PMID- 33718643
OWN - NLM
STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE
LR  - 20210316
IS  - 2405-8440 (Print)
IS  - 2405-8440 (Electronic)
IS  - 2405-8440 (Linking)
VI  - 7
IP  - 2
DP  - 2021 Feb
TI  - Distinguishing online academic bullying: identifying new forms of harassment in a 
      dissenting Emeritus Professor's case.
PG  - e06326
LID - 10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e06326 [doi]
LID - e06326
AB  - The shift of academic discourse to an online space without guardians gives 
      motivated academic cyberbullies an opportunity to harass susceptible recipients. 
      Cyberbullying by higher education employees is a neglected phenomenon; despite 
      the dangers it poses to academic free speech as well as other negative outcomes. 
      In the absence of an adequate definition for Online Academic Bullying (OAB) as a 
      surfacing threat, its' targets cannot readily gauge its severity or confidently 
      report that they are victims. Nor do their attackers have a reference point for 
      understanding and, perhaps, correcting their own incivility. To remedy this, we 
      propose an analytical framework grounded in Routine Activity Theory (RAT) that 
      can serve as an appropriate reporting instrument. The OABRAT framework is 
      illustrated with an Emeritus Professor's case and the varied examples of cyber 
      harassment that he experienced. This scientific influencer was relentlessly 
      attacked on social media platforms by varied academics for expressing contrarian, 
      but evidence-based, opinions. Spotlighting OAB's distinctive attacks should raise 
      awareness amongst researchers and institutional policy makers. The reporting 
      instrument may further assist with identifying and confronting this threat. This 
      article also flags ethical concerns related to dissident scholars' usage of 
      online platforms for informal, public debates. Such scholars may face an 
      asymmetrical challenge in confronting cyber harassment from hypercritical 
      academics and cybermobs on poorly moderated platforms. Universities should 
      therefor consider appropriate countermeasures to protect both the public and 
      their employees against victimisation by academic cyberbullies.
CI  - (c) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
FAU - Noakes, Travis
AU  - Noakes T
AD  - Dr Travis Noakes, Faculty of Informatics and Design, Cape Peninsula University of 
      Technology, Cape Town 7700, Western Cape Province, South Africa.
FAU - Noakes, Tim
AU  - Noakes T
AD  - Adjunct Professor Tim Noakes, Faculty of Informatics and Design, Cape Peninsula 
      University of Technology, Cape Town 7700, Western Cape Province, South Africa.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20210224
PL  - England
TA  - Heliyon
JT  - Heliyon
JID - 101672560
PMC - PMC7921510
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - Activity theory
OT  - Cyberbullying
OT  - Higher education
OT  - Peer victimisation
COIS- The authors declare no conflict of interest.
EDAT- 2021/03/16 06:00
MHDA- 2021/03/16 06:01
PMCR- 2021/02/24
CRDT- 2021/03/15 07:12
PHST- 2020/06/24 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2020/08/23 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2021/02/17 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2021/03/15 07:12 [entrez]
PHST- 2021/03/16 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2021/03/16 06:01 [medline]
PHST- 2021/02/24 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - S2405-8440(21)00431-X [pii]
AID - e06326 [pii]
AID - 10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e06326 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - Heliyon. 2021 Feb 24;7(2):e06326. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e06326. eCollection 
      2021 Feb.