Factors and Considerations Influencing Faculty Members’ Decision to Publish with Journals: A Nigerian University Experience

Abstract

It has been observed that faculty members of Kwara State University (KWASU) in Malete, Nigeria, publish in journals based on some factors and considerations. These factors and considerations guide their choice of publishing in journals. The aim of this study was to show the factors and considerations influencing KWASU faculty members’ decision to publish with journals. The study adopted a descriptive survey method, with a web-survey questionnaire as data collection instrument. The population for the study was 482, of whom 192 respondents responded positively, representing 39.8% of the total population. A quantitative analysis was done of data collected, using the automatically-generated analysis from Google Forms. The hypothesis was tested using Microsoft Excel. It was found that some of the factors that influence the choice of KWASU faculty members to publish with journals, include: peer review; publication cost; open access; impact factor; and frequency of publication. It was found that more than half of the faculty members give consideration to editorial board lists of journals before sending out their manuscripts to journals. It was also found that there is a statistically significant relationship between factors and considerations for the choice of publishing in a journal. Challenges encountered by faculty members in publishing with journals include poor communication between author and editor, faculty members’ poor awareness of journals, difficulty in getting collaborators, and pressure to get an academic promotion.