Factors That Influence Choice and Usage of Reference Management Software by Postgraduate Students at the University Of Limpopo, South Africa

Abstract

Inaccuracy in manual referencing of information sources in scientific papers resulted in the development of reference management software (RMS) for academics, researchers, scholars, and students. It is crucial to constantly assess the use of this software for decision making regarding sustained software purchasing and subscriptions. This study sought to identify factors that influence the choice and usage of RMS among postgraduate students in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Limpopo. Stratified random sampling was employed to arrive at 244 participants. A questionnaire was used as data collection instrument. The study found that the majority of respondents have used RMS before. The respondents used RefWorks and Mendeley, because they were familiar with these packages and because they had received training on how to use them. As such, product knowledge, experience, and skills in using RMS are associated with their popularity and usage. It was also found that postgraduate students use RMS for basic purposes, such as saving and organising citations for easy retrieval and for creating bibliographic lists in a preferred referencing style, as well as for exporting citations from subject databases. Based on the findings, the study recommends intensified and more advanced training on RMS to ensure optimal utilisation of RMS by postgraduate students in general.