AWARENESS AND USE OF OPEN ACCESS JOURNALS AMONG THE FACULTIES OF ENGINEERING COLLEGES IN PUDUCHERRY: A STUDY

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1 International Journal of Library & Information Science (IJLIS) Volume 5, Issue 1, Jan- April 2016, pp , Article ID: IJLIS_05_01_010 Available online at Journal Impact Factor (2016): (Calculated by GISI) ISSN Print: and ISSN Online: IAEME Publication AWARENESS AND USE OF OPEN ACCESS JOURNALS AMONG THE FACULTIES OF ENGINEERING COLLEGES IN PUDUCHERRY: A STUDY S. Santhi Research Scholar, Department of Library and Information Science, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore , Tamilnadu, India Dr. M. Nagarajan Prof. & Head, Department of Library & Information Science, Annamalai Univeristy, Annamalai Nagar, Chidambaram ABSTRACT The paper highlights the results of a study on the awareness and use of open access journals among faculty members working in engineering colleges, Puducherry. Four colleges were selected. The data were collected using questionnaire by census method. The study revealed that level of awareness on the open access journals covered in DOAJ is up to the expectations. However, use of such journals by the faculty members varies depending upon the academic positions. The respondents also faced some constraints which have been identified and presented in the paper. Key words: Open Access Resources, Open Access Journals, DOAJ Cite this Article S. Santhi and Dr. M. Nagarajan, Awareness and Use of Open Access Journals Among The Faculties of Engineering Colleges In Puducherry: A Study, India. International Journal of Library & Information Science, 5(1), 2016, pp INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND Ever since the open access moment came into being in the early of 21 st century, the society greatly depends on open access resources for numerous reasons. Particularly, the open access scholarly communication including journals has been a boon to the academicians and researchers from developing countries like India. NISCAIR Online Periodicals Repository (NOPR), Indian Academy of Sciences Journals, Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and so on are some of the ideal examples that paved way to the researchers and academicians to make use of the rich resources available 79 editor@iaeme.com

2 S. Santhi and Dr. M. Nagarajan through the above mentioned repositories at free of cost. On the other hand, the utilization statistics of these free journals does not show encouraging facts. Therefore, the authors intended to assess how far the engineering faculty members make use of the open access journals available on DOAJ. Many studies have been carried out on the use of open access journals by the faculties and researchers. Of which, a few prominent studies that form the basis for the present study are presented here. Bartle and Walton (1996) reported that most of the researchers are not still in favour of using Open Access Journals. The main reason identified by the authors was that the respondents were not aware of the resources available to them at free of cost. Eqbal and Khan (2007) found that 88.24% of science faculties were more aware of open access journals. It was also reported that 69.23% of Engineering faulty used access journals for their research work. Mallik, Saxena and Roy (2007) highlighted that the respondents differ in their usage methods of access and in their frequency of use of online resources and that lack of use or awareness of the library home page could have prevented some users from using the resources. Liew, Foo and Channupatic (2000) found that many researchers are aware of OAJ and they give preference for and use it against printed articles which confines the idea that patrons may limit their research to easily available electronic journals. A significant usage of a handful of the most popular titles and extremely low use of the least popular titles of OAJs suggests that library users are exhibiting the same sort of journal preferences in the electronic domain Academics in developing countries are fast adapting to the Internet as a source of information for teaching and research. (Ojedokun&Owolabi, 2003; Badu &Markwei 2005). Manda (2005) studied the use of electronic resources in Tanzania by academics. He found out that the use was low, due to inadequate end-user training, slow connectivity, and limited access to PCs, poor search skills, and budget cuts. Smith (2007) identified insufficient bandwidth was a major problem, and the range of open access journals in the respondents' field of interest was fairly limited. 2. WHAT ARE OPEN ACCESS JOURNALS? Open access journals are scholarly journals that are available online to the readers without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself. Some are subsidized, and some require payment on behalf of the author. Subsidized journals are financed by an academic institution or a government information center; those requiring payment are typically financed by money made available to researchers for the purpose from a public or private funding agency, as part of a research grant. There have also been several modifications of open access journals that have considerably difficult nature; they are the hybrid open access journals and delayed open access journals (Suber, 2009). 3. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The study was conducted with the following objectives: To identify the open access journals on engineering covered in Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) To study the level of awareness on the open access engineering journals among the faculties of selected engineering colleges in puducherry To evaluate the extent of use of open access engineering journals by the faculties of selected engineering colleges in puducherry To identify the problems associated with the use of open access engineering journals 80 editor@iaeme.com

3 Awareness and Use of Open Access Journals Among The Faculties of Engineering Colleges In Puducherry: A Study 4. METHODOLOGY To accomplish the objectives of the study, a survey was conducted with the faculty members in four engineering colleges to study the awareness and use of open access journals based on Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). The colleges selected for the study include: 1) Pondicherry Engineering College (PEC); 2) Christ College of Engineering & Technology (CCET); 3) Rajiv Gandhi College of Engineering & Technology (RGCET); and 4) Sri ManakulaVinayagar Engineering College. A structured questionnaire was employed to collect the data. Census method was adopted. The target population studied constitutes only faculty members working in engineering colleges. The questionnaires were self administered. The details of questionnaires distributed and received back are provided in Table 1. Table 1 Distribution of Respondents Institution Prof. Assoc. Prof. Asst. Prof. Total Distributed Total Received Response Rate PEC CCET RGCET SMVEC Total RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The data wereanalysed based on the objectives of the study. The results on awareness and use of open access journals based on DOAJ are presented below: 5.1. Engineering Journals on DOAJ As we know, Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is one of the largest databases which contains more journals on various subjects. Table 2 presents the number of journals in each engineering discipline. The analysis indicates that computer science ranks first position sharing 320 journals out of 846 engineering journals recording 37.83% followed by General and Civil Engineering (17.73%), Technology General (10.87%), Electrical and Nuclear Engineering (7.33%), Mechanical Engineering (4.73%), Materials (4.61%), Chemical Technology (3.90%), Transportation (3.55%), Industrial Engineering (2.13%), Construction (1.77%), Mining and Metallurgy (1.54%), Manufactures (1.30%), Environmental Technology (1.18%), Environmental Engineering (1.06%), and Hydraulic Engineering (0.47%). Table 2 Distribution of Engineering Journals on DOAJ Sl. Subject Category No. of Journals % 81 editor@iaeme.com

4 S. Santhi and Dr. M. Nagarajan No. on DOAJ 1. Computer Science General and Civil Engineering Technology - General Electrical and Nuclear Engineering Mechanical Engineering Materials Chemical Technology Transportation Industrial Engineering Construction Mining and Metallurgy Manufactures Environmental Technology Environmental Engineering Hydraulic Engineering Total Level of Awareness by institution As shown in Table 3, the analysis of institution wise level of awareness on open access journals among four engineering institutions revealed that out of 117 faculties from PEC, 83.22% of the respondents who belong to Computer Science are aware of open access engineering journals followed by Technology General (73.02%), Electrical and Nuclear Engineering (69.43%), Mechanical Engineering (65.32%), General and Civil Engineering (64.31%), Environmental Engineering (63.77%), Chemical Technology (63.12%), Construction (62.14%), Environmental Technology (54.32%), Materials (52.11%), Mining and Metallurgy (51.11%), Industrial Engineering (43.28%), Hydraulic Engineering (36.23%), and Manufactures (32.21%). In case of CCET, Computer Science was found to be the most prominent reporting 78.23% of the respondents followed by Environmental Technology (65.34%), Technology General (64.47%), Electrical and Nuclear Engineering (63.24%), General and Civil Engineering (63.21%), Environmental Engineering (61.22%), Construction (60.34%), Mechanical Engineering (58.12%), Chemical Technology (54.32%), Hydraulic Engineering (52.14%), Mining and Metallurgy (43.24%), Materials (43.23%), Industrial Engineering (32.18%), and Manufactures (28.12%). With regard to RGCET, out of 112, 79.02% of the respondents opined that they are aware of open access journals of engineering accessible through DOAJ followed by General and Civil Engineering (65.13%), Technology General (59.43%), Construction (58.77%), Environmental Engineering (54.44%), Environmental Technology (53.22%), Materials (52.98%), Electrical and Nuclear Engineering (52.43%), Chemical Technology (51.11%), Mechanical Engineering (44.11%), 82 editor@iaeme.com

5 Awareness and Use of Open Access Journals Among The Faculties of Engineering Colleges In Puducherry: A Study Hydraulic Engineering (43.17%), Mining and Metallurgy (37.89%), Industrial Engineering (33.45%), Manufactures (33.12%), and %), Transportation (11.2%). With reference to SMVEC, it was found that 88.13% of the faculty members belonging to Computer Science were aware of open access journals available in DOAJ followed by General and Civil Engineering (76.45%), Electrical and Nuclear Engineering (72.11%), Environmental Technology (68.91%), Technology General (68.47%), Construction (67.43%), Environmental Engineering (66.34%), Mechanical Engineering (63.09%), Materials (61.07%), Hydraulic Engineering (57.59%), Mining and Metallurgy (56.96%), Chemical Technology (56.72%), Industrial Engineering (46.21%), Manufactures (43.77%), and Transportation (34.74%). On the whole, it was observed that the faculties from engineering colleges of Puducherry region on the subjects such as Computer Science, Environmental Technology, General and Civil Engineering, Technology General, Electrical and Nuclear Engineering, and Construction were well aware of open access journals available in DOAJ. Whereas the faculties from the subjects such as Industrial Engineering, Manufactures, Transportation, Hydraulic Engineering, and Mining & Metallurgy were least aware of the open access journals on their respective subjects. Table 3 Institution wise level of awareness Subject Category PEC CCET RGCET SMVEC Computer Science General and Civil Engineering Technology - General Electrical and Nuclear Engineering Mechanical Engineering Materials Chemical Technology Transportation Industrial Engineering Construction Mining and Metallurgy Manufactures Environmental Technology Environmental Engineering Hydraulic Engineering Extent of use by institution Based on the data provided in Table 3 about awareness level on engineering journals covered in DOAJ, an attempt was made to assess the use of open access journals. Table 4 indicates that 66.11% of respondents of Computer Science from PEC used open access journals followed by the faculties of Electrical and Nuclear Engineering (58.89%), Construction (54.89%), Technology General (54.67%), Chemical Technology (49.78%), Mechanical Engineering (49.76%), General and Civil 83 editor@iaeme.com

6 S. Santhi and Dr. M. Nagarajan Engineering (48.22%), Materials (44.54%), Environmental Engineering (37.04%), Mining and Metallurgy (36.41%), Environmental Technology (34.76%), Industrial Engineering (34.63%), Hydraulic Engineering (21.01%), and Manufactures (13.65%). Ranking of faculties of CCET from various disciplines in terms of usage of open access journals revealed that the faculties of Technology General were on the top position reporting 43.27% followed by Electrical and Nuclear Engineering (43.24%), Environmental Technology (41.37%), Computer Science (41.21%), Construction (41.03%), Mechanical Engineering (37.05%), Hydraulic Engineering (37.03%), Environmental Engineering (35.31%), Chemical Technology (33.25%), General and Civil Engineering (32.17%), Materials (24.31%), Mining and Metallurgy (23.04%), Manufactures (16.32%), and Industrial Engineering (16.26%). The result of RGCET in using open access journals shows that 72.22% of the faculties from computer science made use of open access journals covered in DOAJ followed by General and Civil Engineering (61.24%), Materials (46.34%), Environmental Technology (45.66%), Environmental Engineering (44.91%), Chemical Technology (43.24%), Technology General (43.09%), Mechanical Engineering (40.19%), Electrical and Nuclear Engineering (38.34%), Hydraulic Engineering (38.22%), Manufactures (36.71%), Construction (35.35%), Mining and Metallurgy (26.34%), Industrial Engineering (22.31%), and Transportation (8%). Utilisation of open access journals by the Faculties from SMVEC shows an interesting fact that 74.23% of the respondents from computer science have made use of open access journals covered in DOAJ optimally followed by General and Civil Engineering (68.22%), Electrical and Nuclear Engineering (64.12%), Technology General (59.54%), Environmental Engineering (58.23%), Construction (56.06%), Environmental Technology (54.54%), Materials (54.04%), Mechanical Engineering (49.03%), Hydraulic Engineering (43.74%), Mining and Metallurgy (43.56%), Chemical Technology (42.79%), Industrial Engineering (38.47%), Manufactures (37.99%), and Transportation (28.04%). However, it is obvious that the scenario on the awareness and use of open access journals covered in DOAJ is almost similar in the subject fields such as Computer Science, Environmental Technology, General and Civil Engineering, Technology General, Electrical and Nuclear Engineering, and Construction. The reverse trend was observed in the subject fields of engineering such as Industrial Engineering, Manufactures, Transportation, Hydraulic Engineering, and Mining & Metallurgy. Table 4 Institution wise level of use Subject Category PEC CCET RGCET SMVEC Computer Science General and Civil Engineering Technology - General Electrical and Nuclear Engineering Mechanical Engineering Materials Chemical Technology Transportation editor@iaeme.com

7 Awareness and Use of Open Access Journals Among The Faculties of Engineering Colleges In Puducherry: A Study Subject Category PEC CCET RGCET SMVEC Industrial Engineering Construction Mining and Metallurgy Manufactures Environmental Technology Environmental Engineering Hydraulic Engineering Level of awareness by designation As shown in Table 5, the analysis of designation wise level of awareness on open access journals among four engineering institutions revealed that out of 117 Professors from four engineering colleges, 47.67% of the Professors who belong to Environmental Engineering are aware of open access engineering journals followed by the professors from Electrical and Nuclear Engineering (45.32%), Mechanical Engineering (45.11%), Construction (44.67%), Chemical Technology (43.88%), Computer Science (43.77%), General and Civil Engineering (38.88%), Environmental Technology (37.52%), Mining and Metallurgy (36.47%), Technology General (32.56%), Materials (27.81%), Hydraulic Engineering (21.23%), Industrial Engineering (21.09%), and Manufactures (12.21%). In case of Associate Professors, out of 169 about 70% of the Associate Professors of Computer Science was found to be the most aware of open access journals in their field followed by Technology General (59.22%), General and Civil Engineering (54.78%), Electrical and Nuclear Engineering (49.87%), Construction (43.12%), Environmental Technology (43.09%), Mechanical Engineering (36.74%), Environmental Engineering (34.71%), Chemical Technology (28.80%), Hydraulic Engineering (23.76%), Materials (23.65%), Mining and Metallurgy (22.67%), Industrial Engineering (14.28%), and Manufactures (12.12%). With regard to Assistant Professors, out of 325, 82.52% of the faculties from Computer Science opined that they are aware of open access journals of engineering that are accessible through DOAJ followed by General and Civil Engineering (73.01%), Technology General (69.99%), Chemical Technology (67.32%), Electrical and Nuclear Engineering (66.78%), Environmental Engineering (64.79%), Construction (63.27%), Mechanical Engineering (59.56%), Hydraulic Engineering (58.33%), Mining and Metallurgy (55.65%), Environmental Technology (54.35%), Materials (49.31%), Manufactures (48.45%), Industrial Engineering (45.38%), and Transportation (11.31%). On the whole, it was observed that the faculties from engineering colleges of Puducherry region on the subjects such as Computer Science, General and Civil Engineering, Environmental Technology, Electrical and Nuclear Engineering, and Construction were well aware of open access journals available in DOAJ. Whereas the faculties from the subjects such as Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing, Transportation, Hydraulic Engineering, and Mining & Metallurgy were least aware of the open access journals on their respective subjects editor@iaeme.com

8 S. Santhi and Dr. M. Nagarajan Table 5 Designation wise level of awareness Subject Category Professor Assoc. Prof. Asst. Prof. Computer Science General and Civil Engineering Technology - General Electrical and Nuclear Engineering Mechanical Engineering Materials Chemical Technology Transportation Industrial Engineering Construction Mining and Metallurgy Manufactures Environmental Technology Environmental Engineering Hydraulic Engineering Extent of use by designation Based on the data provided in Table 5 about awareness level of faculty members on engineering journals covered in DOAJ, an attempt was made to analyses the use of open access journals by the respondents. Table 6 illustrates that 24.25% of the Professors from Environmental Technology made use of open access journals followed by the faculties of Environmental Engineering (23.46%), Electrical and Nuclear Engineering (23.14%), Construction (23.11%), Chemical Technology (22.42%), Computer Science (21.34%), Mining and Metallurgy (21.24%), Mechanical Engineering (19.87%), General and Civil Engineering (16.32%), Materials (12.22%), Technology General (12.14%), Hydraulic Engineering (11.24%), Industrial Engineering (9.13%), and Manufacturing (4.56%). Ranking of Associate Professors from various disciplines in terms of usage of open access journals revealed that the faculties of Computer Science were on the top position reporting 57.34% followed by Technology General (51.36%), General and Civil Engineering (49.35%), Electrical and Nuclear Engineering (39.67%), Construction (38.34%), Environmental Technology (34.77%), Mechanical Engineering (33.35%), Environmental Engineering (26.26%), Chemical Technology (22.06%), Mining and Metallurgy (18.34%), Materials (15.24%), Hydraulic Engineering (14.26%), Industrial Engineering (11.02%), and Manufacturing (9.11%). Utilisation of open access journals by Assistant Professors from four engineering institutions shows an interesting fact that 77.16% of the Assistant Professors from computer science have made use of open access journals covered in DOAJ optimally followed by General and Civil Engineering (65.13%), Technology General (59.35%), Environmental Engineering (59.24%), Electrical and Nuclear Engineering 86 editor@iaeme.com

9 Awareness and Use of Open Access Journals Among The Faculties of Engineering Colleges In Puducherry: A Study (57.32%), Construction (57.21%), Chemical Technology (55.35%), Environmental Technology (51.23%), Mechanical Engineering (50.48%), Hydraulic Engineering (49.56%), Mining and Metallurgy (46.47%), Materials (44.27%), Industrial Engineering (36.77%), Manufacturing (36.46%), and Transportation (6.51%). However, it is quite encouraging that the scenario on the awareness and use of open access journals covered in DOAJ is almost similar in the subject fields such as Computer Science, Environmental Technology, General and Civil Engineering, Technology General, Electrical and Nuclear Engineering, and Construction. Contrastingly, it was observed that usage was found to be low in the subject fields of engineering such as Industrial Engineering, Manufactures, Transportation, Hydraulic Engineering, and Mining & Metallurgy. Table 6 Designation wise level of use Subject Category Professor Assoc. Prof. Asst. Prof. Computer Science General and Civil Engineering Technology - General Electrical and Nuclear Engineering Mechanical Engineering Materials Chemical Technology Transportation Industrial Engineering Construction Mining and Metallurgy Manufactures Environmental Technology Environmental Engineering Hydraulic Engineering Problems in using open access journals It is quite natural that any system or the source meant for the benefit of large number of audience will have its own merits and demerits. In view of this, it was attempted to identify the constraints faced, if any while assessing the open access journals by the faculty members separately based on the academic positions in selected engineering colleges in Puducherry. The result is highlighted in Table 7. The result indicates that 78.32% of Professors opined Inadequate search facility as a major constraint followed by Lack of interest (69.3%), Lack of time (62.16%), Lack of subject coverage (59.63%), Non-availability of full text (59.35%), Non-user friendly (55.25%), Inactive links (43.26%), Lack of Speed (43.21%), and Lack of search skills (16.36%). In case of Associate Professors, Non-availability of full text was found to be the major constraint in accessing open access journals witnessing 74.21% followed by Inadequate search facility (72.34%), Lack of Speed (68.34%), Inactive links 87 editor@iaeme.com

10 S. Santhi and Dr. M. Nagarajan (64.69%), Lack of subject coverage (61.23%), Lack of search skills (56.34%), Lack of time (46.39%), Lack of interest (43.38%), and Non-user friendly (34.23%). Out of 325 Assistant Professors, expressed that Lack of Speed was the major issue in accessing open access journals available through DOAJ. The other problems were Non-availability of full text (79.38%), Inadequate search facility (71.33%), Inactive links (56.11%), Lack of subject coverage (45.46%), Lack of time (35.34%), Lack of interest (34.23%), Lack of search skills (33.45%), and Non-user friendly (22.34%). On the whole, it was observed that the problems faced by the respondents vary in terms their academic positions. However, the major problems, irrespective of the designation, identified were inadequate search facility, Lack of subject coverage, Non-availability of full text, and Lack of Speed. Table 7 Problems in using open access journals Subject Category Professor Assoc. Prof. Asst. Prof. Lack of Speed Non-availability of full text Inactive links Inadequate search facility Lack of interest Lack of subject coverage Lack of time Lack of search skills Non-user friendly FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION The study conducted to assess the use and awareness of open access journals by the faculty members working in four engineering colleges of Puducherry lead to the following findings: Faculties from engineering colleges of Puducherry region on the subjects such as Computer Science, Environmental Technology, General and Civil Engineering, Technology General, Electrical and Nuclear Engineering, and Construction were well aware of open access journals available in DOAJ. Whereas the faculties from the subjects such as Industrial Engineering, Manufactures, Transportation, Hydraulic Engineering, and Mining & Metallurgy were least aware of the open access journals on their respective subjects. The scenario on the awareness and use of open access journals covered in DOAJ is almost similar in the subject fields such as Computer Science, Environmental Technology, General and Civil Engineering, Technology General, Electrical and Nuclear Engineering, and Construction. The reverse trend was observed in the subject fields of engineering such as Industrial Engineering, Manufactures, Transportation, Hydraulic Engineering, and Mining & Metallurgy editor@iaeme.com

11 Awareness and Use of Open Access Journals Among The Faculties of Engineering Colleges In Puducherry: A Study Theproblems faced by the respondents vary in terms their academic positions. However, the major problems, irrespective of the designation, identified were inadequate search facility, Lack of subject coverage, Non-availability of full text, and Lack of internet speed. REFERENCES [1] Badu, E., &Markwei, E.(2005). Internet awareness and use in the University of Ghana. InformationDevelopment 21 (4): [2] Bartle, T., & Walton, A. (1996).Awareness of electronic journals. Available: [3] Eqbal, M., & Khan, A. (2007). Use of electronic journals by the research scholars of ffaculty of Science and Faculty of Engineering, Amu, Aligarh: A comparative study. Library and Information Networking (NACLIN), DELNET, New Delhi, pp [4] Liew, C.L., Foo, S., &Channupatic, K.P (2000). A proposed information environment for enhanced integrated access and value adding to electronic documents.aslib Proceedings, 52(2): [5] Mallik, S., & Roy, P. (2007). Online journals usage pattern: A case study of CDRI, Lucknow as a member of CSIR E-journals Consortium. Library and Information Networking (NACLIN), DELNET: [6] Manda, A. (2005). Electronic resources in Tanzania by academics. In: GL7 Conference Proceedings. TextRelease. Available: [7] Ojedokun, A., &Owolabi, A. (2003).Internet use for teaching and research in Botswana.Africa Journal oflibrary, Archive and information science 13(1): [8] Smith, T. (2007). Survey of open access barriers to scientific information: providing an appropriate pattern for scientific communication in Iran. In: GL7 Conference Proceedings. TextRelease. Available: [9] Suber, P. (2006). An introduction to open access. Available: editor@iaeme.com