Citation justice: wield your power with care

Citations have power. They are “an act of acknowledgement that affirms humanity by recognising the importance of individual and collective contributions to the world” (Christen Smith, in a 2022 webinar). Who is cited in the research literature demonstrates the importance that we place on the contributions those researchers have made. And this is explicitly recognised by the use of citation metrics in research assessments globally.

Sadly, women and people of colour are consistently under-cited, with the disadvantages magnified for those from multiple under-represented groups. The work of white men is more visible in the literature, resulting in even more citations through a Matthew effect while the work of those from under-represented groups is effectively suppressed.

The only way to change this is for individual researchers to practice citation justice, and to use their influence on the wider systematic and institutional culture. As well as uplifting the voices of those who have been traditionally under-represented, the overall quality of research will be improved by ensuring the full range of previous literature has been taking into account.

• Carry out a rigorous literature search, across a range of databases, including those which cover research from the Global South.
• When you find good research from a researcher in an under-represented group, share it with your networks to amplify their voice.
• Keep citation justice in mind when citing others’ work. Are you citing something because it is genuinely the most relevant citation for you, or is it just a well-known and well-cited paper in your field?
• Examine the way you talk about the work you are citing. Do you discuss the work of researchers from some groups differently (in tone, criticism) to others?
• Consider including a citation diversity statement in your next manuscript for publication. For more information and some representative examples, see Citation Diversity Statement in BMES Journals.

There is lots of great work going on around citation justice at the moment. Explore some of these resources for further ideas on how to practice citation justice in your research, and for discussion of the wider issues:

• The LSE blog post on aspirational metrics – a guide for working towards citational justice
• The Maastricht University Citation Guide from Female Empowerment Maastricht University (FEM)
•  Cite Black Women
• The blog post Citational politics from The Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research (CLEAR)

How will you embody citation justice in your research practice? How will you influence the citation practice of others in your field?

Promoting STEM for Britain

Paris Pasqualin, a PGR in the Department of Civil Engineering, was recently selected to be a finalist in a prestigious national competition designed to connect early-stage researchers with Members of the Houses of Parliament. In this post, he shares his experience.

As a finalist of the STEM for Britain 2023 poster competition, I had the opportunity to showcase part of my PhD project at the House of Commons on Monday 6 March 2023. My poster’s title was “ADDRESSING WATER AND FOOD SCARCITY THROUGH A NOVEL SYSTEM FOR GREENHOUSES, EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION AND MODEL PREDICTIONS” and focused on a technology that can recover almost 100% of the freshwater required by greenhouses, thus representing a solution to water scarcity. This is important because globally, agriculture accounts for around 70% of annual freshwater utilisation.

Paris standing with his poster in the House of Commons.

This was my first poster presentation, so I did not know what to expect. After putting up my poster, I was struck by the chaos and noise created by people trying to overcome other people’s conversations.

I had some visitors from the industry who were interested in sustainable agriculture and found my work impressive, especially considering the UK’s tomato shortage after the high energy cost of greenhouses in Spain due to the colder weather and inflation. I also had the honour of being visited by the MP for Bristol West, Thangam Debbonaire, who found my research could benefit England since, excluding public water supply, East of England is estimated to require more than 60% of their freshwater for agriculture.

Once the judging session started, the chaos intensified even more. During the judging session, we were required to stand in front of our posters for an hour and a half and wait for the judges to come. The rules stated that we would be visited by at least two judges, but I received none until five minutes before the end of the judging session. The judges then rushed me to finish as quickly as possible. Considering that this was a competition, I believe that I was not treated fairly compared to other participants. For example, I noticed that one participant next to me discussed their research with one of the judges for 15 minutes.

I really hope that future participants will have only good memories from the event, and I sent an email to the organisers suggesting some rules to be considered, such as allowing the same time for every participant to present their work. They replied, saying that they will ensure that what happened to me will not happen again.

This experience taught me that we cannot always expect everything to go smoothly, and that when things don’t go as planned, it’s important to keep doing our best. Despite the turndowns, I found encouragement from the visitors who were interested in my research, showing me that my PhD is headed in the right direction.

Crisis And Repair: Our Small Act of Reuniting the Academic Community

Matthew Bruce, a Part-Time PGR in French Studies at the University of Birmingham, describes organising the University of Birmingham Languages, Cultures, Art, History and Music (LCAHM) Postgraduate Conference, which took place in May 2022.

At the start of the 2021-22 academic year, a fellow postgraduate, Ben Griffiths, asked if I would be interested in participating in the team which would run the University of Birmingham LCAHM Postgraduate Conference 2022. I was used to seeing swathes of students populating campus and participating in various events and functions in those now mythic pre-pandemic times. However, despite lockdown measures having ended, campus still seemed fairly inert as many people were still remote working/distance learning, and other students who were in situ were still understandably cautious about social mixing. Looking ahead to a brighter academic year, I jumped at the chance of participating in the organisation of a conference which would hopefully take place physically.

Matthew presenting at the LCAHM Postgraduate Conference in May 2022

Over several months, our team had Zoom meetings, during which we set up a call-for-papers with the theme, “Crisis and Repair”, which appropriately reflected the times we were still living through. We sought to publicise this call-for-papers through social media, as well as physical notices on campus (still a tried-and-true method in this day and age). My team and I had also decided to make this conference a ‘hybrid’ event, so as not to exclude anyone.

The Opportunities of Teaching in Secondary Schools as a PhD Student

Frankie Morgan is a final year PhD student in the School of Languages, Cultures, Art History and Music. Her doctoral research focusses on the intertwining of social media and the visual culture of contemporary feminisms and the intergenerational relationship between feminist waves. Alongside her PhD she is also a PhD tutor for The Brilliant Club. Here she shares her experiences.

The Brilliant Club is an award-winning university access charity delivering multiple programmes across the UK, supporting less advantaged students to access the most competitive universities, and to succeed when they get there. They have worked with over 20,000 pupils in non-selective state schools in the UK each year both online and in-person and to date, they have worked with over 2,000 researchers driven to tackle educational inequality and share their knowledge and passion for learning with less advantaged students.

Remaining Engaged in Research and Outreach

Lizzie Driscoll is a PGR in the School of Chemistry and a winner of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s 2021 Inspirational Member Award. In this post she shares her experience of outreach and science education and how she has balanced this alongside her research.

If you can’t explain your research to a non-scientific audience, do you really understand your research?

My name is Lizzie, I’m on the final hurdle of my PhD studies within Chemistry (the viva to go!), and I’m going to discuss the Birmingham Battery Bunch’s outreach efforts, the highs, the lows and how this “procrastination” paid off (a comment made when this work was awarded an Institutional award for these efforts – hurtful at best).

I’ve been at the University since 2013 – I’m now a Research Fellow in the School of Metallurgy and Materials with Prof. Emma Kendrick. In starting my PhD, Dr Ruth Patchett joined the School of Chemistry as the outreach liaison officer – and with the support of Prof. Peter Slater (Pete; my PhD supervisor) our battery outreach work started with a Jenga set to explain how Li-ion batteries work – this involved approximately 20 hours of painting the set in my own time.

Lizzie takes her Li-ion battery Jenga sets into schools.

Spotlight on the RDF: “Teaching”

In one of our occasional series of “Spotlight on…” posts, we take a closer look at a specific descriptor from the RDF. Each one of the sixty-three descriptors in Vitae‘s Researcher Development Framework (RDF) is a characteristic of an excellent researcher, and we’ll be looking at how UoB PGRs can develop these characteristics.

From talking to PGRs, it’s clear that many view teaching as an important supplement to research activity. The extra money is always useful, and teaching is also about developing skills for the future, both specific (teaching in higher education) and transferable (organisation, communication, leadership, problem-solving, and more). However, in UK higher education, and particularly in a research-led institution like the University of Birmingham, research and teaching are inextricably linked, with each feeding off the other to the benefit of both. Whether you have the time or the inclination to accept a postgraduate teaching assistant position or not, it’s worth reflecting on the role of teaching within your research activity.

Photo by Christina Morillo on Pexels.com

Academia & Entrepreneurship: what it’s like to run a business while doing your PhD

Frankie Lewns, a PGR in the School of Dentistry, and Paris Lalousis, a PGR in the School of Psychology, have started a business alongside their research programme. In this post, they share the secrets of their success! For more from Frankie and Paris, register for the next UGS Talks: Postgrads Being Enterprising.

It all started with the opportunity to solve a real-life challenge for a client through the University of Birmingham Virtual Consultancy Challenge, an online training programme and competition for Postgraduate Researchers. Our client was the Centre for Mental Health, and our challenge was to find a policy or practice to help small businesses support and improve their employee’s mental wellbeing. Upon winning the challenge, we decided to further develop the idea and cue the birth of Bloomwise! We help businesses create a space where their workers’ mental health can flourish, and our mission is to instil a fundamental cultural change for mental health in communities. We do this by providing a Mental Health Plan™ for businesses and workshops for both businesses and communities. The Mental Health Plan™ can be thought of like a business plan, but instead of business objectives, aims and goals – it’s all things mental health. We want to address the stigma around poor mental health at work, encouraging open and honest conversations about mental health in the workplace.

Celebrating the Lunar New Year, connecting with the PGR Community

This 1^st February will be the Lunar New Year’s Day, a major festival that will be celebrated in most East Asian countries. In this post, Buxi Duan, an international PGR in the Department of English Literature and a Westmere Scholar, shares his recollections and expectations.

Speaking of the upcoming Lunar New Year/Chinese New Year, most of my friends are planning to celebrate it by having a good dinner and FaceTiming with their parents. Similar to Christmas, Lunar New Year also means family reunion. However, I’ve never thought that this would be my fourth Lunar New Year in the UK.

Lunar New Year decorations at the Arcadian Centre in Birmingham.
Photo credit: Tony Hisgett

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De-colonizing: emphasizing the universality of the university

Reading the workshop title “De-colonizing: past and present”, I am sure that several participants had a rough guess that it was centered around discussing historical realities of colonized nations. But I am also certain that many, like me, were amazed at the understanding that beyond the initial idea is a whole new perspective that exports the concept of de-colonization and applies it to academic endeavors such as impactful research and development of academic curricula, giving an opportunity to rethink research and taught patterns of university courses. This workshop underlined two very important aspects: de-colonizing research and de-colonizing curricula.

De-colonizing asks us to examine assumptions regarding racial and civilizational hierarchy which in the past informed a lot of thinking about how the world worked, what was worth studying in it, and how it should be studied.  SOAS blog