Perceptions, preferences of scholarly publishing in Open Access journals. A survey of academic librarians in Africa
| Published date | 13 November 2017 |
| Date | 13 November 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/DLP-03-2017-0011 |
| Pages | 378-394 |
| Author | Gabriel Bosah,Chuma Clement Okeji,Ebikabowei Emmanuel Baro |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Librarianship/library management,Library technology,Records management & preservation,Information repositories |
Perceptions, preferences of
scholarly publishing in Open
Access journals
A survey of academic librarians in Africa
Gabriel Bosah
Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research, Benin City, Nigeria
Chuma Clement Okeji
Chukwuemeka Odumegwe Ojukwu University, Igbariam Campus, Nigeria, and
Ebikabowei Emmanuel Baro
Federal University Otuoke, Yenagoa, Nigeria
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of the studyis to know the various factors librarians consider while selectingOpen
Access (OA) journalfor publication and to identify the challenges librarians facewith OA journalpublishing.
Design/methodology/approach –Online questionnairewas designed to collect data from 402academic
librariansin 87 universities in Africa using SurveyMonkey software.
Findings –The study found that academic librarians are aware of the “green”and “gold”routes but not
familiar with the “diamond”route.The study revealed that a large number of the academic librarians have
published only one paper in OA journals, followed by those who have not published any paper in OA
journals. The study also revealed that reputation of journal and impact factor of journal were seen as very
important among the factorsthat inform them of choosing OA. The majority of the respondents agreed that
author fees,and lack of stable internet connectivity are the major barriers to publishingin OA journals.
Practical implications –The study recommends that academic libraries in institutions of higher
learning in Africa should organize seminars periodically on the need for their librarians to research and
publishin OA journals.
Social implications –Identifying factorsinvolved in author decisions to publish in OA journals will help
illuminate issues that may encourage or discourage author support of OA publishing models. Further
understanding of these issues can assist the effortsto improve author perceptions of and confidence in OA
publications.
Originality/value –It is believedthat this study of African librarianspublishing in OA journals is the first
study in the region.
Keywords Africa, Institutional repositories, Academic librarians, Scholarly publishing,
Open Access routes, Self-archiving
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Open Access (OA) journals provide a wide range of information to researchers and users in
general. OA refers to accessibility of all kinds of print that are published and can be accessed
through the internet free of charge, which includes scholarly publications. Information, no
doubt, is an integral part of man’s daily activities and existence, and access to available
information resources or scholarly publications should be a global concern to all stakeholders.
DLP
33,4
378
Received 15 March 2017
Revised 17 May 2017
Accepted 17 May 2017
DigitalLibrary Perspectives
Vol.33 No. 4, 2017
pp. 378-394
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2059-5816
DOI 10.1108/DLP-03-2017-0011
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2059-5816.htm
According to the BudapestOpen Access Initiative (2012, p. 1), OA is:
[...] permitting any user to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts
of these articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other
lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from
gaining access to the internet itself.
For years now, authorities in the field of research have been advocating that scholarship should
be freely available to all. Due to the significance attached to research and publication in
institutions of higher learning in Africa, academic librarians in the universities are expected to
conduct research and publish their research results in scholarly journals. Research and research
publications complement each other, meaning that academic librarians should not only engage
in research but also publish the outcome of their studies (Baro and Ebhomeya, 2012). Rapid
price escalations in scholarly journal subscription rates, however, have adversely affected
access to scholarly publications in Africa. Even the most well-endowed research library in
Africa, for instance, cannot afford to provide access to all of the contents requested by its
faculty staff and students. The situation is more critical for smaller colleges and universities
and other institutions in African countries that have limited annual budgets.
There is no doubt that OA advocates have been working to create awareness of the
serious problems caused by restricting access to academic researchpublications as well the
economic challenges for the future of academic publishing(Morris, 2004). Even though OA
models are problematic, traditional publishing models are not sustainable and something
radical needs to be done to change the situation. The question is: How many academic
librarians in Africa are ready to consider an OA journal as a means of publishing their
research results? This study is aimed at investigating the perceptions by academic
librarians in Africaon the possible choice of OA journal as their publication preference.
Research questions
The following researchquestions will be addressed in the study:
R1. To what extent are academiclibrarians in Africa aware of OA publishing models?
R2. To what extent do academiclibrarians in Africa publish in OA journals?
R3. What are the factors that inform academiclibrarians in Africa on OA choices?
R4. To what extent are academic librarians in Africa aware and use any of the self-
archiving options?
R5. How would academic librarians in Africa rate the level of importance when
selecting a journal to publishtheir article?
R6. To what extent do academic librariansin Africa agree to the barriers to publishing
in OA journals?
R7. What needs to change before academic librarians in Africa would consider
publishing in OA journals?
Literature review
Librarians and Open Access publishing in general
To understand why academic authors would or would not publish in OA journals, a number of
researchers began investigating faculty engagement with OA across a range of disciplines in
A survey of
academic
librarians in
Africa
379
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