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Digital Scholarship Center

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Plant Genetic Studies

OVERVIEW

In partnership with the Department of Biological Sciences, we are examining the published literature to determine whether there is a geographical publication bias such that researchers in developing countries have lower publication rates than scientists in more affluent countries, even in cases where the data contributing to scientific studies come from the developing countries.
Despite the fact that many developing countries are found in tropical areas with high biodiversity, limited financial resources inhibit genetic research by scientists in these countries. Furthermore, researchers from developing countries sometimes collaborate with colleagues in more affluent countries, but do they always receive their due credit and recognition in terms of authorship? To determine the extent of this potential bias, we are undertaking an analysis of the published literature in plant genetics over the past 50 years using the Scopus and PubMed datasets. We are parsing the metadata for each publication to compare each author’s country of origin, as well as their position within the author sequence (i.e. indicating degree of prominence, such as first authorship), to the geographic distributions of the plant species highlighted in the publication.

THE PROBLEM

By applying novel methods developed in the humanities to these biological datasets, our team of biologists and digital scholars aims to: (1) Determine whether researchers from developing countries are underrepresented as authors in these publications relative to colleagues from affluent countries, and whether this is changing over time; and (2) Identify demographic, socioeconomic, or environmental factors that may explain any discrepancies in publication rates from scholars in different geographic regions.

THE RESULTS

We seek to investigate and bring to light any inequalities that hinder not only genetic research in biodiverse locations with low economic resources, but the full development of the broader global network of scientists who rely on this knowledge. Ultimately, we are working to uncover hidden or unrecognized biases that hinder progress and cooperation, so that together we can reduce publication inequality to maximize global research productivity.

Publications & Presentations

james-lee

James Lee

Associate Vice Provost for Digital Scholarship; Director, Digital Scholarship Center; Associate Professor of Digital Humanities; Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics

Professional Summary

James Lee is the Associate Vice Provost for Digital Scholarship and Associate Dean of Libraries at the University of Cincinnati. In his capacity as a researcher, he is the Director of the Digital Scholarship Center (http://dsc.uc.edu), and is an Associate Professor of Digital Humanities.

His research and teaching focus on the areas of digital humanities, machine learning and text mining techniques on historical archives, social network analysis, and data visualization. Much of his work has used machine learning methods applied to large text corpora and other unstructured datasets to rethink what it means to perform historical analysis. His research also investigates ways to visualize the results of machine learning algorithms in a human-interpretable way that enables non-technical audiences to glean useful information from the data. More recently, his research has branched out into fascinating collaborations applying digital humanities methods with partners in biomedical informatics, law, design, and archeology. His work has been supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

His current book project is a digital history of globalism and race entitled Anthropocene and Empire. It uses machine learning and data visualization techniques applied to 100,000+ texts from 1500-1800 to tell a new story of how England began to imagine animal and plant life on a global scale in order to redefine the idea of human race and the possibility of human empires. His first book, The Two-Soul’d Animal, studied the paradoxes and affordances of the classical and Christian souls in early modern culture in the wake of the Reformation.

Education

PhD, University of California, Berkeley

BA, Cornell University

Research Support

Investigators:Xuemao Wang and James Lee 01-01-2018 -06-30-2020 Andrew W. Mellon Foundation A Catalyst Model for Transdisciplinary Teams in Digital Scholarship: The University of Cincinnati’s Digital Scholarship Center Role:Co-PI $900,000.00 Active Type:Grant

Investigators:James Lee, et.al 2017 -2018 UC Provost Technology Innovation Award Role:Principal Investigator $199,125 Active Type:Grant

Investigators:Jeffrey Blevins and James Lee UC Provost “Toward an Open Monograph Environment” Grant Role:Co-PI $20,000 Active Type:Grant

Grant: #R40534 Investigators:Jackson, Sarah; Lee, James; Wang, Xuemao 10-01-2019 -03-31-2020 UC's Urban Futures Digital Futures Anchor Development Program Transdisciplinary AI: Applied Machine Learning for UC's Digital Future Role:PI $10,000.00 Active Level:Internal UC

Epic Social Networks and Eve’s Centrality in Milton’s Paradise Lost

By: Claire Ruegg and James Lee

Digital Scholarship in the Humanities (Literary and Linguistic Computing)

Digital Scholarship and Data Science

By: James Lee

Institute for Interdisciplinary Data Science

Text Mining and Clinical Research

By: James Lee

Hospital Medicine Research Forum, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Medical Center

Text Mining across Disciplines

By: James Lee

The Collaboration Network, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine

Text Mining across Discipline (2018)

By: James Lee

Biomedical Informatics Research Colloquium, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Medical Center

Social Media, Social Justice and the Political Economy of Online Networks

By: James Lee

American Historical Association

Shakespeare’s Othelloand a New Model for the Digital Humanities

By: James Lee

UC Berkeley, Departments of English and Art History

Linked Reading: Digital Humanities Summer Institute Colloquium

By: James Lee

University of Victoria

Leading and Enabling Enterprise Transdisciplinary Digital Scholarship and Digital Research Integration,

By: James Lee

Critical Roles for Research Libraries in Today’s Research Enterprise Colloquium

From Service to Partnership: the Role of Library Digital Scholarship Centers in Academic Research

By: James Lee

Shanghai International Library Forum

Digital Scholarship as a Catalyst: Translating the Humanities to STEM Fields

By: James Lee

University of Ottawa

Digital Scholarship and the Promise of Data across Disciplines

By: James Lee, Xuemao Wang

International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA), Kuala Lumpur

Digital Scholarship and the Future of the Liberal Arts

By: James Lee

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Digital Bridges Symposium

Digital Humanities and Intellectual Moonshots

By: James Lee

Dean’s Advisory Council, University of Cincinnati

Data Visualization and Social Justice

By: James Lee

Digital Humanities Workshop, University of Cincinnati

Data Visualization across Disciplines (Spring 2017)

By: James Lee

Data Day Faculty Presentation, University of Cincinnati

Close Listening and Synesthetic Reading Across Multiple Poetry Archives: Tracking the Performative Afterlives of a Poem

By: James Lee, Arlene Johnson

Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations (ADHO) Conference, Montreal, CA

Data Visualization

By: James Lee

Division of Clinical Psychology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Medical Center

Building and Sustaining Transdisciplinary Teams

By: James Lee

Research and Innovation Week, University of Cincinnati

A Hybrid Model: Digital Humanities vs. Digital Scholarship

By: James Lee

University of Cincinnati Libraries

A Digital History of Race before Empire

By: James Lee

Digital Humanities Speaker Series, University of Cincinnati

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