Utilization of Open Access Repositories for Visibility of Academic Publications by Lecturers in South-East, Nigeria

1. Introduction

Universities are higher learning institutions that comprise college of liberal arts and sciences which are authorized to award academic degrees in various fields of study. They normally provide undergraduate, postgraduate and professional education (Lewis, 2004). The objective of establishing a university is to ensure that students’ needs are met by providing classic and standard education and training opportunities for them. The university does this by empowering its students to meet-up with the 21^st century challenges through its various programs.

The main functions of universities or higher education according to Hill (2015) are to provide education through the provision of facilities that enhance study and research; promote the progress and development of knowledge that are applied to government, community, industry, and commerce; develop curriculums to meet the community needs; share knowledge, promote scholarship and give degree awards (Duck, 2012). In essence, Universities provide and encourage study and research. Research is an intellectual activity that can be referred to as a systematic analysis and creative works undertook to enhance the collection of knowledge or revise the current knowledge by discovering new facts, including individual and society knowledge.

In order to enhance the preservation and usefulness of research output, it has to be packaged or presented in the form of academic publications. Academic publications can emanate from peer-reviewed articles, opinion papers, faculty projects and reports, conference presentation among others. Publication can be referred to as the act of making information or stories available to people in printed or electronic formats. Academic publications are documents or articles that have undergone peer-review before they are published. Examples of different types of academic publications include; Books and Monographs, Journal Articles, Chapters in the Book, Edited Books, Book Reviews, Conference papers, Scientific Reports, Blogs and other types of Online writing (Churchill, 2016). Once there is a breakthrough or new discovery especially in science and technology, it always circulates to the public in the form of publication either through online or print media or both. Without academic publications and other information materials, teaching and learning would be pretty difficult, and many people would be missing vital information always.

Therefore, university employees most especially lecturers are mandated to engage in research and academic publications for the advancement of the institutions. Lecturers are academic experts who are employed in tertiary institutions to teach students either on a full-time basis or part-time. The Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS) editors (2017) stated that teaching, research and administrative works are some of the proficiency needed by lecturers in their respective field of study. Teaching involves lecturing, practical, and seminar presentation, giving tutorials, fieldwork and using multimedia technologies to engage in e-learning. Research and administrative tasks require a lot of time and input; therefore, lecturers have to be up-and-doing in order to meet up with the expectations.

The essence of academic publications is to increase their usefulness by making them visible to the public. Visibility can be referred as the degree to which something is seen by the public. To achieve visibility in an academic field means that people know your name, think highly of your scientific contributions and are familiar with your work (Mauvais, 2016). To enhance the visibility of academic publications in this 21^st century, open access repositories are highly needed. Open Access Repositories is defined as electronic/digital platforms that hold academic publication and provide immediate, free access to academic publications permanently for individuals to browse, download, read or disseminate (Neil, 2006).

Academic publication in open access repositories makes it available on the internet and permits anyone to browse, download, read, share, print, copy, index or link to other articles; use them as the law permits, and does not require any technical, financial or legal barriers except the ones associated with logging into the internet itself. The necessary copyright condition required on this database is to properly acknowledge the authors through reference and citations. Publications in open access repositories demands that authors and publishers give irreversible, worldwide, free and permanent right to all users to access, use, disseminate, copy, and openly show case the work; transform and share the information openly in any format desired, provided that the authors are properly acknowledged. This implies that open access repositories make authors to publish their articles for impact and not just for money.

To accomplish the purpose of open access repositories, they must be utilized by lecturers and other researchers to archive or upload their research outputs digitally (self-archiving) for more visibility and accessibility. Utilization in this context means to put to use; turn to profitable account and the action of putting the open repositories into practical use.

Globally, open access repositories have grown tremendous in the developed countries like in USA, UK, Germany, and Australia; after which Japan and other African countries followed. This shows that these nations have realized the needs and usefulness of open access platforms in wider dissemination of information. In general, open access databases or repositories are more of institutional, multi-disciplinary and based in English language. Repositories normally employ open access initiative-compliant repository software such as DSpace, Eprints, Greenstone, Architexturez, CALIBRE, Nitya and HTML (Ali, Jan, & Amin, 2013).

In South-East Nigeria, many academic staff of the universities engage in different kinds of research which they need for promotion and retention of tenures. As such, a lot of academic publications emanate from these Lecturers such as articles, conference proceedings, textbooks, handouts, practical guides, abstracts, lecture notes in addition to projects, thesis and dissertations submitted yearly by students as required before they can qualify for the award of degree or diploma certificates. Unfortunately, it has been observed through the research conducted by Ezema (2011) that these intellectual outputs produced every year are heaped or piled up in offices and on library shelves with only few students and researchers utilizing them. In order to tackle this problem, most of these universities have accepted and adopted open access databases mostly school websites and institutional repositories to disseminate their academic outputs. For instance, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka has a functional website (www.unn@edu.ng) and an institutional repository (http://repository.unn.edu.ng:8080/xmlui/) powered by Dspace software. Likewise, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka has an official website (https://www.unizik.edu.ng) and open education resources (https://unizik.edu.ng/oer/) where their staff and students are expected to upload their research findings and other educational resources like lecture notes, conference proceedings, journal articles, books, projects, theses and dissertations among others. The same applies to other federal universities in South-East Nigeria but the concern now is to determine how effective is the utilization of these repositories for academic publications’ visibility?

2. Literature Review

3. Methodology

The study employed descriptive survey research design. This research design according to GutCheck is used to describe a situation, subject, behaviour, or phenomenon. Descriptive survey research design involves a systematic and comprehensive collection of information about the opinions, attitudes, feelings, beliefs and behaviour of people through observation, interviewing and administering of questionnaire to a relatively large and representative sample of the population of interest. The area of the study is South-East, Nigeria. This is one of the six geopolitical zones in the country and it is located between North-Central and South-South of Nigeria. South-East has produced and is still producing great personalities in academics, politics, literature, science and technology, sports, entertainment etc. The choice of South-East, Nigeria is based on the fact that their lecturers are among those leading in research and academic publications in the country. For instance, University of Nigeria, Nsukka ranked second among top ten best universities in Nigeria according to the recent list released by National Universities Commission (NUC) in 2019. The population of the study comprises four thousand, one hundred and eighty-seven (4,187) lecturers employed in selected Federal Universities under study.

Proportionate stratified sampling technique was used to select the sample size of four hundred and eighteen (418) lecturers which is 10% of the total population. Respondents irrespective of genders were randomly selected using the random sampling technique. The instruments for data collection for this study were questionnaire titled “Utilization of Open Access Repositories by Lecturers Questionnaire” (UOARLQ) and observation checklist. The questionnaire formulated in accordance with the research questions which was divided into two sections (A & B). Section ‘A’ contains four items which sought to collect the background information of the respondents such as name of the institution, gender, academic qualification and years of working experience. Section ‘B’ was made up of five clusters designed in line with a 4-point rating scale and required the respondents to tick any option showing their level of agreement. It also has open ended questions for the respondents to make further comment.

The observation checklist was designed by the researcher in line with the research question one which dealt with the availability of academic publications on each of the Universities’ website. The checklist consisted of ten (10) items that helped the researcher to ascertain some of the responses given by respondents through questionnaire

Copies of the questionnaires were administered on the respondents by the researcher and three research assistants by physically visiting the universities under study. The research assistants were given one day briefing on how to administer, retrieve, and return the completed questionnaires to the researcher. The researcher and the research assistants employed direct approach (face-to-face) in administering the questionnaires to the lecturers by visiting them in their offices and classrooms after lectures; this was to minimize wastage and ensure high rate of return. It took approximately 3 weeks (11^th-30^th March 2019) for the researchers to share and retrieve the questionnaires.

In the case of observation checklist, the researcher visited each of the institutions’ repositories by logging into their websites to personally observe the type of academic publications available in each of the selected institutions under study and to check their accessibility.

The data collected was organized and analyzed following the research questions. Research question one was analyzed using percentage. Items that score 50% and above were considered as positive or accepted, while those below 50% were considered negative or rejected by the respondents. “Mean score” was used to analyze research question two to five and the results were presented on tabular form. The real limit of numbers was used to take decision on research questions two to five as follows:

• 0.50-1.49 - Not Employed (NE); Not Satisfied (NS); Strongly Disagree (SD); Not Appropriate (NA)
• 1.50-2.49 - Less Employed (LE); Less Satisfied (LS); Disagree (D); Fairly Appropriate (FA)
• 2.50-3.49 - Employed (E); Satisfied (S); Agree (A); Appropriate (A)
• 3.50-4.0 - Highly Employed (HE); Highly Satisfied (HS); Strongly Agree (SA); Very Appropriate (VA)

The information from observation check list was presented using table and the result used to corroborate the data collected with the questionnaires.

4. Results

A total of four hundred and eighteen (418) questionnaires were distributed to Lecturers of the three institutions under study but three hundred and eighty-eight (388) were returned and correctly filled. This indicates a percentage of 92.83% which the researcher considered appropriate for use.

RQ1: What are the types of academic publications available in this university?

Table 1 presents the list of types of academic publications available in universities under study. The table shows the level of availability as follows: Handouts (44.6%) was the only type of academic publications that was scarcely available. However, books (93.3%), journals (99.5%), conference proceedings (88.4%), newspapers (79.9%), technical reports (71.4%), lecture notes (51.0%), projects (95.4%), abstracts (74.5%) and dissertations (84.5%) were available. In summary, the table revealed that the main academic publications available in all the institutions studied are journals, books, projects, dissertations, conference proceedings, newspapers, abstracts and technical reports. This is in line with the findings of Ocholla, Ocholla, and Onyancha (2012) and Ezema (2011) who pointed out that books, book chapters, journal articles and/or conference publications are types of academic publications provided that they meet the definition of research, and are characterized by substantial scholarly activities.

Table 1.

Frequency and Percentage of the Types of Academic Publications Available in the Universities

The availability of different types of academic publications in the universities under study implies that both lecturers and students in the institutions engage extensively in research and publications. This finding also corroborates with what the researcher observed on each institution’s website where most of these academic publications can be accessed and used. Although, there was a column for handouts but there was nothing uploaded on it.

RQ2: Which platforms are employed by lecturers in archiving of academic publications?

Data in table 2 above shows the platforms that are employed by lecturers in archiving of academic publications. The platforms that were found to be employed included: Google Scholar, Research Gate and Open Access Journals. It was also found that majority of the platforms were less employed they are: institutional repository, Open Education Resources (OER), LinkedIn, among others. With a cluster mean of 2.41 and standard deviations of 1.08, it suggests that on the average, the platforms employed in self-archiving of academic publications are low. This result is similar to the findings of Ukwoma and Mole (2017), which revealed that most archived documents were journal articles but submission of contents for archiving on institutional repositories was very low. Under employment of most of the open access platforms for self-archiving could imply that most lecturers are yet to grasp the important of self-archiving or they lack the awareness of such platforms. It could also be that they are not willing to give out their publications freely as some of them argued that they used their hard earnings to carry out the research without any research grant or government support.

Table 2.

Mean and Standard Deviation of the platforms employed by lecturers in archiving of academic publications

RQ3: what is the lecturers’ level of satisfaction in utilization of Open Access Repositories for the visibility of academic publications?

Data presented in table 3 above shows the mean ratings and standard deviations of lecturers in federal universities in South-East Nigeria on level of satisfaction in utilization of Open Access Repositories for the visibility of academic publications. The table revealed that none of the items was rated highly satisfied; that four items were rated satisfied, they are; Google Scholar, Research Gate, Open Access Journals, and Institutional Repository. However, the respondents were not satisfaction with seven other platform, this was shown with mean scores below 2.50 they include; Open Education Resources (OER), LinkedIn, Academia.edu, Face book, Twitter, Personal Website and Personal Blog. The overall cluster mean of these items was 2.51 with standard deviations of 1.03. This result shows that lecturers in this part of the world are less satisfied with the contribution of open access repositories.

Table 3.

Mean and Standard Deviation of the lecturers’ Level of Satisfaction in Utilization of Open Access Repositories for the Visibility of Academic Publications

This result relates with the findings of Islam and Akter (2013) which revealed that the awareness of open access in the developing world is still low, while more scientifically advanced nations have already recognized the benefits of open access and are making fast progress both in converting journals to open access and in establishing interoperable Institutional Repositories. From the researcher’s opinion, if school authorities and library managements should improve the working conditions of the staff by enhancing the staff welfare, subscribing to more open access databases, provision of electricity and stable networks, this will probably endear lecturers to open access repositories.

RQ4: what are the challenges associated with the use of Open Access Repositories for visibility of academic publications of lecturers?

Table 4 presents the mean ratings and the standard deviations responses of lecturers in federal universities in South-East, Nigeria on the challenges associated with the use of Open Access Repositories for visibility of academic publications. In the descending order of severity, they agreed that: inadequate power supply, poor networks, inadequate research grants/incentives to embark on research activities, poor internet connectivity, among others were the challenges associated with the use of Open Access Repositories for visibility of academic publications. This affirms the findings of Sambe and Raphael (2015), Mole and Obidike (2015).

Table 4.

Mean and Standard Deviation of Challenges Associated with the Use of Open Access Repositories for Visibility of Academic Publications of Lecturers

RQ5: what are the strategies for enhancing the utilization of Open Access Repositories for visibility of academic publications?

Table 5 shows the mean responses and the standard deviations in the opinions of lecturers, the strategies for enhancing the utilization of Open Access Repositories for visibility of academic publications in selected federal universities in South-East Nigeria. The mean ratings of lecturers on each of the items were above 2.50, and this implies that all the suggested strategies were accepted. From the table, it was found that nine out of fifteen item statements were rated very high, from the highest order of their preference, they are; school and library authorities should create more awareness on (OARs) by organizing seminars and workshops, school authorities should ensure adequate internet connectivity, institutions should make provision for steady power supply, and so on.

Table 5.

Mean and Standard Deviation of Strategies for Enhancing the Utilization of Open Access Repositories for Visibility of Academic Publications

This finding align with the findings of Islam and Akter (2013) who suggested that university administrators should create more open access awareness and that there should be more Government sponsorship and intervention in order to purchase Open Access Software products such as EPrints, DSpace, FEDORA, Greenstone. If the school authorities will implement all these, it will be a good avenue to enhance the dissemination of knowledge which is one of the main functions of higher institutions.

5. Limitation of the Study

The limitation encountered in the course of this study was in the area of industrial action by academic staff union of the universities (ASUU strike), this delayed the collection of data and some of the questionnaires were lost in the process. Another limitation was in the area of convincing the academic planning unit of each university under study to release the total number of their academic staff. This took several weeks and a lot of write-ups before they complied. Next was the pain of travelling from one state to another to share the questionnaires due to bad roads and lack of accommodation. Regardless of these limitations, the researcher was able to gather valuable data that was used for the study.

6. Conclusion

The study covered utilization of open access repositories for visibility of academic publications by lecturers in South-East, Nigeria. The objectives were to identify the types of academic publications available in selected federal universities; platforms used in archiving of academic publications and the level of satisfaction derived by lecturers with the contribution of open access repositories. The study showed that academic publications such as books, journals, conference proceedings, newspapers, technical reports, lecture notes, projects, abstracts and dissertations, are available in all the universities studied with the exception of handouts. It also revealed that lecturers highly employ few of the open access platforms such as Google Scholar, Research Gate and Open Access Journal, while many others like Institutional Repositories, Open Education Resources, LinkedIn, among others are less employed. The low level of utilization could be attributed to lack of awareness and management issues in the provision of facilities and infrastructures. The study suggested some strategies to get the interest of lecturers in uploading their academic publications on open access repositories such include creation of awareness, provision of adequate ICT facilities; motivation of academics and making of open access policy by the school authorities. If all these strategies are implemented, academics as well as the institutions stand the chance of being globally visible through their research and publications.

7. Recommendations

Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations were made:

• (1) There should be more campaigns to create awareness and sensitize the university community on the importance of open access repositories. In this way, the academics will see the necessity of archiving their publications for more visibility and citations.
• (2) Research funders and school authorities should support lecturers and motivate to publish in all the open access repositories available so as to enhance the institution’s global visibility.
• (3) School authorities should provide effective and adequate infrastructures such as computers, smart boards; free Wi-Fi, more bandwidths and constant power supply in order to increase the extent of utilization of open access repositories by lecturers.
• (4) Federal government and the school authorities should ensure that lecturers’ welfare are paramount by providing them with comfortable offices, research grants, enough allowances and other incentives.
• (5) There should be a documented policy by the university management that requires lecturers to upload their articles on the institutional repositories as it is done in developed countries.

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