Journal of Information and Knowledge (Formerly SRELS Journal of Information Management)

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access
Open Access Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Restricted Access Subscription Access

Awareness and Use of Open Access Resources among the Social Scientists:A Study of ICSSR Institutes in India


Affiliations
1 Institute for Social and Economic Change, Nagarabhavi, Bangalore - 560072, Karnataka, India
     

   Subscribe/Renew Journal


Social science research institutions play a vital role in society by way of creating, formulating public policies. This study focuses on social scientists’ approach to open access initiatives in India. A structured questionnaire was distributed among 288 faculty members of ICSSR institutes located all over India; 166 (58%) responses were received. The study findings show that, 67% of the respondents are aware of open access resources available in social science research arena, but are not very keen on publishing their research work in open access journals. Over 55% of the respondents have responded positively to citation of open access resources in their research publications. Visibility and free access are found to be the major advantages associated with open access journals, while expensive author publishing charge is the foremost hurdle to publishing articles in open access journals. Finally, the study concludes with the suggestion that OA publishers need to be more vibrant about maintaining the quality of research articles in addition to enlightening on the role of librarians in promoting the use of open access resources.

Keywords

Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) Institutes, Open Access (OA), Scholarly Communication, Social Science Publications, Social Scientists.
User
About The Author

Pradeep V. Hegde
Institute for Social and Economic Change, Nagarabhavi, Bangalore - 560072, Karnataka
India


Notifications

  • Suber, Peter (2008). Open access overview. Accessed on 12 May 2017. Available at: https://legacy.earlham.edu/~peters/ hometoc.htm.

  • Budapest Open Access Initiative (2002). Read budapest open access initiative. Accessed on 19 May 2017. Available at: http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read.

  • Bethesda statement on open access publishing (2003). Accessed on 15 May 2017. Available at: http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/bethesda.htm.

  • Nick J. (2011). Open access part II: The structure, resources and implications for nurses, Online Journal of Issues in Nursing. 17(1):7. Accessed on 16 May 2017. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22320873.

  • Fidishun D. (2010). The paradigm shift in scholarly communication: Will publication perish, BLOG post. Accessed on 28th June 2017. Available at: http://www.personal.psu.edu/dxf19/blogs/dolors_list_of_cfps/ 2010/03/the-paradigmshift-in-scholarly-communication-will-publicationperish.html.

  • Russell IG. (2011). Visibility of academic resources: A critical review of the role of institutional repositories and open access, ResearchGate. 25(53):159-81.

  • Bennett R. (2013). The changing role of publisher in the scholarly communication process. In: The Future Of Scholarly Communication, Ed. Shorley D. and Jubb M. Facet Publishing, London; 2013. p. 103-14.

  • David Nicholas, Paul Huntington, Ian Rowlands (2005).Open access journal publishing: The view of some of the world’s senior authors, Journal of Documentation.61(4):497-519 Crossref.

  • Nagaraj MN, Bhandi MK. (2016). Use and awareness of open access resources among researchers: A case study of Raman Research Institute, SRELS Journal of Information Management. 53(5):381-86. Crossref.

  • Zeng D. (2010). Study on the models of open access resources.In: 2nd International Conference on Information Science and Engineering, ICISE 2010 Proceedings; 2010. p.2403-07. Crossref.

  • Pinfield S. (2007). Libraries and open access: the implication of open access publishing and dissemination for libraries in higher education institution. In: Digital ConvergenceLibraries of the Future. Springer, London; 2007.119-34. Crossref.

  • Ivwighreghweta O, Onoriode OK. (2012). Awareness and use of open access journals by LIS students at the university of Ibadan, Nigeria, Library Philosophy and Practice. 719.Accessed on 14 June 2017. Available at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1793&context= libphilprac.

  • Garfield Eugene (2004). Post to American scientist open access forum listserv. Accessed on 21 May 2017. Available at http://listserver.sigmaxi.org/sc/wa.exe?A2=ind04&L=americanscientist-open-access-forum.

  • Thomson ISI (2004). The impact of open access journals: A citation study from Thomson ISI. Accessed on 16 June 2017. Available at: www.lib.uiowa.edu/scholarly/documents/ ISI_impact-oa-journals.pdf on 18 July 2017.

  • Rowlands Ian, Nicholas Dev, Huntington Paul (2004).Scholarly communication in the digital age: What do authors want, Learned Publishing. 17(4):261-73. Crossref.

  • Coonin Bryna, Younce Leigh M. (2010). Publishing Open Access Education Journals: The author’s perspective, Behavioural and Social Science Librarian. 29(2):118-32.Crossref.


Abstract Views: 392

PDF Views: 20




  • Awareness and Use of Open Access Resources among the Social Scientists:A Study of ICSSR Institutes in India

Abstract Views: 392  |  PDF Views: 20

Authors

Pradeep V. Hegde
Institute for Social and Economic Change, Nagarabhavi, Bangalore - 560072, Karnataka, India

Abstract


Social science research institutions play a vital role in society by way of creating, formulating public policies. This study focuses on social scientists’ approach to open access initiatives in India. A structured questionnaire was distributed among 288 faculty members of ICSSR institutes located all over India; 166 (58%) responses were received. The study findings show that, 67% of the respondents are aware of open access resources available in social science research arena, but are not very keen on publishing their research work in open access journals. Over 55% of the respondents have responded positively to citation of open access resources in their research publications. Visibility and free access are found to be the major advantages associated with open access journals, while expensive author publishing charge is the foremost hurdle to publishing articles in open access journals. Finally, the study concludes with the suggestion that OA publishers need to be more vibrant about maintaining the quality of research articles in addition to enlightening on the role of librarians in promoting the use of open access resources.

Keywords


Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) Institutes, Open Access (OA), Scholarly Communication, Social Science Publications, Social Scientists.

References