), pages 197-228, March.
    4. Sucharita Ghosh & Emanuele Grassi, 2020. "Overeducation and overskilling in the early careers of PhD graduates: Does international migration reduce labour market mismatch?," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 99(4), pages 915-944, August.
    5. Navid Ghaffarzadegan & Richard C. Larson, 2018. "SD meets OR: a new synergy to address policy problems," System Dynamics Review, System Dynamics Society, vol. 34(1-2), pages 327-353, January.
    6. Barbara Ermini & Luca Papi & Francesca Scaturro, 2016. "Over-education among italian Ph.D. graduates. Does the crisis make a difference?," Mo.Fi.R. Working Papers 126, Money and Finance Research group (Mo.Fi.R.) - Univ. Politecnica Marche - Dept. Economic and Social Sciences.
    7. Jiale Yang & Qing Wu & Chuanyi Wang, 2022. "Research networks and the initial placement of PhD holders in academia: evidence from social science fields," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(6), pages 3253-3278, June.
    8. Smirnova, Inna & Shannon, Austin & Teplitskiy, Misha, 2025. "The effect of trainee career intentions on mentor's interest in the trainee: Experimental evidence from academia," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(5).
    9. Balietti, Stefano & Riedl, Christoph, 2021. "Incentives, competition, and inequality in markets for creative production," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(4).
    10. Santos, João M. & Horta, Hugo & Heitor, Manuel, 2016. "Too many PhDs? An invalid argument for countries developing their scientific and academic systems: The case of Portugal," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 113(PB), pages 352-362.
    11. Danielle Lee, 2024. "Exploring the determinants of research performance for early-career researchers: a literature review," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 129(1), pages 181-235, January.
    12. Navid Ghaffarzadegan & Ran Xu, 2018. "Late retirement, early careers, and the aging of U.S. science and engineering professors," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(12), pages 1-16, December.
    13. Jason Brennan & Phillip Magness, 2018. "Estimating the Cost of Justice for Adjuncts: A Case Study in University Business Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 148(1), pages 155-168, March.
    14. Clara Boothby & Staša Milojević, 2021. "An exploratory full-text analysis of Science Careers in a changing academic job market," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(5), pages 4055-4071, May.
    15. Shmatko, Natalia & Katchanov, Yurij & Volkova, Galina, 2020. "The value of PhD in the changing world of work: Traditional and alternative research careers," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    16. Navid Ghaffarzadegan & Richard Larson & Joshua Hawley, 2017. "Education as a Complex System," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(3), pages 211-215, May.
    17. Sofia Moratti, 2020. "Do Low-Openness, Low-Transparency Procedures in Academic Hiring Disadvantage Women?," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-13, May.
    18. Hyungjo Hur & Navid Ghaffarzadegan & Joshua Hawley, 2015. "Effects of Government Spending on Research Workforce Development: Evidence from Biomedical Postdoctoral Researchers," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(5), pages 1-16, May.
    19. Elissa L. Perry & Carol T. Kulik & David B. Mendelsohn & DaHee Shon, 2022. "Faculty Gender Diversity, Institutional Performance, and the Role of Diversity Climate," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 63(7), pages 1204-1236, November.
    20. repec:cdl:cshedu:qt4s08b4jx is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Saeed-Ul Hassan & Sehrish Iqbal & Naif R. Aljohani & Salem Alelyani & Alesia Zuccala, 2020. "Introducing the ‘alt-index’ for measuring the social visibility of scientific research," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 123(3), pages 1407-1419, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:11:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-024-03821-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.nature.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.