Search results

This paper presents a review of the state of the art on the application of blockchain and smart contracts to the peer-review process of scientific papers. The paper seeks to analyse how the main characteristics of the existing blockchain solutions in this field to detect opportunities for the improvement of future applications.

A systematic review of the literature on the subject was carried out in three databases recognized by the research community (IEEE Xplore, Scopus and Web of Science) and the Frontiers in Blockchain journal. A total of 1,967 articles were initially found, and after the exclusion process, the 26 remaining articles were classified according to the following dimensions: System Type, Open Access, Review Type, Reviewer Incentive, Token Economy, Blockchain Access, Blockchain Identification, Blockchain Used, Paper Storage, Anonymity and Maturity of the solution.

Results show that the solutions are normally concerned on offering incentives to the reviewers' work (often monetary). Other common general preferences among the solutions are the adoption of open reviews, the use of Ethereum, the implementation of publishing ecosystems and the use of InterPlanetary File System to the storage of the papers.

There are currently no studies covering the main aspects of blockchain solutions in the field of scientific peer review. The present study provides an overall review of the topic, summarizing important information on the current research and helping new adopters to develop solutions grounded on the existing literature.

The purpose of the paper is to showcase the significant achievements of Egypt's scientists in the 20th century across various fields of study such as medicine, physics, chemistry, biology, math, geology, astronomy and engineering. The paper highlights the struggles and successes of these scientists, as well as the cultural, social and political factors that influenced their lives and work. The aim is to inspire young people to pursue careers in science and make their own contributions to society by presenting these scientists as role models for hard work and dedication. Ultimately, the paper seeks to promote the importance of science and its impact on society.

The purpose of this review is to present the scientific biographies of Egypt's most distinguished scientists, primarily in the field of Natural Sciences, in a balanced and comprehensive manner. The work is objective, honest and abstract, avoiding any bias or exaggeration. The author provides a clear and concise methodology, including a brief introduction to the scientist and their field of study, an explanation of their major contributions, the impact of their work on society, any challenges or obstacles faced during their career and their lasting legacy. The aim is to showcase the important achievements of these scientists, their impact on their respective fields and to inspire future generations to pursue scientific careers.

The group of outstanding scientists in 20th century Egypt were shaped by various factors, including familial upbringing, education, society, political and cultural atmosphere and state support for scientific research. These scientists made significant contributions to various academic disciplines, including medicine, physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics and engineering. Their impact on their communities and cultures has received international acclaim, making them role models for future generations of scientists and researchers. The history of these scientists highlights the importance of educational investments and supporting scientific research to foster innovation and social progress. The encyclopedia serves as a useful tool for students, instructors and education professionals, preserving Egypt's scientific heritage and honouring the scientists' outstanding accomplishments.

The encyclopedia preserves Egypt's scientific heritage, which has been overlooked for political or other reasons. It is a useful tool for a variety of readers, including students, instructors and education professionals, and it offers insights into universally relevant scientific success factors as well as scientific research methodologies. The encyclopedia honours the outstanding scientific accomplishments of Egyptian researchers and their contributions to the world's scientific community.

The practical implications of this paper are several. First, it highlights the importance of education, family upbringing and societal support for scientific research in fostering innovation and social progress. Second, it underscores the need for continued funding and support for scientific research to maintain and build upon the accomplishments of past generations of scientists. Third, it encourages young people to pursue scientific careers and make their own contributions to society. Fourth, it preserves the scientific heritage of Egypt and honors the contributions of its outstanding scientists. Finally, it serves as a useful tool for students, instructors and education professionals seeking to understand the factors underlying scientific success and research methodologies.

The social implications of the paper include promoting national pride and cultural identity, raising awareness of the importance of education and scientific research in driving social progress, inspiring future generations of scientists and researchers, reducing socioeconomic disparities and emphasizing the role of society, politics and culture in shaping scientific researchers' personalities and interests.

The paper's originality/value lies in its comprehensive documentation of the scientific biographies of Egypt's most prominent scientists in the 20th century, providing unique insights into the factors that contributed to their development and their impact across various academic disciplines. It preserves Egypt's scientific heritage and inspires future generations of scientists and researchers through the promotion of educational investments and scientific research. The encyclopedia serves as a useful tool for education professionals seeking to understand scientific success factors and research methodologies, emphasizing the importance of supportive and inclusive environments for scientific development.

The current study aims to map the scientific output of grey literature (GL) through bibliometric approaches.

The source for data extraction is a comprehensive “indexing and abstracting” database, “Web of Science” (WOS). A lexical title search was applied to get the corpus of the study – a total of 4,599 articles were extracted for data analysis and visualisation. Further, the data were analysed by using the data analytical tools, R-studio and VOSViewer.

The findings showed that the “publications” have substantially grown up during the timeline. The most productive phase (2018–2021) resulted in 47% of articles. The prominent sources were PLOS One and NeuroImage. The highest number of papers were contributed by Haddaway and Kumar. The most relevant countries were the USA and UK.

The study is useful for researchers interested in the GL research domain. The study helps to understand the evolution of the GL to provide research support further in this area.

The present study provides a new orientation to the scholarly output of the GL. The study is rigorous and all-inclusive based on analytical operations like the research networks, collaboration and visualisation. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this manuscript is original, and no similar works have been found with the research objectives included here.

Organizational happiness has received exponential attention in recent years. To offer an over-view for future research gap, this article produces a comprehensive review by combining bibliometric analysis and interviews to key authors in the field. The main objective of this paper is to show the state of research regarding the environment in the management of happiness in organizations: the evolution of scientific activity, current trends in authorship, topics and future setting research agenda.

The methodological process focuses on a mixed method. A systematic review of the relevant literature; bibliometric analysis and network mapping in the Web of Science and Scopus data-bases; bibliometric network analysis of authorship, citation and co-occurrence of key words in scientific publications.

The results reveal that happiness management is gaining importance and, moreover, more than half of the publications about happiness management are related to the environment in which the organizations are immersed. Therefore, the study provides some research directions and insists on role of environment to better understand the theoretical and practical perspectives. Likewise, bibliometric analysis and interviews allow to measure quality, impact, productivity and scientific evolution which are increasingly valued in order to identify the main concepts and topics that are considered key, drivers of research and those gaps that should be addressed in future research work for the conceptual framework of happiness management in organizations.

Conclusions are drawn that promoting corporate social responsibility strategies, aimed at fostering sustainability and care for the environment result in the well-being of organizations and the performance of their workers are highlighted.

Hospital structures serve to protect and improve public health; however, they are recognized as a major source of environmental degradation. Thus, an effective performance evaluation framework is required to improve hospital sustainability. In this context, this study presents a holistic methodology that integrates the sustainability balanced scorecard (SBSC) with fuzzy Delphi method and fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making approaches for evaluating the sustainability performance of hospitals.

Initially, a comprehensive list of relevant sustainability evaluation criteria was considered based on six SBSC-based dimensions, in line with triple-bottom-line sustainability dimensions, and derived from the literature review and experts’ opinions. Then, the weights of perspectives and their respective criteria are computed and ranked utilizing the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process. Subsequently, the hospitals’ sustainable performance values are ranked based on these criteria using the Fuzzy Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution.

A numerical application was conducted in six public hospitals to exhibit the proposed model’s applicability. The results of this study revealed that “Patient satisfaction,” “Efficiency,” “Effectiveness,” “Access to care” and “Waste production,” respectively, are the five most important criteria of sustainable performance.

The new model will provide decision-makers with management tools that may help them identify the relevant factors for upgrading the level of sustainability in their hospitals and thus improve public health and community well-being.

This is the first study that proposes a new hybrid decision-making methodology for evaluating and comparing hospitals’ sustainability performance under a fuzzy environment.

This paper aims to provide an overview of the application of blockchain to agri-food supply chains, including key issues and trends. It examines the state of the art and conceptual structure of the field and proposes an agenda to guide future research.

This article performs a bibliometric analysis using VOSviewer software on a sample of 205 articles from the WoS database to identify research trend topics.

The number of publications in this area has increased since 2020, which shows a growing research interest. The research hotspots are related to the integration of blockchain technology in the agri-food supply chain for traceability, coordination between all actors involved, transparency of operations and improvement of food safety. Furthermore, this is linked to sustainability and the achievement of the sustainable development gtoals (SDGs), while addressing key challenges in the implementation of blockchain-based technologies in the agri-food supply chain.

The application of blockchain in the agri-food supply chain may consider four key aspects. Firstly, the implementation of blockchain can improve the traceability of food products. Secondly, this technology supports sustainability issues and could avoid disruptions in the agri-food supply chain. Third, blockchain improves food quality and safety control throughout the supply chain. Fourthly, the findings show that regulation is needed to improve trust between stakeholders.

The paper provides a comprehensive overview of the blockchain phenomenon in the agri-food supply chain by optimising the search criteria. Moreover, it serves to bridge to future research by identifying gaps in the field.

The purpose of this study is to develop research questions and explore industry expert perceptions related to the process of transformative changes in post-COVID-19 gastronomy and wine tourism.

To achieve this purpose, the authors applied individual and collective brainwriting techniques using the digital whiteboard, Mural. The research questions were answered within Mural's Sailboat template, which helped industry experts describe four situational areas and their symbolic elements. These included transformative change – the island, strategies – the wind, challenges – the anchors and strengths – the coral. The exploration was conducted across interpersonal, organisational and intra-destination levels.

This study results yielded a know-how framework that synthesised the insights of industry experts. The framework underscores the importance of a sequential approach to embrace transformative change to mindsets, practices and systems. It also advocates strategies (new leadership style, business solutions and community empowerment), potential challenges (self-doubt, established organisational culture and inertia within large systems) and leveraging industry strengths (personality traits, human resources and organisational interdependence) to effectively navigate the evolving gastronomy and wine tourism environment.

This paper represents a pioneering effort in assessing the key areas in the gastronomy and wine business and drawing parallels to the essential levels of transformation required to effectively cope with upcoming uncertainties.

本研究的目的是提出研究问题并探讨行业专家对新冠肺炎 (COVID-19) 后美食和葡萄酒旅游变革过程的看法。

为了实现这一目的, 作者利用数字白板、壁画应用了个人和集体的脑力书写技术。 研究问题在 Mural 的帆船模板中得到了解答, 该模板帮助行业专家描述了四个情景区域及其象征元素。 其中包括变革 – 岛屿、策略 - 风、挑战 - 锚点和优势 - 珊瑚。 探索是在人际、组织和目的地内部层面进行的。

研究结果产生了一个综合了行业专家见解的专业知识框架。 该框架强调了采用顺序方法来拥抱思维方式、实践和系统变革的重要性。 它还倡导战略（新的领导风格、业务解决方案和社区赋权）、潜在的挑战（自我怀疑、既定的组织文化和大型系统内的惰性）, 并利用行业优势（个性特征、人力资源、组织相互依赖）来 有效驾驭不断变化的美食和葡萄酒旅游环境。

本文代表了通过了解有效应对新的不确定性所需的转型水平来评估美食和葡萄酒行业关键形势领域的开创性努力。

La finalidad de este estudio fue desarrollar preguntas de investigación y explorar las percepciones de los expertos de la industria relacionadas con el proceso de cambios transformadores en la gastronomía y el enoturismo post-COVID-19.

Para lograr este objetivo, los autores aplicaron técnicas de escritura de ideas individuales y colectivas utilizando la pizarra digital Mural. Las preguntas de investigación fueron respondidas dentro de la plantilla Sailboat de Mural, que ayudó a los expertos de la industria a describir cuatro áreas situacionales y sus elementos simbólicos. Estos incluían cambios transformadores (la isla), estrategias (el viento), desafíos (las anclas) y fortalezas (el coral). La exploración se llevó a cabo a nivel interpersonal, organizacional e intradestino.

Los resultados de la investigación generaron un marco de conocimientos que sintetizó los conocimientos de los expertos de la industria. El marco subraya la importancia de un enfoque secuencial para adoptar cambios transformadores en mentalidades, prácticas y sistemas. También aboga por estrategias (nuevo estilo de liderazgo, soluciones empresariales y empoderamiento de la comunidad), desafíos potenciales (inseguridad, cultura organizacional establecida e inercia dentro de grandes sistemas) y aprovechar las fortalezas de la industria (rasgos de personalidad, recursos humanos, interdependencia organizacional) para navegar eficazmente en el cambiante entorno de la gastronomía y el enoturismo.

este artículo representa un esfuerzo pionero en la evaluación de áreas situacionales clave en los negocios de la gastronomía y enología al comprender los niveles de transformación necesarios para hacer frente de manera efectiva a las nuevas incertidumbres.

The purpose of this paper is to provide scholars with a robust, easy-to-follow structural model for crafting compelling academic publications. Recognizing the diversity of research methodologies and genres, the paper proposes the symmetry of specificity framework as a guide to maintaining coherence, depth and relevance across different sections of an academic paper.

This paper presents a theoretical framework – “symmetry of specificity” – through an iterative approach inspired by supervision and examination of theses, writing and reviewing research papers and editorial work. The framework builds upon the established IMRAD model and uses the concept of symmetry to explain the structural elements of academic publications. Its unique contribution lies in elucidating the two-dimensional funneling process that takes place within academic writing, and providing a nuanced understanding of how to maintain balance between different sections.

The symmetry of specificity framework introduces a novel perspective on academic writing, emphasizing the concept of “symmetry in specificity”. It shows how maintaining a balance in detail and focus across different sections of a research paper can significantly enhance its coherence and relevance. By elucidating the interaction between theory and data in research writing, it provides valuable insights into the nuances of crafting a compelling academic paper.

While the proposed symmetry of specificity framework may not be universally applicable across all types of research, it provides a solid foundation for the development of alternate structures tailored to specific research paradigms. There is ample opportunity for future research to explore adaptations of this model for various types of academic writing, offering a fresh perspective on structuring academic publications and potentially sparking new discussions and innovations in this realm.

This framework can aid both novice and experienced scholars in structuring their research papers effectively. By offering a conceptual roadmap, it guides the writer through the complex process of academic writing, from crafting the methodology and analysis sections to articulating compelling conclusions. Thus, it serves as a useful tool in enhancing the quality and impact of research communication.

This paper presents a unique approach to structuring academic publications that goes beyond the conventional IMRAD model. By offering a theory-based structural model, it contributes to an underexplored area in academic writing and opens up new avenues for pedagogy and practice in research communication.

Academics and practitioners are increasingly discussing the role of crowdsourcing initiatives in dealing with the challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, along with their role in an emergency context in general. However, empirical evidence about the role of crowdsourcing initiatives in an emergency context is still scarce. This paper aims to address this gap in knowledge.

The authors adopted an inductive approach to investigate how companies leveraged crowdsourcing initiatives to address the issues posed by COVID-19. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The selection of the interviewees was based on a purposive sampling strategy. Data were analysed through thematic analysis.

The analysis led to the identification and examination of drivers (e.g. preserving relationships with customers), advantages (e.g. increased demand for services) and disadvantages (e.g. increased platform cost) of implementing crowdsourcing initiatives during COVID-19. By leveraging the findings, this paper suggests future research opportunities. Relevant future research opportunities include: (1) quantitatively evaluating the economic impact of crowdsourcing initiatives during a disruptive event and (2) examining how the sector in which the company operates influences the beneficial and detrimental effects of crowdsourcing initiatives on company performance.

The involvement of crowds as innovation partners has provided unique opportunities for companies to innovate and address the challenging scenario. The scientific literature about the role of crowdsourcing during COVID-19 is growing. However, there is still a scarcity of empirical evidence about the mechanisms underpinning the use of crowdsourcing during the pandemic. By leveraging semi-structured interviews, this paper addresses this relevant gap in knowledge.

This study aims to establish a reliable index to identify interdisciplinary breakthrough innovation effectively. We constructed a new index, the D_Div index, for this purpose.

The D_Div index incorporates the degree of interdisciplinarity in the breakthrough index. To validate the index, a data set combining the publication records and citations of Nobel Prize laureates was divided into experimental and control groups. The validation methods included sensitivity analysis, correlation analysis and effectiveness analysis.

The sensitivity analysis demonstrated the D_Div index’s ability to differentiate interdisciplinary breakthrough papers from various categories of papers. This index not only retains the strengths of the existing index in identifying breakthrough innovation but also captures interdisciplinary characteristics. The correlation analysis revealed a significant correlation (correlation coefficient = 0.555) between the interdisciplinary attributes of scientific research and the occurrence of breakthrough innovation. The effectiveness analysis showed that the D_Div index reached the highest prediction accuracy of 0.8. Furthermore, the D_Div index outperforms the traditional DI index in terms of accuracy when it comes to identifying interdisciplinary breakthrough innovation.

This study proposed a practical and effective index that combines interdisciplinary and disruptive dimensions for detecting interdisciplinary breakthrough innovation. The identification and measurement of interdisciplinary breakthrough innovation play a crucial role in facilitating the integration of multidisciplinary knowledge, thereby accelerating the scientific breakthrough process.