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This study aims to investigate the preferences of 96 educational researchers on the use of digital technologies in scientific research.

The study was designed as a quantitative-dominant sequential explanatory mixed-method research.

Despite the spreading use of advanced technologies of big data and data mining, the most preferred digital technologies were found to be data analysis programs, databases and questionnaires. The primary reasons of using digital technology in scientific research were to collect data easily and quickly, to reduce research costs and to reach a higher number of participants.

The use of digital technologies in scientific research is considered a revolutionary action, which creates innovative opportunities. Through digitalized life, probably for the first time in history, the educational researchers have analytical information, which we can benefit from more than the individual's own statements in research involving human factor. However, there are a few studies that investigated the preferences of educational researchers who use digital technologies in their scientific research.

This paper aims to assess whether the current eResearch Knowledge Centre’s (eRKC) research support practices align with researchers’ requirements for achieving their research objectives. The study’s objectives were to assess the current eRKC research support services and to determine which are adequate and which are not in supporting the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) researchers.

This study uses interviews as part of the qualitative approach. The researcher chose to use interviews, as some aspects warranted further explanation during the interview. The interviews were scheduled using Zoom’s scheduling assistant. The interviews were semi-structured, guided by a flexible interview procedure and supplemented by follow-up questions, probes and comments. The research life cycle questions guided the interviews. The data obtained were coded and transcribed using MS Excel. The interview data were analysed, using NVivo, according to the themes identified in the research questions and aligned with the theory behind the study. Pre-determined codes were created in line with the six stages of the research life cycle and applied to group the data and extract meaning from each category. Interviewee responses were assigned to groups in line with the stages of the research life cycle.

The current eRKC research support services are aligned with the needs of HSRC researchers and highlight services that could be expanded or promoted more effectively to HSRC researchers. It proposes a new service, data analysis, and suggests that the eRKC could play a more prominent role in research impact, research data management and fostering collaboration with HSRC research divisions.

This study is limited to assessing the eRKC’s support practices at the HSRC in Pretoria, South Africa. A more comprehensive study is needed for HSRC research services, capabilities and capacity.

Assessment of eRKC followed a comprehensive interviewee schedule that followed Raju and Schoombee’s research life cycle model.

Zoom’s scheduling assistant may have generated Zoom fatigue and reduced productivity. Technical issues, losing time, communication gaps and distant time zones may have affected face-to-face interaction.

eRKC research support practices are rare in South Africa and most parts of the world. This study bridges the gap between theory and practice in assessing eRKC research support practices.

To provide an overview of how open access (OA) repositories have grown to take a premier place in the e‐research knowledge cycle and offer Southampton's route from project to sustainable institutional repository.

The evolution of institutional repositories and OA is outlined raising questions of multiplicity of repository choice for the researcher. A case study of the University of Southampton research repository (e‐Prints Soton) route to sustainability is explored with a description of a new project that will contribute to e‐research by linking text and data.

A model for IR sustainability.

The TARDis project was one of the first IRs to achieve central university funding in the UK. Combined with increased visibility and citation, the research assessment exercise route has become the “hook” on which a number of IRs are basing their business models.

The purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate Professor Lee D. Parker's call for the use of photo‐elicitation (P‐E) in qualitative accounting and management research projects.

This paper reviews relevant literature and previous P‐E‐based studies, discusses Professor Parker's paper in detail, and describes the strengths, concerns, and opportunities of P‐E research.

This paper identifies the unique complexities that P‐E‐based research engenders and alerts researchers to the fact that P‐E may not be the most appropriate method when research questions are primarily concerned with uncovering the ethnography of institutions rather than the perceptions of informants. It concludes that while opportunities for P‐E research abound, researchers must be certain that P‐E is the most appropriate method to generate data.

This paper examines an under‐researched procedure, identifies relevant related studies, and should help intending and existing scholars to evaluate the procedure.

The paper aims to present a conceptual model for networked academic library services in a research‐intensive university. It also seeks to focus on the potential challenges that the networked library faces in responding to massive needs of the researchers for digital content in different forms and formats.

The author conducted a personal interview (face‐to‐face, and email communication) with 75 research faculties and postgraduate students in the colleges of business, engineering, IT, and sciences at the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU). The approach to design the conceptual model for the research‐oriented library service was based on the feedback and observations of the interviewees on the pattern of query processing, research consultations (e.g. comprehensive, expert, topical search), e‐resources coverage, and relevance of the returns to their queries and information needs.

The proposed conceptual model demonstrates the virtual reference service, processing of research queries, online information search and retrieval, and data delivery to the researchers within a virtual research environment (VRE) in the UAEU. The study argues that the UAEU library should employ new strategies to meet the arising challenges of digital content and ongoing advances in information and communication technology (ICT), as well as considering how to embed itself within a research‐intensive university.

The personal interview does not claim to be all‐inclusive since the research faculties in the humanities and social studies were not reached. The inference of the study is encouraging the directors of the academic and research libraries to consider new models and strategies for providing reliable research‐oriented information services for supporting the emerging paradigm of e‐research activities.

The study derived research‐oriented service implications for the subject librarians to engage effectively with the research‐devoted community either in the physical or in the virtual sphere, i.e. a two‐faceted sphere.

An extensive literature review revealed that there is a lack of scholarly works on research‐oriented library services that are provided by the academic libraries at the UAE‐based universities. The study is the first in the UAE to provide a broad understanding to an academic library in a research‐intensive environment for adjusting its web‐based information services. It presents also a suitable approach to embed librarians in the activities of the new paradigms of e‐learning and e‐science.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of a Library 2.0 service model for an African library.

The paper focuses on the academic library at the University of Pretoria (UP), South Africa.

The UP is well on its way to becoming a Library 2/0 library.

This case study may pave the way for other academic libraries to integrate Library 2.0 within their service offering to the benefit of all.

The purpose of this paper is to report on “turning a new page” (TNP), a business improvement initiative undertaken by Scholarly Information & Research (SIR). The aim is to embed innovation and integrate e‐research and library services. SIR is part of the Information Services (INS) division at Griffith University, one of the top research universities in Australia. SIR provides library services, publication support and eResearch services to over 43,000 students and staff at five campuses and online.

TNP combines methods from best practices around continuous improvement, change management and business planning to achieve better alignment operationally and to prioritise potential improvements to services. The focus is on services required in three to five years for the “new generation” of users who will need them.

Existing services were unevenly delivered and resources unevenly distributed. A key initial step is restructuring to collocate similar capabilities and redistribute resources, and provides a framework for developing future capacity. The integrated staffing approach nurtures innovation and skills development.

Integrating e‐research services with library services to this extent has not been achieved in an Australian context before. The combination of methods applied and the progress achieved to date illustrates the value of the approach and may be relevant for other research‐intensive universities.