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The purpose of this paper is to determine the relationship between the access mode of research articles [Open Access (OA) and Toll-Access (TA)] and their subsequent citation counts in Biological and Physical Sciences in three Impact factor zones (High, Medium and Low).

Three subjects each from Biological Sciences (Biochemistry, Cell Biology and Genetics) and Physical Sciences (Astronomy, Oceanography and Optics) were selected for the study. A comprehensive list of journals (TA and OA) in select subjects of Biological and Physical Sciences was prepared by consulting Journal Citation Report’s Master Journal List (for the compilation of both Open Access and Toll Access journal list) and Directory of Open Access Journals (for the compilation of Open Access journal list). For each journal, essential details like content language, format, year of publication, access mode (Open Access or Toll Access), etc. were obtained from Ulrich’s Periodical Directory. Web of Science (WoS) was used as citations indexing tool in this study. The data set was run on the WoS to collect the citation data.

The results of the study indicate that open mode of access is not a prerequisite for higher citation boost as in the majority of the cases in this study, TA articles have garnered a greater number of citations as compared to open access articles in different Impact factor zones in Biological and Physical Sciences.

A novel approach has been adopted to understand and compare the research impact of open access (OA) and toll access (TA) journal articles in the field of Biological and Physical Sciences at three Impact factor zone levels to reveal the citation metrics encompassing three parameters, i.e. citedness, average citation count and year wise distribution of citations in select subjects of Biological and Physical Sciences.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/[DOI]/10.1108/OIR-01-2021-0029

This study aims to identify and assess the significant risks in Yemen oil and gas construction projects based on their risk rating (impact and probability) by using probability–impact matrix (PIM).

In total, 51 risk factors that might affect construction projects in the oil and gas sector are defined through a detailed literature review and expert judgment. The risk factors were tabulated in a questionnaire form, which was sent to a total of 400 participants asking their contribution in identifying the risk matrix for the risk factors in terms of impact and probability of occurrence during the project life cycle. Five zones were used in the matrix according to the degree of risk factor’s severity on the success of the project. These zones are light green, dark green, yellow, light red and dark red.

The PIM analysis for risk factors found that five factors are located in the dark red zone, as top risks factors have a very high impact and very high probability of occurring; 40 factors are located in the light red zone; six factors are located in the yellow zone; and no factors are located in the green zone (light and dark), which is considered an indication of the importance of risk factors under study and their impact on the success of construction projects in the oil and gas sector. Moreover, the factors under feasibility study and design and resources and material; are the most categories effect on project success.

The research was limited to the oil and gas construction projects in Yemen.

Practically, this study highlights the top risk factors in oil and gas construction projects, which might cause an adverse effect on project success in Yemen. Classification and ranking of these factors by using the risk matrix provide the basis for risk response planning to enhance the chances of project success.

This paper identifies the matrix for risk factors affecting the success of construction projects in the oil and gas industry in Yemen. There is a significant contribution expected from this research, especially for companies operating in the oil and gas sector and other organizations that plan to invest in this field, in addition to expected benefits for the Yemeni Government and researchers because of lack of research in this area.

“It should also be noted that the objective of convergence and equal distribution, including across under-performing areas, can hinder efforts to generate growth. Contrariwise, the objective of competitiveness can exacerbate regional and social inequalities, by targeting efforts on zones of excellence where projects achieve greater returns (dynamic major cities, higher levels of general education, the most advanced projects, infrastructures with the heaviest traffic, and so on). If cohesion policy and the Lisbon Strategy come into conflict, it must be borne in mind that the former, for the moment, is founded on a rather more solid legal foundation than the latter” European Commission (2005, p. 9)Adaptation of Cohesion Policy to the Enlarged Europe and the Lisbon and Gothenburg Objectives.

Occupant behavior can lead to considerable uncertainties in thermal comfort and air quality within buildings. To tackle this challenge, the use of probabilistic controls to simulate occupant behavior has emerged as a potential solution. This study seeks to analyze the performance of free-running households by examining adaptive thermal comfort and CO2 concentration, both crucial variables in indoor air quality. The investigation of indoor environment dynamics caused by the occupants' behavior, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, became increasingly important. Specifically, it investigates 13 distinct window and shading control strategies in courtyard houses to identify the factors that prompt occupants to interact with shading and windows and determine which control approach effectively minimizes the performance gap.

This paper compares commonly used deterministic and probabilistic control functions and their effects on occupant comfort and indoor air quality in four zones surrounding a courtyard. The zones are differentiated by windows facing the courtyard. The study utilizes the energy management system (EMS) functionality of EnergyPlus within an algorithmic interface called Ladybug Tools. By modifying geometrical dimensions, orientation, window-to-wall ratio (WWR) and window operable fraction, a total of 465 cases are analyzed to identify effective control scenarios. According to the literature, these factors were selected because of their potential significant impact on occupants’ thermal comfort and indoor air quality, in addition to the natural ventilation flow rate. Additionally, the Random Forest algorithm is employed to estimate the individual impact of each control scenario on indoor thermal comfort and air quality metrics, including operative temperature and CO2 concentration.

The findings of the study confirmed that both deterministic and probabilistic window control algorithms were effective in reducing thermal discomfort hours, with reductions of 56.7 and 41.1%, respectively. Deterministic shading controls resulted in a reduction of 18.5%. Implementing the window control strategies led to a significant decrease of 87.8% in indoor CO2 concentration. The sensitivity analysis revealed that outdoor temperature exhibited the strongest positive correlation with indoor operative temperature while showing a negative correlation with indoor CO2 concentration. Furthermore, zone orientation and length were identified as the most influential design variables in achieving the desired performance outcomes.

It’s important to acknowledge the limitations of this study. Firstly, the potential impact of air circulation through the central zone was not considered. Secondly, the investigated control scenarios may have different impacts on air-conditioned buildings, especially when considering energy consumption. Thirdly, the study heavily relied on simulation tools and algorithms, which may limit its real-world applicability. The accuracy of the simulations depends on the quality of the input data and the assumptions made in the models. Fourthly, the case study is hypothetical in nature to be able to compare different control scenarios and their implications. Lastly, the comparative analysis was limited to a specific climate, which may restrict the generalizability of the findings in different climates.

Occupant behavior represents a significant source of uncertainty, particularly during the early stages of design. This study aims to offer a comparative analysis of various deterministic and probabilistic control scenarios that are based on occupant behavior. The study evaluates the effectiveness and validity of these proposed control scenarios, providing valuable insights for design decision-making.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to determine the factors contributing to farm income in the Transitional and Savanna zones of Ghana and to ascertain variations between in the same and across the two locations; and to determine the impact of credit on farm income in each of the two zones and to ascertain the variation in impact of credit across the two locations.

In order to address endogeneity and sample selection bias, the authors draw from the theory of impact evaluation in nonrandom experiment, employing the endogenous switching regression (ESR) while using the propensity score matching (PSM) to check for robustness of the results.

The results show significant mean differences between some characteristics of households that have access to credit and those that did not have access. Further, the results revealed farm size, labor; gender, age, literacy, wealth and group membership as the significant determinants of both credit access and income in the two zones. With the ESR, credit access increases households farm income by GH¢206.56/ha and GH¢39.74/ha in the Transitional and Savanna zones, respectively, but with the PSM, credit increases farm income by GH¢201.50 and GH¢45.69 and in the Transitional and Savanna, respectively.

The mean differences in characteristics of the households revealed the presence of selection bias in the distribution of household’s covariates in the two zones. The results further indicate the importance of productive resources, information and household characteristics in improved access to credit and farm income. Also, the results from both methods indicate that credit access leads to significant gains in farm income for households in both zones. However, differences exist in the results of PSM and that of the ESR results.

The presence of selection bias in the samples suggests that the use of ESR and PSM techniques is appropriate. Further, the results suggesting that enhanced credit access and farm income could be attained through improved access to household resources and information. The results also suggest the need for establishing and expanding credit programs to cover more households in both zones. The differential impact of credit between the two methods employed in each zone revealed the weakness of each model. The low values from PSM could indicate the presence of selection bias resulting from unobservable factors whiles the high values from the ESR could stem from the restrictive assumption of the model. This reinforces the importance of combining mixed methods to check robustness of results and to explore the weakness of each method employed.

The novelty of this study lies in the use of a very extensive and unique data set to decompose the determinants of credit access and farm income and as well as the impacts of credit into zones.

The purpose of this paper is to seek remedy to two major flaws of the production competence literature, which concern: the way the production competence construct is operationalized and the way its effects on performance are measured.

The paper proposes to measure production competence as the two-dimensional operational level construct it actually is, and to use Slack’s (1994) importance-performance matrix to study its business level performance effects. The three hypotheses developed are tested using a subsample of the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey database, which includes 465 manufacturing companies from 21 countries.

The study offers additional empirical support for production competence theory. Going beyond supporting existing theory, the results give more detailed insight by indicating that low operational performance on even one important competitive factor leads to lower business performance (order-losing effect); excessive investment in increasing operational performance on any less important competitive factor does not necessarily lead to higher business performance.

Using a large empirical dataset, the study shows that the importance-performance matrix is a useful tool for decision makers to assess and improve their company’s manufacturing strategy: it indicates how to prioritize between improvement efforts to positively contribute to business performance.

The paper offers a novel approach to operationalize production competence. The importance-performance analysis approach adopted in this study avoids the two major drawbacks of previous production competence studies and offers an appropriate method to assess the impact of production competence on business performance.

Looks at the 2000 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference held at the University of Cardiff in Wales on 6/7 September 2000. Spotlights the 76 or so presentations within and shows that these are in many, differing, areas across management research from: retail finance; precarious jobs and decisions; methodological lessons from feminism; call centre experience and disability discrimination. These and all points east and west are covered and laid out in a simple, abstract style, including, where applicable, references, endnotes and bibliography in an easy‐to‐follow manner. Summarizes each paper and also gives conclusions where needed, in a comfortable modern format.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a better understanding of how transportation system factors affect city housing markets. The goal was to show that identifying these factors alone is not enough without also examining their effects and variations according to the housing location.

Transportation system factors were identified by conducting a thorough literature review. The factors’ relevance was tested using a quantitative methodology and a sample of 317 Vilnius residents. This city was next divided into three zones, and data collected from 18 real estate experts was subjected to qualitative analysis. The analytic hierarchy process was then applied to identify transportation system factors’ level of impact and dynamics by the housing location.

The results show that the factors affect the housing market in question but that these effects vary by the housing location and the most critical factors differ for each city zone.

Only data on Vilnius were used. Further research is needed to compare transportation factors’ dynamics in multiple cities.

Priorities in transportation system improvements should be assessed to facilitate sustainable urban development and enhance the residents’ quality of life. Housing market regulations can only be successful if investment in transportation systems is allocated purposefully and coherently.

This research went beyond identifying transportation system factors by employing a broad, systematic approach to clarifying potential options for regulating housing markets through transportation system projects.

The purpose of this research is to empirically examine the impact of selecting entrepreneurial framework conditions on the success of entrepreneurs in a conflict zone. The study was conducted in Kashmir, which is a fitting conflict context. The study undertaken responds to the call by multiple authors to substantiate the entrepreneurship literature with empirical evidence from conflict-affected areas. The authors argue that better entrepreneurial framework conditions will enhance entrepreneurial success in conflict zones. This research work is important because it will add to our understanding of the influences of the entrepreneurial ecosystem on entrepreneurs who pursue an entrepreneurial career in conflict zones. This research will add to the existing body of knowledge, which seemingly lacks evidence from conflict zones. Furthermore, this research is important in the Kashmir context because this research will provide insights to stakeholders such as entrepreneurs, government agencies, entrepreneurship development agencies and NGOs, etc.

The authors surveyed 400 entrepreneurs in the manufacturing, services and retail sectors in Kashmir through a questionnaire. The self-reported responses were used for assessment of entrepreneurial framework conditions and financial and non-financial performance. The data were analysed through the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to test the hypothesised relationships. The results were considerable.

The authors found that most Kashmiri entrepreneurs do not find the entrepreneurial framework conditions supportive of their business. Upon testing the hypothesis, they found a significant and positive impact of entrepreneurial finance, government policies and cultural and social norms on entrepreneurial success. The common belief that ease in market dynamics would positively impact success was negated in this case. They found a significant and negative impact of market dynamics on success. Furthermore, the physical, commercial and professional infrastructure and services showed insignificant results.

This research provides insights about the requirements of entrepreneurial framework conditions in a conflict zone for achieving successful results. The current study acknowledges the call of researchers to carry out quantitative studies in conflict zones.

The findings of this research might prove to be beneficial to the entrepreneurs, policymakers, government agencies and other stakeholders. If taken into consideration while formulating the policies in favour of entrepreneurs in a conflict zone, the findings of this research are an added resource. The current research might be valuable to the Government of Kashmir in recognising the perception of entrepreneurs towards the initiatives or the policies drafted in the past.

As per the knowledge of researchers, no such study has been conducted in Kashmir vis-a-vis the variables studied. The study is original in terms of analysing the impact of the environment on the success of entrepreneurs in a conflict zone in Kashmir.