Attitudes of Scholars towards Self-Archiving in Institutional Repositories of Zimbabwe's Public Universities

Abstract

The introduction of open-access institutional repositories in scholarly communication presents an opportunity for public universities in Zimbabwe to increase the visibility, reach and impact of their research output. However, this opportunity is missed because of the low utilisation of the repositories by scholars in the institutions. Guided by the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model, the researchers investigated academics’ awareness levels of and attitudes, perceptions and concerns about institutional repositories with the aim of understanding academics’ deposit behaviour. Both qualitative and quantitative methods in the forms of a questionnaire and interviews were used to gather data from academics and library and research directors at eight universities and from policy documents and university websites. Stratified, systematic and convenience sampling techniques, including the complete enumeration method, were used. The findings revealed that academics lacked knowledge and awareness of institutional repositories and their value in scholarly communication. Therefore, marketing and training should be intensified to increase acceptance and usage of repositories.