Open access practices in India

Abstract

Purpose

The open access movement has become the center of discussion during the last decade. Open access publishing facilitates researchers' and scientists' access to research literature through the internet free of cost. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the awareness of open access publishing among researchers and faculty members of Indian institutions, and to evaluate the development of open access initiatives in India.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is based on both primary and secondary sources of data. For studying awareness of open access publishing, a survey was conducted among the researchers of IITs and IIMs in July‐August 2012 by using a closed ended questionnaire. The growth of open access initiatives in India is analyzed through data collected from secondary sources, i.e. the websites of Ulrich's, DOAJ, ROAR, and OpenDOAR.

Findings

The results showed that India's contribution has increased in the last few years. It was found that the awareness about such open access information sources and initiatives among the research community is increasing.

Originality/value

This study will assist in understanding the practices of open access publishing in India.

Citation

Sahu, S.K. and Arya, S.K. (2013), "Open access practices in India", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 30 No. 4, pp. 6-12. https://doi.org/10.1108/LHTN-03-2013-0011