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Digital media platforms in Uganda experimented with subscription-based models as an alternative to the traditional advertising model and as a recovery plan from the effects of COVID-19. Drawing from the theory of the political economy of the media, this study focusses on the critical success factors for subscription-based models in digital media platforms, audience consumption habits vis-á-vis payment for content, the effect of paywalls on the company financials and finally, establish the barriers to subscription uptake in Uganda. Media started charging users subscription fees for content in the 1990s (Chyi, 2005). Technological advances changed audience consumption habits from consuming hardcopy newspapers to accessing content on the go through their smartphones, tablets, and computers (Berger, Matt, Steininger, & Hess, 2015). Whilst some consumers pay for content, several audience surveys in East Africa indicated a lack of consistency among the paying audiences (KARF, 2019). Most consumers never purchased subscription and were avert to paywalls. The study used a mixed-method approach to find that the increase in internet penetration in Uganda and smartphone usage were the most significant enablers of paid-content consumption in Uganda. The quality of content, poor packaging, and unfair prices by publishers were the biggest barriers to consumption of paid news content.

Academic research is often regarded as a source of many truths, and if people seek answers to problems they should turn to books and journals to uncover a way forward. However, the path toward that kind of enlightenment is often a frustrating one. Academic research is often difficult to access due to paywalls, and when it is accessible the meaning and findings of a study may still seem impenetrable due to the language that is used. It is not surprising to see that academic books are rarely best sellers, as they are hardly page turners.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds his/her own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Academic research is often regarded as a source of many truths, and if people seek answers to problems they should turn to books and journals to uncover a way forward. However, the path toward that kind of enlightenment is often a frustrating one. Academic research is often difficult to access due to paywalls, and when it is accessible the meaning and findings of a study may still seem impenetrable due to the language that is used. It is not surprising to see that academic books are rarely best sellers, as they are hardly page turners.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

The once failed paid-for social question and answer (SQA) service is in full swing in China. The traditional profit model, which typically relies on advertising, is abandoned in this case. Instead, users have to pay for content and service. The purpose of this paper is to explore why users are willing to pay in paid-for SQA sites.

This study carried out 14 valid semi-structured interviews to investigate “why did they pay.” The interviewees are users of three popular paid-for SQA sites. The qualitative data were obtained from valid interviews and processed through thematic analysis.

The analysis revealed five overarching themes: paying for the answerer’s heterogeneous resource, paying for more credible answer, the cognition of the question, the price is affordable and expecting potential revenue. The five themes and their sub-themes constitute the motivation for why users would pay in paid-for SQA.

As a new business model for online information services, paid-for SQA sites are facing fierce competition from traditional ones. The findings not only indicate the importance of establishing a reciprocal network relationship among users, but also provide a better understanding of users’ needs and demands for paid-for SQA services. The results are helpful for paid-for SQA sites to conduct a differential competitive strategy according to the user’s paying motivation.

To authors’ knowledge, this is the first study, which provides primary-source data and valuable insights into users’ paying motivation in the context of new paid-for SQA sites in China.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the challenges and opportunities for Zimbabwe’s academic libraries in their endeavour to provide quality services. It will examine how library consortia, namely, the Zimbabwe University Library Consortium (ZULC) and the College and Research Libraries Consortium (CARLC), have been able to provide for the information needs of their users at a time when budgets are inadequate and subscription costs to journals remain unaffordable. It will examine how academic libraries, through resource sharing platforms, have been able to exploit ubiquitous technologies and build on from the traditional interlibrary loan (ILL). The paper will recommend a strategy based on a model to strengthen access to scholarship through resource sharing.

The researcher opted for a qualitative research design. A purposive sample of 32 participants drawn from ten academic librarians located in Zimbabwe was used to collect the information. The participants were chosen because of their involvement in resource-sharing activities. The participants were drawn from the two library consortia, namely, CARLC and ZULC. Data for the study was collected using structured interviews.

The findings revealed that resource sharing was critical for the survival of academic libraries in Zimbabwe. The study found out that resource sharing was the only option to overcome the challenges of the paywall. It highlighted the need for a concerted effort of all academic institutions in adapting a model that provides for the diverse needs of members with regard to widening access to scholarship. However, in spite of the success of library consortia in enhancing resource sharing in Zimbabwe, there are challenges that require the concerted effort of all academic institutions in coming up with a model that best provides for the diverse needs of members with regard to resource sharing.

The results of the study will be useful in providing a long-term strategy for enhancing resource sharing among academic libraries in Zimbabwe in their endeavor to support teaching, learning and research.

There is a scarcity of scholarly studies on resource sharing initiatives among academic libraries in Zimbabwe. This study is unique because it tackles the experiences of the academic libraries in overcoming the challenges of the paywall.

This paper is a commentary that aims to address themes arising from the article by Morgan titled “Wales and Autism: The Impact of Philanthropy Matched with Ambition”.

This opinion piece considers the broader impact of stakeholder engagement in the field of autism, including how the dissemination of evidence-based support could be made more accessible for autistic people, their families and carers and philanthropists.

This paper highlights the link between stakeholder engagement and meaningful change in policy and practice in the field of autism. It highlights the need for philanthropists to invest in evidence-based support but highlights the difficulty in identifying and accessing such support. This piece supports the use of evidence and gap maps (EGMs) to increase the accessibility of autism research and evidence.

While stakeholder engagement is encouragingly rising in this field, most of the evidence is held in academic journals, which are behind paywalls and, therefore, inaccessible to many autistic people, their families, carers and associated professionals. Displaying evidence using EGMs provides an accessible way for autistic people and those who support them to identify possible avenues of support quickly and allows philanthropists to direct research funding to areas of high priority.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the challenges associated with identifying newspapers of record for local, regional and national newspapers, specifically as those challenges pertain to students’ news media literacy. Visual literacy and information literacy intersections are explored.

Newspapers of record for province/territory and state areas of Canada and the United States of America were identified for student project purposes. Criteria for newspaper of record qualification were investigated, refined, and applied to all newspapers reviewed.

Distinguishing newspapers of record based on traditional criteria is inadequate in an online environment. Criteria must be more flexible and address both the visual as well as the content aspects of newspapers. Neither database access nor native website access alone is sufficient for identifying these newspapers. Straightforward and definitive identification of these newspapers will no longer be possible.

Librarians will be faced with focusing on content or visual literacy, addressing both in a meaningful way during a single instruction session will be difficult. More strategic instruction within and across disciplines is necessary to produce news media-literate and savvy students.

News media literacy for students in all disciplines is an urgent need and must incorporate both visual and content literacies. In a time of proliferation of news sources, understanding the challenges associated with identifying newspapers of record for both librarians and students is a necessary step in this area of information literacy.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the content of Web of Science (WoS) and Google Scholar (GS) by searching the interdisciplinary field of climate and ancient societies. The authors aim at analyzing the retrieved documents by open availability, received citations, co-authors and type of publication.

The authors searched the services by a defined set of keyword. Data were retrieved and analyzed using a variety of bibliometric tools such as Publish or Perish, Sci2Tool and Gephi. In order to determine the proportion of open full texts based on the WoS result, the authors relocated the records in GS, using an off-campus internet connection.

The authors found that the top 1,000 downloadable and analyzable GS items matched poorly with the items retrieved by WoS. Based on this approach (subject searching), the services appeared complementary rather than similar. Even though the first search results differ considerably by service, almost each single WoS title could be located in GS. Based on GS’s full text recognition, the authors found 74 percent of WoS items openly available and the citation median of these was twice as high as for documents behind paywalls.

Even though the study is a case study, the authors believe that findings are transferable to other interdisciplinary fields. The share of freely available documents, however, may depend on the investigated field and its culture toward open publishing.

Discovering the literature of interdisciplinary fields puts scholars in a challenging situation and requires a better understanding of the existing infrastructures. The authors hope that the paper contributes to that and can advise the research and library communities.

In light of an overwhelming and exponentially growing amount of literature, the bibliometric approach is new in a library context.