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SIG USE Early Career Best Paper Award

Submissions due June 30, 2024!

The SIG USE Early Career Best Paper Award was established in 2020 and is administered by the SIG USE Awards Committee. It is sponsored by SIG USE.

  1. Nature of the Award

1.1 The award shall consist of a Certificate for the winning author (and each co-author) and a check for $600. In exceptional circumstances, the Jury may award up to two “Certificates of Merit.”

  1. Purpose of the Award

2.1 The purpose of the award is to recognize the best paper presented at the Annual ASIST Conference that falls within the scope of information behavior written by an early career scholar. Information behavior is broadly defined to include how people construct, need, seek, manage, give, and use information in different contexts.

  1. Eligibility

3.1 The first author of the winning paper must be a member of SIG USE at the time of application.

3.2 The first author of the winning paper must be an early career scholar (i.e., must have completed their PhD no more than 5 years before the submission deadline).

3.3 The paper must fall within the scope of information behavior (how people construct, need, seek, manage, give and use information in different contexts). The behavior of real people engaged in information activities (in contrast to imagined or presumed users) must be a central part of a paper for it to be considered for the award. Papers that report the results of empirical research, theoretical papers, and methodological papers are all eligible for consideration.

3.4 The award is not a once in a lifetime award.

3.5 At least one author of the winning paper must attend the SIG USE awards ceremony in order to be eligible to receive the award.

3.6 The winning paper may not also be awarded the Best Information Behavior Conference Paper Award. In the case of a paper scoring highest for both Best Information Behavior Conference Paper Award and Best Early Career Paper Award, the paper will be awarded Best Information Behavior Conference Paper Award, and the Best Early Career Paper Award will go to the second-highest scoring paper for that award category.

3.7 The first author of the winning paper may be asked to provide proof of their early career status (e.g., a copy of their doctoral diploma or transcript).

  1. Administration

The Early Career Best Paper Award is sponsored by SIG USE and is administered by the SIG USE Awards Committee.

  1. Nominations

5.1 SIG USE members whose papers are accepted by the ASIST conference are eligible to apply for the award. Authors must include the “human information behavior” indexing category when they submit their papers using the automated system.

5.2 Applications to be considered for best paper should be submitted via email to the Awards Co-Chairs by the deadline of Sunday, June 30, 2024.

5.2.1 Applications must include an application form (download) and a copy of the paper to be considered.

5.2.2 Papers nominated for the ASIS&T Best Conference Paper Award will also be considered.

  1. SIG USE Awards Jury Committee

6.1 The SIG USE Awards Jury is composed of 5-7 members, appointed by the SIG USE Awards Committee. It is highly desirable to have among the members of the Jury individuals who are broadly and historically knowledgeable about the information behavior field, e.g., former chairs of SIG USE and long standing members of the research and professional community.

6.2 Authors of papers submitted for this award are not eligible to serve on the Jury.

6.3 In the absence of qualified papers, the Jury may refrain from granting the award in that year.

  1. Selection of the Awardee

7.1 The Jury will have access to the final, accepted versions of all conference papers. The review will be double-blinded.

7.2 The content of each eligible paper shall be appraised in terms of the following criteria as appropriate: theoretical framework and/or conceptual relevance to information behavior; problem statement and appropriateness of the methodology; significance and implications of the findings; originality; clarity of expression; and references.

7.3 The maximum number of points that can be given to a paper is 100. The highest score for each of the evaluation criteria is:

– theoretical framework and/or conceptual relevance to information behavior – 20

– problem statement and appropriateness of the methodology – 20

– significance and implications of the findings – 20

– originality- 20

– clarity of expression – 10

– references – 10

Reviewers will provide a qualitative assessment of 50 to 250 words on the merits of the paper

7.4 Each eligible paper will be assessed initially by at least three Jury members. The SIG USE Awards Committee assigns papers to individual Jury members for assessment, taking the expertise of individual Jury members into account.

7.5 Each Jury member assigns points to each eligible paper assigned to them for review, based on the criteria used to evaluate it (listed above), and transmits the scores for each paper and the qualitative assessment to the SIG USE Awards Committee.

7.6 The SIG USE Awards Committee totals and averages the scores from all the jurors from the second and final round of adjudication, and the winner is the paper with the highest average score. To win, a paper must have an average score of at least 80 points. In the case of a tie, the tying papers should be re-evaluated to determine a single winner.

7.7 The SIG USE Awards Committee shall communicate the Jury’s decision to the Chair of SIG USE, the ASIST President, and the ASIST Executive Director.

7.8 The SIG USE Awards Committee shall provide a 50-250 word abstract, stating why the award was given. The abstract will be used to publicize the award. Material for this abstract can be taken from the voting rationales provided by members of the jury.

  1. Presentation of the Award

8.1 At least one author of the paper must attend the SIG-USE awards ceremony at the SIG USE Symposium.

8.2 The award shall be announced and presented to the winning author by the SIG USE Awards Committee during the SIG USE Research Symposium at the annual meeting of the Society.

  1. Publicity

The award shall be publicized in the SIG USE listserv and web site, and SIG USE social media sites, and any chapter with which the winner is affiliated.

  1. Deadlines

10.1 The Jury Committee shall be assembled in June 2024.

10.2 Selection shall be made and the ASIST President, the ASIST Director and the Chair of SIG USE shall be notified at least two weeks before the start of the ASIST annual meeting.