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This study aims to investigate the compliance of Kuwait’s College of Basic Education (CBE) with records management standards (RMS), legislation and regulations.

This case study collects data from semi-structured interviews and a thorough internet search of relevant records management (RM) policies and procedures.

The findings reveal the shortcomings of the bottom-up approach to RM, which poses significant risks due to inadequate management and monitoring; lack of compliance with local or national records and archives regulations; and a general unawareness of RMS and best practices among interviewees.

This study focuses on CBE, potentially limiting generalizability to other academic institutions in Kuwait, but offers valuable insights for polities that similarly lack records legislation and wish to improve their RM practices and comply with international standards.

This study proposes a more top-down approach to RM with the adoption of international RMS to improve practices, minimize risks and reduce legal liabilities. Positive outcomes will support the case for records and archives legislation (RAL) in Kuwait and provide the framework for its establishment.

The study argues that the passage of RAL and the subsequent implementation of RMS will improve citizens’ Right to Access Information.

This study initiates a pioneering effort in understanding Public Authority for Applied Education and Training and CBE’s level of compliance with RMS, legislation and regulations and their challenges.

This study aims to conduct an analysis of the strategy used by Royal Malaysian Police in auditing investigation records and information.

Qualitative methodologies were used based on the pragmatic philosophy and a case study approach.

This paper discusses the strategy for auditing the investigation records and information (AIRI), which includes the pre-auditing (input), auditing (process) and post-auditing (output) phases that will be used to develop the AIRI framework.

This study focuses on auditing investigative records and information that may not be universally applicable to all organisations.

The implications arising from this paper are those related to the need to understand, promote and implement auditing of records and information in organisations.

This study presents an opportunity and establishes the foundation for enhancing and broadening the scope of information auditing, a crucial component within the records and information management (RIM) life cycle.

The article presents research on the long-term information needs of homicide bereaved individuals in the context of record-keeping practice within Major Crime Units (MCU) in England. The research objectives were to: (1) identify the long-term information needs of individuals bereaved by homicide; (2) establish MCU officer perceptions on the provision of information to individuals bereaved by homicide; (3) establish the current practice of MCU officers in managing and providing access to homicide records and (4) explore the capability of current recordkeeping practice to move beyond the use of homicide records for their primary “policing” purpose.

The research objectives were met by combining findings from a literature review across policing, bereavement, death, victimology, criminology, records management and archival studies with results from a singular interview-based study with officers at the Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire Major Crime Unit (BHCMCU).

The findings indicate that the long-term information needs of homicide bereaved individuals are ill-served by the current police recordkeeping framework which provides them with little involvement in record-keeping decision-making and limited long-term access to the information required for sensemaking/adaption in a post-homicide world. In this context, the research demonstrates a long term need for: (1) information access; (2) support for access; (3) a direct and personalised information access service and (4) trauma-informed and victim/survivor centred practice in police recordkeeping contexts.

The research addresses a major gap across disciplinary research literature in its focus on the ways investigative information is disclosed by the police to the bereaved following case closure.

Paper-based records management systems remain dominant in Tanzanian Government organisations despite the increase in digital records management systems adoption across the globe. To create an understanding of this state, this study aims to investigate the use of records management systems in Tanzanian public sector organisations.

A descriptive research design was used in this study, alongside quantitative and qualitative approaches. A total of 81 respondents were drawn from three public sector organisations. To get a sample, non-probability (convenience and purposive) sampling techniques were used. A cross-sectional survey questionnaire and interview methods were used to gather quantitative and qualitative data. To analyse quantitative and qualitative data, the researchers used a mixed-methods analysis.

The study reveals different types of records management systems used in public sector organisations. Besides, the findings suggest that a large proportion of records are created through the digitisation of existing records. Aside from that, the study has revealed different types of records managed in the systems by government organisations. According to the study, there are various factors that determine the effective use of records management systems in public sector organisations.

The implications of the present study are diverse. Specifically, its findings expand the theoretical body of knowledge by adding new insights regarding records management systems usage in government offices. The findings also provide the government with a basis for formulating and improving legal and regulatory frameworks to enhance records management. Apart from this, the findings are likely to benefit records practitioners by orchestrating inclusive strategies that will promote, not only effectiveness, but also sustainability in records management.

In Tanzania, a few studies have been conducted to examine digital records management practices and systems. These studies have not extensively highlighted the systems used to manage the records. This makes little to be known on the systems used to manage records in government offices. The present study has ascertained records management systems used in public sector organisations.

The study aims to investigate the current electronic records management practices in government departments of South Africa to establish the extent to which they foster service delivery in public service reform programmes.

This study applied a systematic literature review approach to critically appraise the published literature on the status of records management in South Africa, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines.

The findings indicate that the South African public sector encounters challenges such as a lack of skills in managing electronic records, management support, resources and legislative frameworks and policies. The study’s findings revealed that although electronic records are essential for service delivery in South Africa, the existing records management programme is not efficient and effective and does not sufficiently comply with legislative and statutory requirements.

This study was limited to the public sector of South Africa.

This study recommends the development of policy frameworks and strategies aligned with the organisational goals and facilitation of professional training for all staff, including attendance of seminars, workshops and workplace training.

The research demonstrates the need for a comprehensive legislative and policy framework, robust integration of electronic records practices in government e-government efforts, and adequate technological infrastructure support.

This study offers informed recommendations to address the challenges of managing electronic records in South African public sector organisations that continue to be a cause for concern.

The records surrounding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (JFK) have been subject to unique treatment in their management and opening. The John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (JFK Records Act) mandated that the records would be opened in full by 2017, unless there was intervention from the sitting president. This study aims to examine the extent to which access to the JFK assassination records has been granted. It evaluates how open the archive is, and the consequences of withholding government records. It examines how the continued non-disclosure of this archive has helped to fuel the controversy and conspiracy theories surrounding Kennedy’s death.

This research was approached as traditional historical document analysis, reviewing the JFK assassination records releases from 2017–2018 and the broader landscape of access to information in America. A random sampling of the open and redacted records was used to undertake a statistical analysis on the amount of information that has been withheld. It was supplemented with freedom of information requests intended to reveal further information on the approach taken to redaction. The work was situated within a broader global literature review.

The research identified the limits to access to the JFK assassination records that exist because of the continued postponement and redaction of information by US federal government agencies. It found that the ambiguous language used for exemptions in the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the JFK Records Act has allowed agencies the freedom to interpret and limit access to information if they desired. Furthermore, agencies have had the power to hold and sanitise their own records. The work identifies how these approaches have caused questions, inconsistences, a lack of transparency and accountability in the US government. The lack of centralised processes and related explanations can be seen to fuel further controversies and conspiracies.

Using a systematic research methodology, this work presents a careful analysis of the varying processes and their implications for understanding of the events that surrounded Kennedy’s assassination. Lessons learnt can be applied to the general management of freedom of information and access to information.

This study aims to examine the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance records management practices at the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) in South Africa.

The study used a convergent mixed-methods research approach, employing interviews and questionnaires for data collection. Analysis of the collected data involved both verbatim and statistical methods, and the results were presented through tables and figures.

The study revealed that AI can proficiently and effectively execute all records management practices across the entire records lifecycle.

Consequently, the study proposed a framework that can be used as a guiding tool for the implementation and use of AI. This framework aims to enhance records management processes, not only within the GDE but also within the broader archives and records management industry.

Archival institutions must make their holdings and services known to the public to ensure increased usage. It is the obligation of archival institutions to adopt strategies to market their services to increase the usage of their holdings. Therefore, this study aims to assess the National Archives of Zimbabwe’s (NAZ) decentralisation drive as a strategy to market its archival services.

The multiple case study research design, which is interpretive and qualitative, was used for the study. The study used interviews, questionnaires and document review as data collection tools. The collected data were presented, analysed and discussed using the thematic data analysis approach.

Findings revealed that the NAZ decentralised provincial records centres were actively involved in the marketing of archival services offered by the NAZ. The study also established that the decentralised provincial records centres perform activities such as records surveys, training, oral history, issuance of brochures, guided tours and career guidance, which increase their interactions with communities they serve. The decentralised offices took advantage of these interactions to market archival services offered by the NAZ.

The study illustrated that decentralisation of archival institutions and services to the lower tiers of government is a powerful strategy for the marketing of archival services. Therefore, there is need for archival institutions to adopt or enhance the use of this strategy to increase the usage of archives.

This paper contends that data generated by research on supervision are often taken as authentic data. Through an examination of studies that use audio/visual recordings to investigate supervision, the paper both promotes and problematises the recording of supervision meetings as a useful technique for doctoral supervision research. This paper aims to encourage a critical evaluation of methodological choices in research on supervision, and both promotes and problematises the practice of recording supervision meetings to enhance nuance in research on supervision practices.

This paper reviews how prior studies have adopted different research methods to construct the space of supervision, and how the chosen methods have been justified. The paper draws on data from an empirical study which included interviews with supervisors in China, based on recordings of their supervision meetings.

Presenting a single case with one participant to explore the recording and interview process in detail, this study demonstrates how hearing the supervision meeting can present a multi-faceted picture of supervision practice. This multi-faceted picture underpins the alternative understanding of authentic data that this study unpacks.

Drawing on the tradition of poststructuralist critiques of traditional research methodology, this study is presented as a methodological paper, with a core aim of interrogating and problematising methodological decisions taken in studies of doctoral supervision. This study reviews research methods that were used in prior studies on supervision, investigating how the chosen methods were justified and how these methods affect the resultant construction of supervision.

Information systems (IS) research in general and health IS studies, in particular, are prone to a positivity bias – largely focusing on upside gains rather than the potential misuse practices. This paper aims to explore failures in health IS use and shortcomings in data privacy and cybersecurity and to provide an explanatory model for health record misuse.

This research is based on four data sets that we collected through a longitudinal project studying digital health (implementation, use and evaluation), interviews with experts (cybersecurity and digital health) and healthcare stakeholders (health professionals and managers). We applied qualitative analysis to explain health records misuse from a sociotechnical perspective.

We propose a contextualized model of “health records misuse” with two overarching dimensions: data misfit and improper data processing. We explain sub-categories of data misfit: availability misfit, meaning misfit and place misfit, as well as sub-categories of improper data processing: improper interaction and improper use-related actions. Our findings demonstrate how health records misuse can emerge in sociotechnical health systems and impact health service delivery and patient safety.

Through contextualizing system misuse in healthcare, this research advances the understanding of ineffective use and failures in health data protection practices. Our proposed theoretical model provides explanations for unique patterns of IS misuse in healthcare, where data protection failures are consequential for healthcare organizations and patient safety.