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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors affecting students’ satisfaction with university portals in developing countries. The factors examined are educational services availability, user ability, system quality and information quality.

A self completion questionnaire was developed and distributed to a sample of 550 students in several universities. Correlation and regression analysis were used to identify relationships and explore which of the factors had the strongest explanatory power.

The results showed that educational services availability, system quality and information quality influence students’ satisfaction, with service availability being the major determinant. The cultural perspective was employed to explain these results.

Understanding what students expect from a university portal should increase their satisfaction and consequently have a positive impact on universities’ performance. The results of this study also contribute to the current literature, which is very limited in developing countries. The paper concludes by discussing implications for both research and practitioners.

The main purpose of this paper is to present the findings of a survey carried out in Southern African Development Community (SADC) universities to explore their knowledge portal practices and ignite debate on best practices regarding the importance, design and management of knowledge portals in developing world contexts.

The main data collection instrument was a questionnaire which was largely quantitative except one question was qualitative for additional comments.

The major finding of this study is that only one out of ten participating universities had a knowledge portal. Furthermore, what other participating universities have in place as web sites can only be described realistically as “extended web sites”.

Initially, the main purpose of this study was to explore SADC university knowledge portals and based on the findings ascertain the best practices prevailing among SADC universities. This purpose could not be fully achieved as most SADC participating universities do not have knowledge portals. Instead, they have extended web sites; hence, most responses are based on university extended web sites. Thus, the study reports on one case of a knowledge portal and describes how “extended web sites” might fit as foundational knowledge portals. Since the study was limited in its sample size (ten universities), it has implications for generalisation of the research findings.

This paper provides a theoretical framework for designing an effective university knowledge portal and creates the awareness of the importance of knowledge portals in universities. Also, the paper fills a gap in the literature on knowledge portals, and clarifies the difference between a knowledge portal and a web site.

To determine the extent and nature of library involvement in campus portal development.

Campus technology staff from US colleges and universities participating in the JA‐SIG uPortal open‐source software project were surveyed.

All respondents indicated having an active campus portal. A majority of respondents had at least one library feature on their campus portal. Some library features included automated display of information specific to the portal user such as library account information. Collaboration between campus and library staff was a common theme among institutions successfully deploying library features.

Findings are based on a small sample of campuses currently deploying portals. Recommended follow‐up studies include surveys of institutions using proprietary portal software and surveys of library staff and end‐users.

While considerable research has been done on library portals, this paper is unique in its exploration of library participation in broader campus portal initiatives. Portal features discussed and illustrated in this paper might serve as models for libraries interested in developing a presence on their campus portal.

This paper aims to give a brief description of some chemistry portals available worldwide, folowed by a description of the chemistry portal developed for Panjab University Library, Chandigarh (India).

A well‐structured chemistry portal was designed for chemistry and its allied departments at Panjab University based on studies of other chemistry portals worldwide.

All the students, research scholars and faculty members of chemistry and allied subjects are deriving benefit from the use of this portal.

The paper provides information about chemistry portals available worldwide. However, only selected portals are presented. Moreover, the information sources included in the chemistry portal may also not be exhaustive.

The paper would be of help to librarians who plan to develop such portals for other subjects.

The success of the portal has led to a demand from other departments in the university for developing subject portals in their subject areas.

This article is the first in a four‐part series that aims to illustrate the processes involved in planning a portal and creating a portal definition document.

Based on a review of the academic and industry literature and using a case study, the authors share their experience in planning the Florida ExpertNet Research portal.

Portal development is a complex and costly endeavor that requires meticulous planning and design. As with any system development initiative, the time and energy spent in the planning process is reflected in the success or failure of the end product. Creating a portal vision is the first step in developing the portal definition document and includes the following areas: mission statement, objectives, needs assessment, creative layout, benefits, and funding and sponsorship.

This series will be useful to the information professional who is contemplating portal development and may be used as a model in developing a blueprint – the portal definition document. Whether the information professional is considering doing the development or outsourcing, it is important to understand the architectural requirements of a portal.

The purpose of the paper is to evaluate the effectiveness or success of universities' portal implementation from the perspective of students as users. Adopting the model developed by Delone and McLean, portal effectiveness is defined as being composed of information quality, systems quality and service quality. In addition, the paper also seeks to investigate the influence of individual factors comprising attitudes towards the portal, personal innovativeness and web self‐efficacy on the effectiveness of the portal.

The study adopted a survey research design with questionnaires being administered to 600 students as respondents. The cross‐sectional strategy for data collection resulted in 405 usable responses that were used for data analysis.

The results show that IS effectiveness dimensions consisting of service quality and systems quality are significantly correlated with user satisfaction. In addition, the study also showed that of the three predictors investigated, only attitudes towards the portal were found to be significantly correlated with IS effectiveness dimensions.

The perceptual self‐report measures rather than objectives measures adopted in this study contribute to bias, and a cross‐sectional design for data collection only provides data at one point in time.

The instrument developed in the study could assist the authorities concerned in evaluating the effectiveness of the portal.

Despite the growing interest in universities adopting portal technologies, studies addressing the issues of successes and effectiveness are still very limited. Hence, this study provides an impetus for evaluating campus portals from the user's perspective.

Based on the technology acceptance model (TAM), this study aims to determine the influence of personality traits on the acceptance and usage of Web portals in Portuguese universities.

To this end, a quantitative study was conducted using structural equation modelling and a structured questionnaire, directed to teaching and non-teaching staff in Portuguese universities.

The results obtained from 338 valid responses indicate a positive influence between personality traits and the use of Web portals.

The study emphasizes the importance of usefulness and ease of use of Portuguese universities’ Web portals. It contributes to developing the literature about the process of information technology (IT) acceptance and use and users’ personality traits.

This study is innovative by contributing to the theory of personality traits and TAM in the context of Portuguese universities. The results reinforce the literature on TAM and the big five model, and on IT and Web portals in particular, which has been little explored in the academic context.

The purpose of this article is to present a conceptual model for the design of a scholarly web portal at the University of Tébessa, with which it is hoped that scholarly work stations that combine local and remote holdings, tools and documents will be created. Today, with access to enormous quantities of information facilitated by the web, boundaries between remote and local source documents become invisible. This is of extreme interest for libraries in Algeria, whose local holdings are very limited.

An outlined conceptual model of library portal architecture, with ontological classifications and relationships is presented. The model comes from applying literature reviews to the needs and specifications of the authors and leads to a detailed breakdown of the planning and implementation process.

Three findings in particular are worth noting. First, the contribution of web services to the seamless utility of a scholarly portal is indispensable: interoperable features, formats and protocols can be carefully customized. Second, the conceptual model assists not only in visualization but in implementation phases of the process from assessment of user needs and behaviors through interface creation and ongoing maintenance. Third, a method for recycling (or “porting”) existing applications in constructing new library services is a key component.

Though this library portal is conceived for an Algerian library, which will ultimately benefit from inclusion in a nationwide network, Réseau Régional Inter Bibliothèques Universitaires (RIBU), the conceptual model may guide anyone interested in aggregating online information resources into a single, seamless terminal.

The purpose of this study is to examine the factors influencing the adoption and utilization of the online examination portal (OEP) in Indian universities. This study combines the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Usage of Technology (UTAUT) and Task Technology Fit (TTF) to explain the user's intention to use an OEP at an Indian University.

This study's methodology combines UTAUT as a theoretical framework with TTF. It is conceptualized that TTF has a moderating effect on UTAUT's primary construct. The authors collected the data from 182 graduate students from an Indian university. PLS-SEM is used to identify the causal relationship between the constructs using the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique.

The findings will demonstrate the applicability of the constructs of performance expectancy, effort expectancy and facilitating conditions in influencing the usage intention and behavior of students towards OEP. The outcome will also demonstrate the moderating effect of TTF on the predictors of intention to use OEP at an Indian University.

The sample respondents who participated in the study are students at the Indian University in Pune. The selection of samples was based on convenience sampling. Future research should be conducted at a variety of geographic locations, educational levels, undergraduate and graduate schools, as well as multiple universities. To increase the objectivity of sample selection, the probabilistic sampling method can be used to select samples. For future studies, larger sample sizes (more than 182) can be collected in order to increase the generalizability and applicability of the findings to other developing markets.

The study will aid Indian universities in enhancing the effectiveness of OEP. The study will also demonstrate the users' perception of the portal and their willingness to use it. It will also assist the university administration in finalizing the examination portal's implementation strategy.

Very few studies have been published on the factors influencing the acceptance and utilization of specific online examination systems. To address this underrepresentation, the current article investigates the factors and criteria that influence students' intent to use the OEP. The authors conceptualize the model using UTAUT as a theoretical foundation, which is absent from the published literature on the OEP. The study incorporated UTAUT and TTF to determine the impact on OEP usage and intent. In addition, the study contributes by testing the moderating effect of TTF on the UTAUT variables that influence the intention to use OEP.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically assess the payoffs of a corporate portal in an academic institution in Oman and its impacts on business processes and employees.

The study included 100 employees, mostly instructors, in an academic institution. The questionnaire included indicators related to the portal usage, employees’ benefits (learning, adaptability and job satisfaction) and business processes’ benefits (effectiveness, efficiency and innovativeness) constructs. Data were analyzed by PLS‐Graph 3.0, a variance‐based structural equation modeling software.

Results revealed that corporate portal has significant returns on employees’ learning, adaptability and job satisfaction, and business processes’ effectiveness, efficiency and innovation. All six hypotheses in this study were supported.

The paper provides empirical evidence for practitioners and researchers on the benefits of a corporate portal in an academic institution in Oman.