Open Access Institutional Repositories Research Articles

Completing the Circle

IUPUI’s Center for Translating Research Into Practice (TRIP) and IUPUI University Library (Library) developed a partnership to enhance community access to faculty scholarship resulting from community-engaged and translational research. Library staff archive the scholarship of faculty affiliated with TRIP in IUPUI ScholarWorks, the campus’s open access institutional repository. The TRIP Scholarly Works Program was launched in 2013 and outcomes include benefits for faculty authors (increased readership) and for a world of readers (free access). After almost 10 years in existence, Library and TRIP staff sought to evaluate the success of this program. A survey was distributed to TRIP affiliated faculty to assess the impact of open access to their scholarship on their work as community-engaged and translational scholars. Faculty participants report a variety of benefits and yet, also indicate a need for increased program communication and fewer barriers to participation.

Analysis of search engines of open access institutional repositories

Introdução: A comunicação científica em seu novo modelo de atuação, possibilitando o acesso à informação de forma aberta, tem contribuído para que a sociedade recorra as produções científicas de forma facilitada, o que se deu devido a sua disponibilização em periódicos e repositórios institucionais de acesso aberto. A recuperação da informação, em contexto científico, confere acesso a produção intelectual a partir da possibilidade de sua busca em sistemas de recuperação. Objetivo: analisar os sistemas de recuperação da informação (SRI) com base nas ferramentas de busca dos repositórios institucionais brasileiros de teses e dissertações disponibilizados na BDTD e suas bases de dados, comparando-os com os parâmetros estabelecidos pelo IBICT. Metodologia: Realiza pesquisa bibliográfica sobre o tema, pesquisa documental a partir do acesso aos padrões, diretrizes e manuais fornecidos pelo IBICT e estudo de caso a partir da análise dos sistemas de recuperação das bases dos repositórios vinculados a BDTD. Resultados: Confere que as instituições participantes da BDTD não necessariamente precisam ater-se aos padrões de forma parcial estabelecidos pelo IBICT, sendo necessário apenas que estas atribuam a seus repositórios os padrões de metadados obrigatórios, juntamente com o uso do protocolo OAI-PMH e o uso de tecnologia XML para que ocorra a coleta dos dados para disponibilização no portal nacional da BDTD. Conclusão: os sistemas de recuperação da informação dos repositórios possuem ferramentas tecnológicas e especificações que conferem a navegação nos sistemas por partes dos usuários, contribuindo para a melhor experiência de busca e acesso a informações pertinentes as questões informacionais dos mesmos.

Narrative review on open access institutional repositories and knowledge sharing in South Africa

AbstractThis brief communication conveys a critical assessment of the benefits, challenges, and potential of Open Access Institutional Repositories (OAIRs) for knowledge sharing in South Africa. The review identifies best practices and recommendations to promote and improve their usage. Researchers need training and support to understand guidelines and best practices for depositing their work. Limited funding for OAIRs can be addressed by government funding or exploring alternative models. Legal and policy frameworks must support OAIRs and ensure they comply with international standards. Proper management and indexing policies enhance institutional visibility and information retrieval. OAIRs promote collaboration and cooperation among researchers and provide a platform for knowledge sharing and feedback. Standardized platforms and frameworks ensure digital outputs are accessible and usable for the academic community. Sharing knowledge on self‐archiving encourages researchers to deposit their works. Formal reviews must focus on metadata and ensure that articles are from DHET‐accredited journals and that theses and dissertations meet institutional requirements. These efforts promote open access and preserve scholarly works for future generations.

Self-archiving of Scholarly Publications for improved access to local content in Tanzania: A study of Open Access Institutional Repositories in Universities in Tanzania

This study sought to investigate how the self-archiving of scholarly publications in Open Access Institutional Repositories can be strengthened for improved access to local content. Specifically, the study sought to investigate factors that influence self-archiving of scholarly publications in OAIRs, examine the implementation of OAIRs policies on self-archiving of scholarly publications in OAIRs and determine challenges that hinder self-archiving of scholarly publications in OAIRs. The population of the study consisted of 2894 faculty members and 413 sample size, obtained through a systematic random sampling technique. Data were collected using questionnaires and interviews with eight key informants. Key findings indicated that there are factors that influenced self-archiving of scholarly publications in OAIRs among faculty members such motivating factors, availability of technical support, supervisors/peers/colleagues and supporting services. Moreover, the study found challenges that hindered self-archiving as low level of awareness and inadequate advocacy for a self-archiving, lack of personal benefit such as rewards and promotions, fear of the plagiarism, lack of enough facilities like ICT and internet connectivity. The study also found that there was a need to implement OAIR policies in self-archiving of scholarly publications in the OAIRs. In order to strengthen self-archiving, the study recommends providing support services, technical supports, encouraging supervisors/peers/colleagues, creating awareness, providing personal benefits, provide education and give more time, effort and implement OAIR policies to enhance the process of self-archiving scholarly publications in OAIRs. The findings of this study shall contribute new knowledge to the existing research outputs that have been conducted in this field.

Narrative Review on Open Access Institutional Repositories and Knowledge Sharing in South Africa

Narrative Review on Open Access Institutional Repositories and Knowledge Sharing in South Africa

Zine-Making as an Inquiry-Based Activity for Korean Language Classroom

ABSTRACT This article explores an inquiry-based zine-making activity in an advanced Korean language class and the creation of a webzine collection. Zines, which emphasize self-expression, are self-produced publications often created by amateurs. The zine-making project enables students to enhance critical thinking skills by problematizing and researching social issues and language proficiency by expressing their opinions in written Korean. To archive the students’ zine projects, the first Korean language zine collection was established in TSpace, an open access institutional repository at the University of Toronto Libraries. The article discusses the potential of zines as group projects and presents students’ feedback, highlighting their positive impact on promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) values in the learning environment.

Oa@inaf, the Open Access Repository of the National Institute for Astrophysics

In 2017 the National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) decided to adopt an open access institutional repository for collecting all its scientific production and the INAF Scientific Directorate welcomed the proposal to acquire the software DSpace-CRIS. A working group consisting of librarians, computer specialists and scientists worked on the configuration of the hardware and software and at the same time drafted an Open Access Policy.

Ask the Editors: Assessing the Publishing Needs of Faculty Editors

Introduction: This article reports results from a survey of faculty members with editorial responsibilities. The survey explored what publishing services and platform functionalities respondents found most valuable in their work as editors, how satisfied they were with the services provided by commercial publishers, and to what extent they were aware of alternative publishing practices. Method: The authors used data collected from a survey instrument that was distributed to a sample (n = 515) of faculty members with editorial responsibilities at their institution. Results: Collected data suggest that faculty editors value specific publishing services (e.g., coordination of peer review and copyediting) and platform functionality (e.g., submission and peer-review management) more than others, recognize several challenges facing academic publishing in their disciplines (including the transition to open access publishing models), and are mostly aware of common forms of open access research dissemination such as open access journals and institutional repositories. Discussion: The survey results may be helpful to library publishers in making decisions about what publishing services and platform functionalities to prioritize in the development of their publishing programs. In addition to utilizing the survey data to assess the needs of editors, the authors also identified a number of expanded uses of the survey related to marketing and outreach. Conclusion: Insofar as faculty editors are key stakeholders that library publishers seek to build partnerships with, it is important to understand their needs and preferences as editors. This article provides some insight into these questions that may prove helpful to library publishers.

Using Open Access Institutional Repositories to Save the Student Symposium during the COVID-19 Pandemic

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, colleges and universities around the world were forced to close or move to online instruction. Many institutions host yearly student research symposiums. This article describes how two universities used their institutional repositories to adapt their student research symposiums to virtual events in a matter of weeks. Both universities use the bepress Digital Commons platform for their institutional repositories. Even though the two universities’ symposium strategies differed, some commonalities emerged, particularly with regard to learning the best practices to highlight student work and support their universities’ efforts to host research symposiums virtually.

Exploring academic staff engagement in depositing locally produced research content in open access institutional repositories in Tanzania

This study explored academic staff engagement in depositing locally produced content in open access institutional repositories in public universities in Tanzania. The general objective of this study was to establish the extent to which academic staff are engaged in depositing locally produced content in open access institutional repositories. The study employed a cross-sectional research design. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire, which was administered to 292 academic staff selected through systematic random sampling. Purposive sampling was used to select 14 key informants. The results reveal that 92.5% of the respondents were aware of the presence of open access institutional repositories and 46.2% of the respondents had self-archived their academic work in open access institutional repositories. Poor Internet connectivity, low bandwidth, and a time-consuming and unstable power supply were the challenges encountered by the academic staff in the process of uploading their work. Several recommendations are suggested to expedite the process.

University Academics’ Usage of Open Access Institutional Repositories

The article explores the usage of Open Access Institutional Repositories in universities. The quantitative research approach and survey design were adopted, and simple random sampling and stratified sampling techniques were employed. A questionnaire was used as a research instrument to gather appropriate data for the study; descriptive and inferential statistics were used as statistical tools to analyze data. The study looked at the level of usage of Open Access Institutional Repositories, reasons for Open Access Institutional Repositories usage, and ways of enhancing usage of Open Access Institutional Repositories in universities. Although the level of Open Access Institutional Repositories usage was low, all the respondents were willing to use it (deposit in and download from Open Access Institutional Repositories). The article recommends strategies for the usage of Open Access Institutional Repositories in universities. This strategy consists of improvements in the user experience and user interfaces, archiving services, advocacy and marketing, Open Access Institutional Repositories policy, and automatic harvesting. Universities will be able to determine which factors affect the usage of such repositories in libraries and will be able to design strategies on how to sustain and manage them.

Adoption of institutional repositories for electronic theses and dissertations projects in Zimbabwe’s public academic libraries

Theses and dissertations (TDs) are an invaluable scholarly literature output of universities’ graduates contributing to the fulfilment of universities’ mandates to impact national development through research. Public universities in Zimbabwe have adopted Open access institutional repositories (IR) to run electronic theses and dissertations (ETD) programs. This study sought to determine the development levels of the ETD collections, establish the software platforms being used and, find out challenges being faced in developing ETD collections in the repositories. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology was adopted while a mixed methods approach was employed. From eight universities, data were collected from Library Directors, assistant/IR librarians, IRs, policy documents and OpenDoar through questionnaires, interviews and bibliometric analysis. Qualitative data was analysed thematically while SPSS was adopted to analyse quantitative data. Findings showed slow development of the ETD collections while DSpace is the software of choice across the universities. Faculty cooperation in depositing electronic theses and dissertations is negligent, thus affecting progress of the initiative. Mandating deposit of electronic copies of theses and dissertations would propagate population of the repositories and increase visibility of the research.

Multilevel analysis of factors affecting open-access institutional repository implementation in Nigerian universities

PurposeThe study aims to identify novel open-access institutional repository (OAIR) implementation barriers and explain how they evolve. It also aims to extend theoretical insights into the information technology (IT) implementation literature.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopted the interpretive philosophy, the inductive research approach and qualitative case study research method. Three Nigerian universities served as the case research contexts. The unstructured in-depth interview and the participatory observation were adopted as the data collection instruments. The qualitative data collected were analysed using thematic data analysis technique.FindingsFindings show that IR implementation barriers evolved from global, organisational and individual implementation levels in the research contexts. Results specifically reveal how easy access to ideas and information and easy movement of people across international boundaries constituted globalisation trend-driven OAIR implementation barriers given their influence on OAIR implementation activities at the organisational and individual implementation levels. The two factors led to overambitious craving for information technology (IT) implementation and inadequate OAIR implementation success factors at the organisational level in the research contexts. They also led to conflicting IR implementation ideas and information at the individual level in the research contexts.Research limitations/implicationsThe primary limitation of the research is the adoption of qualitative case study research method which makes its findings not generalisable. The study comprised only three Nigerian universities. However, the study provides plausible insights that explain how OAIR implementation barriers emanate at the organisational and individual levels due to two globalisation trends: easy access to ideas and information and easy movement of people across international boundaries.Practical implicationsThe study points out the need for OAIR implementers to assess how easy access to information and ideas and easy movement of people across international boundaries influence the evolution of conflicting OAIR implementation ideas and information at the individual level, and overambitious craving for IT implementation and setting inadequate OAIR implementation success factors at the organisational level. The study extends views in past studies that propose that OAIR implementation barriers only emanate at organisational and individual levels, that is, only within universities involved in OAIR implementation and among individuals working in the universities.Social implicationsThe study argues that OAIR implementation consists of three implementation levels: individual, organisational and global. It provides stakeholders with the information that there is a third OAIR implementation level.Originality/valueData validity, sample validity and novel findings are the hallmarks of the study's originality. Study data consist of first-hand experiences and information derived during participatory observation and in-depth interviews with research participants. The participants were purposively selected, given their participation in OAIR implementation in the research contexts. Study findings on the connections among global, organisational and individual OAIR implementation levels and how their relationships lead to OAIR implementation barriers are novel.

Use of Open Access Channels for Scholarly Publishing in Kenyan Universities

The study investigated the awareness and use of open access (OA) channels for scholarly publishing by researchers at selected universities in Kenya. A sample of 341 faculty members, from three public universities, was selected for the study. A questionnaire was used as the main data collection instrument. The findings revealed that there is a considerably high level of awareness among the researchers; librarians were the main channel with regard to creating awareness; the OA channels that are more frequently used by researchers are OA journals, OA institutional repositories and OA e-books; the researchers mostly published/disseminated theses and dissertations, conference proceedings and workshop/seminar presentations through OA channels; and searching and accessing research articles, developing research proposals and formulating research problems were among the main reasons why researchers used open access channels. There are several reasons why researchers sometimes do not use OA channels for research. The study makes several recommendations for the adoption and effective use of OA channels in the selected universities and beyond.

Determinants of research output submission in institutional repositories by faculty members in Nigerian universities

PurposeThis paper aims to determine and analyze the rate of content submission by lecturers in relation to type of university, discipline, academic qualification, rank and teaching experience and identified the determinants of research output submission by faculty members in Nigerian varsities.Design/methodology/approachThe survey was conducted in six universities with functional institutional repositories in Southern Nigeria. Data collated through questionnaire from the university lecturers were analyzed using frequency distribution, percentages and regression analysis.FindingsResults showed that submission of research output was higher for lecturers in Social Sciences than for those in the Sciences; the highest among those with doctorate degree, senior lecturers and those with 6–10 years of teaching experience. The rank of faculty members and the type of university were significant determinants of research output submission.Research limitations/implicationsThe survey was limited to universities in Southern Nigeria with functional institutional repositories. There should be further investigations on same study in universities with functional institutional repositories in other regions in Nigeria.Practical implicationsIncreased submission rate by faculty members will sustain the institutional repositories.Social implicationsFaculty members get in contact, make friends and engage in collaborative research.Originality/valueThis report contributes to the global knowledge and communication’s field through the provision of empirical evidence on the determinants of content submission in open access institutional repositories.

Disseminating the Research Output of Major Indian R & D Organization’s through Open Access Institutional Repositories: Challenges and Opportunities

This study examines the implementation status of institutional repositories (IRs) in Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) laboratories. It assesses the level at which CSIR laboratories have updated their publications in IRs to facilitate open access to scholarly publications. The paper discusses the challenges faced by CSIR IRs in maintaining open access and updating content regularly. It identifies publications indexed in the WoS database and also discusses the open access initiatives at CSIR labs. The study suggests an effective strategy for successfully implementing IRs and covering the entire set of publications of CSIR laboratories.

Publishing with Open Journal Systems (OJS): the engaged university and library support at the University of Stavanger

Increasing the role of libraries in academic journal publishing activities and journal hosting has become an important subject in the library world in the past few years. The purpose of this study is to present the role of the libraries at University of Stavanger (UiS) in the context of library-as-publisher. Within this category, open access (OA) journal publishing has been a popular service offered by libraries, rapidly attracting researchers' attention. The University Libraries at University of Stavanger (UiS) have a long history of promoting and supporting open access initiatives. The Libraries have established and continue to build, host and maintain an operative open access institutional repository (UiS Brage) for scientific works in full text.
 From 2018, UiS libraries started using a journal management system to facilitate the open access scholarly publishing and therefore support transferring and updating of established the existing journals and the lunching of new ones. The Open Journal Systems (OJS) from Public Knowledge Project (PKP) is used which is the most common journal management system being discussed frequently in literature.
 Currently, the UiS Libraries repository host four active open access journals, with some others under development. All these journals reside within the same OJS implementation with the same design and layout on top, however, at the individual journal level there are also options for some customization.
 UiS libraries initially support all the steps of the journal creation and development process but train the editors and the subsequent users to engage in some part of the process. The library IT-Engineer and Information Technology Department (IT) manage OJS server, maintain the OJS database and software, and performs the layout and design customization and development and initial technical configuration for the new journals.
 From the viewpoint of IT, there is a need for several technical skills such as web design skills to customize the style sheets and web layout, graphic design skills to produce banners, logos and cover pages whereas the editorial workflow process may require skills on copy-editing and proofreading of articles. OJS is a template-based platform but when it comes to front-end design, it has its limitation. There are certain limitations which make it difficult to get to the details of the article. For instance, when an article comes with a long abstract or number of references, the web-page becomes unfriendly. Another challenge is when PKP launches a new OJS update. Some features cannot be migrated, and you may lose them. Furthermore, users may find it hard to adapt to the new version. The biggest challenge to the OJS is the learning curve. There are some faculty members who have had some frustrations with the software.
 While it is a free and open source platform, the time, technical skills and programming abilities are still associated with the costs. In this poster we provide you with the challenges and lessons learned so far by the libraries at Stavanger University.

A model for open access institutional repositories usage for university libraries in Ghana

The aim of this article was to develop a model for the usage of Open Access Institutional Repositories (OAIR) in university libraries in Ghana. The article adopted the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), which was then modified to fit the study. The variables were adapted to improve the fit between data and the theoretical model, keeping the characteristics of TAM. Accessibility, availability and visibility were proposed in addition to the conventional variables of TAM. Positivist paradigm, quantitative methods research and survey design were used for the study. Simple random sampling and stratified random sampling were the sampling procedures and methods employed. A total of 998 respondents completed the questionnaires distributed. The questionnaire was used as a research instrument to gather relevant data for the study. Descriptive statistics (frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (multinomial logistic regression and Confirmatory Factor Analysis [CFA], using structural equation modelling [SEM]) were used as statistical tools to analyse the data. The study developed an OAIR Usage Model, which would be instrumental in the usage of OAIR in university libraries in Ghana. The model will enhance both user satisfaction and intention to reuse the OAIR, and make OAIR research outputs available, accessible and visible. This article adds to the body of literature on OAIR, as it is used in university libraries.

Strategies for the use of open access institutional repositories at universities in Ghana

PurposeThis article suggests strategies for the usage of open access institutional repositories (OAIR) at university libraries in Ghana.Design/methodology/approachPragmatism paradigm, mixed methods research approach and convergent parallel mixed method design was adopted. Simple random sampling, stratified random sampling, purposive sampling techniques and the sample size converter were the sampling procedures and methods employed. The questionnaire and interview guide were used as research instruments to gather relevant data for the study. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were used as statistical tools to analyze quantitative and thematic analysis was used to analyze qualitative data.FindingsFactors such as software, staffing, advocacy, marketing and policies are crucial in the development of OAIR strategy at the University of Ghana.Research limitations/implicationsInformation from the National Accreditations Board (NAB) of Ghana (2018) indicates that Ghana has 92 Higher Educational Institutions (HEI). These are categorized into nine national public universities, eight technical universities, ten professional institutions and 65 private universities and university colleges. This article focuses only on five university libraries with the understanding that they were the only universities on the Directory of Open Access Repositories, authoritative international registries of repositories that provide data on the number of registered Institutional Repositories throughout the world.Practical implicationsIt is envisaged that the findings will benefit policymakers, academic staff, university library management and librarians. Academic staff will recognize the need to use OAIR. OAIR managers and administrators will be able to determine the factors affecting the usage of OAIR in university libraries and will be able to design strategies on how OAIR can be sustained and managed.Originality/valueThe article suggests strategies for the usage of OAIR that are instrumental for university libraries in Ghana. The strategies consist of an Institutional Guideline that requires adequate marketing, policies, software and staffing. The research also provided an understanding of OAIR through the lenses of technology acceptance model (TAM) an extension of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) to explain the usage of OAIR in university libraries in Ghana.

Open Access Institutional Repository (OA/IR) Security and Ethical Encounters

The article probes security and ethical issues encountered by the library of the Bindura University of Science Education (BUSE), Zimbabwe, in the daily operations of its institutional repository (IR). The digital era has resulted in innovative scholarly publishing and communication models that are transforming the teaching, learning, and research landscape on a global scale. The study employed a qualitative approach to generate descriptive data on security and ethical challenges experienced at the BUSE library. Research data were collected through document analysis of existing library reports, reports from the library’s information and communication technology (ICT) staff, and focus group discussions. The research population was drawn from library ICT staff and librarians. The researchers used a case study design to explore the research problem. The BUSE library established an IR for the purposes of archiving and enabling open access to its scholarly output. The study revealed that there were legal and ethical issues undermining the security and ethical use of the BUSE IR, particularly cyber threats and unauthorised access. The study makes recommendations on how to overcome the challenges in order to enhance the security of the IR.