Factors influencing the adoption of open access scholarly communication in Tanzanian public universities :
Open access – a means for free availability of scholarly content via the Internet – is an emerging opportunity for wider and unlimited access to scholarly literature. Scholarly communication, through open access journals and self-arching, are the two main approaches of open access publishing. However, this mode of scholarly communication is not widely utilised in developing countries such as Tanzania. This paper discusses the factors that influence the adoption of open access for scholarly communication in Tanzanian public universities based on a study conducted from 2007 to 2010. A survey questionnaire targeted 544 researchers selected through stratified random sampling from a population of 1088
university researchers at six public universities in Tanzania. In addition, 69 policy makers from the six universities were interviewed. It was evident from the findings that the majority of both the policy makers and researchers were aware of open access. However, most of the researchers accessed free online content more (62%) than they disseminated their scholarly content (20%) through open access. Researchers’ Internet usage skills and self-efficacy, social influence, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and the respondents’ general perceptions about open access were identified as the positive factors likely to facilitate open access adoption in Tanzanian public universities. The current poor research conditions and researchers’ low Internet self-efficacy such as inadequate information search skills were cited as the main hindrances for researchers to use open access outlets to access scholarly content. Additionally, inadequate online publishing skills, and the slow Internet connectivity are the
main issues that deterred researchers to disseminate the research findings through open access outlets. The paper recommends that institutional policies on scholarly communication should be revised to incorporate the use of open access publishing. Furthermore, universities should accelerate the establishment of institutional repositories, advocacy campaigns and training directed to researchers, policy makers, readers and information managers of scholarly content, and the improvement of Internet speed at universities through subscription to more bandwidth so as to meet the demand from the scholarly community.
URL : http://www.ifla.org/files/hq/papers/ifla76/138-dulle-en.pdf
Archives des mots-clés : open repositories
Preserving repository content: practical…
Preserving repository content: practical steps for repository managers :
The stated aim of most repositories is to provide permanent open access to the material therein. Why, then, have so few repositories implemented practical action plans for long term preservation of their content? Although a number of preservation tools and services already exist, until now few have addressed the specific needs of repositories; in practical terms they have necessitated action that is additional rather than integral to repository workflow. Repository content is typically highly varied and complex, while descriptive metadata and file formats are used inconsistently and deposited by those without knowledge or expertise in managing digital assets. The JISC-funded KeepIt project is bringing together existing preservation tools and services with appropriate training and advice on preservation strategy, policy, costs, metadata, storage, format management and trust to enable the participating repository managers to formulate practical and achievable preservation plans. From the point of view of the repository manager, this presentation summarises the activities of the KeepIt project, describes the impact that the project has had on the participating repositories, and suggests steps that other repository managers might take to ensure preservation readiness.
URL : http://eprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/21240/
Open Access to Scholarly Outputs in Spai…
Open Access to Scholarly Outputs in Spain : http://www.accesoabierto.net/sites/accesoabierto.net/files/abadal%20et%20al_oa%20spain%20granada%202010.pdf
Aspects juridiques de la publication sci…
Aspects juridiques de la publication scientifique. Guide pratique à l’attention des membres de
la communauté universitaire : http://orbi.ulg.ac.be/handle/2268/4277
Authentication and Authorization: Securi…
Authentication and Authorization: Security Issues for Institutional Digital Repositories :
In this digital age and the development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) many organizations have realized the benefits of sharing information within the organization as well within the community and globally. These organizations may be corporate company, research organization or academic institutions. In the academic institutions with the higher education, information capturing, dissemination and sharing is practiced most. In spite of Open Source Drive , in the highly competitive environment, many university or colleges raise a paradox between allowing information and knowledge to flow freely, and the need to keep certain information very secure. In restricted or closed-information environment secured information channel, authorization and authentication of both users and digital contents are a burning issue today. Digital contents are managed and stored in repository to share. Repository of an institution can support research, learning, and administrative processes as well as purposes. Standards are followed for the repositories which ensure that the contents contain is accessible in that and it can be searched and retrieved for later use. A wide variety of contents may be included in the digital repositories for the multiplicity of purposes and users. It is the technical ability and administrative policy decision that what kind of materials goes into a repository (Jones, et al 2006). A proper digital repository not only requires an organized collection of digitized content, it also requires that the content be accessed and distributed as widely as possible to legitimate users around the globe. Access management and control is one of the major concerns for content-providers on the Internet. Without a proper access management mechanism confidentiality and integrity of information cannot be guaranteed. Different conventional methods are practiced by the content-providers but not a single method is sufficient for access management (Ray and Chakraborty, 2006). However, the administrators of the digital content-providers mostly expect their preferences for the technology or the procedure to be available which may be best practiced globally.
URL : http://unllib.unl.edu/LPP/shoeb-sobhan.htm
CRIS and Institutional Repositories : CR…
CRIS and Institutional Repositories :
CRIS (Current Research Information Systems) provide researchers, research managers, innovators, and others with a view over the research activity of a domain. IRs (institutional repositories) provide a mechanism for an organisation to showcase through OA (open access) its intellectual property. Increasingly, organizations are mandating that their employed researchers deposit peer-reviewed published material in the IR. Research funders are increasingly mandating that publications be deposited in an open access repository: some mandate a central (or subject-based) repository, some an IR. In parallel, publishers are offering OA but replacing subscription-based access with author (or author institution) payment for publishing. However, many OA repositories have metadata based on DC (Dublin Core) which is inadequate; a CERIF (Common-European Research Information Format) CRIS provides metadata describing publications with formal syntax and declared semantics thus facilitating interoperation or homogeneous access over heterogeneous sources. The formality is essential for research output metrics, which are increasingly being used to determine future funding for research organizations.
URL : http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/dsj/advpub/0/advpub_1004290223/_article
Using a CRIS for E-Infrastructure: E-Inf…
Using a CRIS for E-Infrastructure: E-Infrastructure for Scholarly Publications :
Scholarly publications are a major part of the research infrastructure. One way to make output available is to store the publications in Open Access Repositories (OAR). A Current Research Information System (CRIS) that conforms to the standard CERIF (Common European Research Information Format) could be a key component in the e-infrastructure. A CRIS provides the structure and makes it possible to interoperate the CRIS metadata at every stage of the research cycle. The international DRIVER projects are creating a European repository infrastructure. Knowledge Exchange has launched a project to develop a metadata exchange format for publications between CRIS and OAR systems.
URL : http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/dsj/advpub/0/advpub_1004300224/_article