Open access initiatives adoption by Nigerian academics

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine Nigerian academics' adoption of open access initiatives as authors and readers of scholarly resources. The study was necessitated by the growing need to have the number of Nigerian scholarly publications increased on the internet and accessible to scholars around the world through the use of open access initiatives.

Design/methodology/approach

Academics of two first generation Nigerian universities selected using convenient sampling technique were surveyed using the questionnaire to find out the extent of their awareness and use of open access initiatives as authors and readers of scholarly works. Two hundred and fifty questionnaire copies were distributed in the two universities out of which 189 copies were returned, while 180 copies were found to be useable for the study.

Findings

It was revealed that the respondents were aware of the pre‐print and open access journal initiatives than the post‐print initiative. In terms of the use of open access initiatives, although the study revealed insignificant use among the academics, academics in sciences showed more promise of adopting open access initiative as authors and readers of scholarly resources than their counterparts in the humanities.

Research limitations/implications

Unlike studies that assessed specific subject based and institutional repositories that allowed for the search and extraction of depositors' names and characteristics, this particular study relied on respondents' responses as a source of their actual use of open access repositories.

Originality/value

This paper reveals that academics' perception and publishing culture, and not awareness, determines the extent of their use of open access initiatives in Nigeria.

Citation

Avemaria Utulu, S.C. and Bolarinwa, O. (2009), "Open access initiatives adoption by Nigerian academics", Library Review, Vol. 58 No. 9, pp. 660-669. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242530910997946