Digital platforms and academic reputation: exploring the Library and Information Science area in Spain

Analysis of the preferences of Spanish academics in the Library and Information (LIS) area in the use of digital platforms to disseminate and promote their research activity from an academic reputation point of view. The study population consist of the 255 academics belonging to the departments of the reference area of 12 Spanish public universities. The methodology is developed from a systematic exploration by manual search of the population in a set of digital platforms: personal blog, personal website, ORCID, Twitter, Linkedin, Google Scholar, ResearchGate, Academia.edu, Mendeley and the Exit Directory. Three main variables of analysis were defined from the perspective of academic reputation building: presence of digital profiles, digital identity management and visibility of scientific production. Results show that ResearchGate and Google Scholar are the most popular platforms among the studied community and allow us to intuit the absence of a strategy or method for the conscious management of digital platforms and academic reputation.