scholarly journals Researchers' perspectives on open access scholarly communication in Tanzanian public universities

2009 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
F.W. Dulle ◽  
M.K. Minishi-Majanja
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Open Access ◽  
Public Universities ◽  
Research Output ◽  
Scholarly Communication ◽  
Open Access Publishing ◽  
Institutional Repositories ◽  
Recognition Quality ◽  
Dissemination Of Research ◽  
Research Findings

This research explored the awareness, usage and perspectives of Tanzanian researchers on open access as a mode of scholarly communication. A survey questionnaire targeted 544 respondents selected through stratified random sampling from a population of 1088 university researchers of the six public universities in Tanzania. With a response rate of 73%, the data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. The study reveals that the majority of the researchers were aware of and were positive towards open access. Findings further indicate that the majority of researchers in Tanzanian public universities used open access outlets more to access scholarly content than to disseminate their own research findings. It seems that most of these researchers would support open access publishing more if issues of recognition, quality and ownership were resolved. Thus many of them supported the idea of establishing institutional repositories at their respective universities as a way of improving the dissemination of local content. The study recommends that public universities and other research institutions in the country should consider establishing institutional repositories, with appropriate quality assurance measures, to improve the dissemination of research output emanating from these institutions.

Evolution of institutional repositories: Managing institutional research output to remove the gap of academic elitism

2021 ◽  
pp. 096100062110095
Author(s):  
Saimah Bashir ◽  
Sumeer Gul ◽  
Shazia Bashir ◽  
Nahida Tun Nisa ◽  
Shabir Ahmad Ganaie
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Research Output ◽  
Scholarly Communication ◽  
Learning Objects ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Open Access Publishing ◽  
Supplementary Information ◽  
Academic Publishing ◽  
Institutional Research ◽  
Institutional Repositories

The article tries to highlight the evolution and conceptual framework of institutional repositories and their impact on the academic and scholarly circles in terms of better visibility, wider audience and earlier communication of research. The characteristics associated with the institutional repositories are also highlighted, which makes them stand out from the crowd in the family of open access scholarly platforms. The study is based on the examination and evaluation of the articles published across various peer-reviewed journals showcasing numerous dimensions of institutional repositories, ranging from their evolution to open scholarly acceptance. A preliminary search on institutional repositories was carried through two well-renowned indexing/abstracting databases of peer-reviewed literature, Clarivate Analytic’s, Web of Science and Elsevier’s Scopus. Search terms like institutional repositories, institutional research output, open access repositories, green open access, open access, open access publishing, open access initiatives, digital libraries, directory of open access repositories, open DOAR and scholarly communication were run across the databases for article retrieval, and the relevant studies were extracted accordingly. To make the study more comprehensive and current, the studies citing the retrieved articles were also consulted. The study reveals that the benefits associated with institutional repositories are manifold. They recounter users with the information which was otherwise unavailable due to the reasons ranging from the non-availability of supplementary information (like unpublished reports and working papers, multimedia and audiovisual items, learning objects, other special item types, bibliographic references, datasets, lecture notes and so forth) to the paywall/subscription models adopted by commercial channels of scholarly communication. Furthermore, the social, research and technological factors tend to be the main motivating factors for their wider acceptance by the scholarly community at global, national, organizational, and individual levels. They enhance the preservation of institutional research output with increased viewership and prestige apart from achieving a potential research impact. They, in a real sense, have abrogated the unilateral assault orchestrated by the commercial publishers on the author community by democratizing their scholarly voices via open and barrierless scholarly platforms. They are the future of the academic output of an institution/author as they perform successfully within the constitutional boundaries of scholarly and academic publishing, thus safeguarding the rights and claims of every academic actor. Given the importance of institutional repositories for a more democratic, barrierless and impactful information communication, they are for sure going beyond various scholarly circles by breaking the traditional and rigid walls of scholarly endeavours. The study presents a useful overview of the progression of the institutional repositories, their intended purpose and how they serve to fill the gaps in scholarly publishing and meet the needs of the wider academic community. The article summarizes in one place a concise overview of the use and impact of institutional repositories. The study is also an eye-opener for scholars interested in the research in the field of institutional repositories.

Faculty Attitudes Towards Open Access Publishing, E-Print Servers and Institutional Repositories

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Wust
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Peer Review ◽  
Scholarly Communication ◽  
Faculty Attitudes ◽  
Open Access Publishing ◽  
Impact Factors ◽  
Teaching And Research ◽  
Institutional Repositories ◽  
Etude Qualitative

This qualitative study investigates how faculty gather information for teaching and research and their opinions on open access approaches to scholarly communication. Despite generally favorable reactions, a perceived lack of peer review and impact factors were among the most common reasons for not publishing through open-access forums.Cette étude qualitative examine comment les membres du corps professoral recueillent l’information pour l’enseignement et la recherche, et leurs opinions envers les approches de la communication scientifique à libre accès. Malgré des réactions généralement favorables, le manque perçu de révision par les pairs et les facteurs d’impact comptent parmi les motifs habituellement évoqués pour ne pas publier sur ces tribunes à libre accès. 

Scholarly communication in the digital environment

2005 ◽  
Vol 57 (6) ◽  
pp. 481-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Rowlands ◽  
David Nicholas
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Scholarly Communication ◽  
Open Access Publishing ◽  
Substantial Contribution ◽  
Disciplinary Culture ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Journal Publishing ◽  
Institutional Repositories ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Regional Location

PurposeThis paper aims to make a substantial contribution to the ongoing debate about the potential of open access publishing and institutional repositories to reform the scholarly communication system. It presents the views of senior authors on these issues and contextualises them within the broader framework of their journal publishing behaviour and preferences.Design/methodology/approachA highly representative online opinion survey of more than five and half thousand journals authors, building on an earlier (January 2004) benchmarking study carried out by CIBER.FindingsSenior researchers are rapidly becoming more informed about open access publishing and institutional repositories but are still a long way off reaching a consensus on the likelihood that these new models will challenge the existing order, nor are they in agreement whether this would be a positive or a negative development. Disciplinary culture and, to a less extent, regional location are key determinants of author attitudes and any policy response should avoid “one‐size‐fits‐all” solutions.Research limitations/implicationsThis survey reflects the opinions of senior corresponding authors who have recently published in a “top” (i.e. ISI‐indexed journal) with 95 per cent confidence. The findings should not be generalised to represent the views of all authors in all journals, open access or otherwise.Originality/valueThe journal publishing sector is facing enormous challenges and opportunities as content increasingly migrates to the web. The value of this research is that it provides an objective, non‐partisan, assessment of the attitudes and opinions of more than 5,000 senior researchers, a key stakeholder group, and thus contributes both to the development of public policy as well as more realistic commercial strategies.

Changing Face of Scholarly Communication and Its Impact on Library and Information Centres

2019 ◽  
pp. 870-883
Author(s):  
G. Saroja
Keyword(s):  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Research Output ◽  
Time Lag ◽  
Scholarly Communication ◽  
Electronic Journals ◽  
Institutional Repositories ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
The Impact

Scholarly communication involves publishing the research findings by academics and researchers in order to share and make available the academic or research output to the global community of researchers. Emergence of Internet and World Wide Web has brought revolutionary changes in the process of scholarly communication. Increasing price of serial publications, time lag in the publication and readership and other associated problems were addressed by the electronic journals and open access initiatives. Other models like – Consortia and Institutional Repositories have evolved as a cost saving models and improving communication. The social networking sites on the Internet are also promoting scholarly communication to a great extent. In the light of the changing technological environment this chapter depicts the history of scholarly publishing and reviews the changes that took place in the process of scholarly communication. Further, the impact of the changing models on Library and Information Centres (LICs) is examined.

scholarly journals Scholarly Communication Practices in Humanities and Social Sciences: A Study of Researchers’ Attitudes and Awareness of Open Access

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 168-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bhuva Narayan ◽  
Edward J. Luca ◽  
Belinda Tiffen ◽  
Ashley England ◽  
Mal Booth ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Open Access ◽  
Scholarly Communication ◽  
Academic Librarians ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Institutional Repositories ◽  
Change Perceptions ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Journal Impact

Abstract This paper examines issues relating to the perceptions and adoption of open access (OA) and institutional repositories. Using a survey research design, we collected data from academics and other researchers in the humanities, arts and social sciences (HASS) at a university in Australia. We looked at factors influencing choice of publishers and journal outlets, as well as the use of social media and nontraditional channels for scholarly communication. We used an online questionnaire to collect data and used descriptive statistics to analyse the data. Our findings suggest that researchers are highly influenced by traditional measures of quality, such as journal impact factor, and are less concerned with making their work more findable and promoting it through social media. This highlights a disconnect between researchers’ desired outcomes and the efforts that they put in toward the same. Our findings also suggest that institutional policies have the potential to increase OA awareness and adoption. This study contributes to the growing literature on scholarly communication by offering evidence from the HASS field, where limited studies have been conducted. Based on the findings, we recommend that academic librarians engage with faculty through outreach and workshops to change perceptions of OA and the institutional repository.

Attitudes of Scholars towards Self-Archiving in Institutional Repositories of Zimbabwe's Public Universities

Mousaion ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mass Masona Tapfuma ◽  
Ruth Geraldine Hoskins
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Public Universities ◽  
Research Output ◽  
Scholarly Communication ◽  
Unified Theory ◽  
Institutional Repositories ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative Methods ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
Convenience Sampling ◽  
And Training

The introduction of open-access institutional repositories in scholarly communication presents an opportunity for public universities in Zimbabwe to increase the visibility, reach and impact of their research output. However, this opportunity is missed because of the low utilisation of the repositories by scholars in the institutions. Guided by the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model, the researchers investigated academics’ awareness levels of and attitudes, perceptions and concerns about institutional repositories with the aim of understanding academics’ deposit behaviour. Both qualitative and quantitative methods in the forms of a questionnaire and interviews were used to gather data from academics and library and research directors at eight universities and from policy documents and university websites. Stratified, systematic and convenience sampling techniques, including the complete enumeration method, were used. The findings revealed that academics lacked knowledge and awareness of institutional repositories and their value in scholarly communication. Therefore, marketing and training should be intensified to increase acceptance and usage of repositories.

scholarly journals AfricArXiv – the pan-African Open Scholarly Repository (Overview and Roadmap)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Sègbédji Ahinon ◽  
Hisham Arafat ◽  
Umar Ahmad ◽  
Joyce Achampong ◽  
Osman Aldirdiri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Research Output ◽  
Scholarly Communication ◽  
Digital Archive ◽  
African Continent ◽  
Scholarly Community ◽  
Knowledge Commons ◽  
Pan African ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Fair Principles

AfricArXiv is a community-led digital archive for African research working towards building an Africa-owned open scholarly repository; a knowledge commons of African scholarly works. We are partnering with established scholarly repository services to provide a platform for African scientists of any discipline to present their research findings and connect with other researchers – on the African continent and globally. It is our aim to promote discoverability of African research output according to sfDORA : https://sfdora.org/read/ FAIR principles: https://www.go-fair.org/fair-principles/ Helsinki Initiative on Multilingualism: https://www.helsinki-initiative.org/en To contextualize the above to the African scholarly community we have postulated 10 African Principles for Open Access in Scholarly Communication: https://info.africarxiv.org/african-oa-principles/

Open Access and the Future of Scholarly Communication in Sub-Saharan Africa

2021 ◽  
pp. 205-220
Author(s):  
Tuesday Bwalya ◽  
Akakandelwa Akakandelwa
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Scholarly Communication ◽  
Information Resources ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Open Access Publishing ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Improve Access

The concept of open access has opened up access to scholarly communication. Academia today can publish and have access to a cocktail of information resources without restrictions and without paying anything. This chapter seeks to explain open access to scholarly communication and its future in Sub-Saharan Africa. The chapter begins by explaining the concept of open access, various forms of open access publishing, benefits of open access, and a brief history of open access to scholarly communication in Sub-Saharan Africa. The chapter also highlights some notable open access initiatives that have been implemented in Sub-Saharan Africa in the quest to improve access to scientific research findings in order to accelerate economic development. Furthermore, the chapter catalogues some challenges being encountered in the promotion of open access in Sub-Saharan Africa. Lastly, the chapter predicts the future of open access to scholarly communication in Sub-Saharan Africa, based on the current happenings in this sector.

Challenges for Establishment of Institutional Repositories

2021 ◽  
pp. 139-159
Author(s):  
Mass Masona Tapfuma ◽  
Ruth G. Hoskins
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Open Access ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Public Universities ◽  
Research Output ◽  
Publication Output ◽  
Research Library ◽  
Library Directors ◽  
Wide Audience ◽  
Institutional Repositories

Concern has been raised over low research output from universities in Southern Africa and its poor visibility on the global sphere. However, public universities in Zimbabwe adopted open access (OA) institutional repositories (IR) to increase publication output, access, visibility, and reach to a wide audience. This chapter reports on a study that explored the challenges faced by academics and librarians in Zimbabwe's public universities in contributing to and managing the IRs. A mixed methods approach was adopted with eight participating universities where directors of research, library directors, faculty/IR librarians, and academics were purposely selected. The study identified several impediments to the success of the IRs and these include academics' fears and misconceptions regarding OA and IRs, libraries experienced difficulties convincing university managers about OA exacerbated by an absence of enabling conditions to promote IR development. The chapter recommends that OA education needs to be intensified OA/IR and the universities' policies should recognise publication in OA platforms and enforce deposit mandates.

scholarly journals How commercial publishers play a role in developing a sustainable model for Open Access publishing

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marte Ericsson Ryste ◽  
Katia Stieglitz ◽  
Simon Aase
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Scientific Publication ◽  
Scholarly Publishing ◽  
Open Access Publishing ◽  
Dissemination Of Research ◽  
The Face ◽  
Open Access Publisher ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Publishing Houses

One of the objectives of the open access movement has been to upend the traditional model for scholarly publishing by making research findings freely available to anyone, anywhere. The trend emerged partly in response to the major publishing houses having become the gatekeepers of the dissemination of research findings and setting high prices for access to this material via subscriptions to scholarly journals.On the face of it, this state of affairs suggests that commercial actors have no place in the realm of open access publishing. However, an argument can be made to the effect that commercial companies have a part to play in transforming the way scientific publication works and contribute to making research freely available. Having numerous interested parties in the OA domain may contribute towards making research accessible, leading to a general increase in innovation. This is necessary in a field that by and large is in its infancy, technologically, politically and economically. An OA initiative that is part of a profit-driven organization does not preclude it from contributing to a sustainable publishing model, and a commercial approach is not necessarily incompatible with the principles.  In this poster we offer NOASP as an example, and part of the wider context of commercial open access publishing. Nordic Open Access Scholarly Publishing is an open access publisher of scholarly journals and books in Scandinavia and a subdivision of Cappelen Damm Akademisk. NOASP was established in 2015 – and continues to grow.  In our experience, meeting the very specific criteria for Open Access publishing requires substantial investments in technology and human resources. Publishers who choose to establish themselves in this niche area must have a long-term strategy and develop specific expertise. Competition between publishing houses and other actors provides incentives for staying abreast of new requirements and standards, technology and infrastructure. These strategic and economic factors directly and positively impact the quality of journals and publishing solutions, and ultimately contribute to innovation in the field. The economics of commercial publishing, by heightening competition between the services publishers provide, therefore leads to improvement of both technical platforms and editorial practices. In turn, this leads to higher quality of the end product and broader distribution of the freely available research, which should ultimately be the goal of the OA movement.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document