Abstract:
The aim of this study was to investigate status of electronic publishing and scholarly
communication among academic communities in Ethiopian higher learning institutions in order
to device mechanisms of enhancing the teaching/learning, research and service processes through
use of this mode of e-publishing and scholarly communication. In the first instance, a semistructured questionnaire was used to collect data from 374 respondents selected using the simple
random sampling from a population of 1279 from three public universities in Ethiopia. The
interview involving 35 librarian and ICT directors were also conducted to complement the
questionnaire survey. The descriptive and inferential statistics of the Statistical Package for
Social Sciences (SPSS) were used for data analysis. The result of the study shows that Ethiopian
higher learning institutions suffer from lack of adequate access to scholarly literature. There is
also lack of scholarly communication outlets to publish and disseminate their research results.
This study reveals that the current scholarly communication system in Ethiopian higher learning
institutions is facing critical technological and social challenges. E-publishing and smooth
scholarly communication is proposed as a viable alternative for Ethiopian higher learning
institution. The research indicates that if Ethiopian universities and research institutions adopt
open access policies and strategies, it would help them improve the access and dissemination of
scientific research results. A concerted effort is required from administrators, librarians,
researchers, funding agencies and government to implement and fully harness scholarly
communications in Ethiopian higher learning institutions. It was concluded that respondents’
general perceptions about scholarly communication through e publishing was very positive
signifying the acceptance of this mode of information access in the study areas. Current poor
research conditions and researchers’ low Internet self-efficacy such as inadequate information
search and online publishing skills were cited as the main hindrances for researchers to use
locally published e-resources. The study recommends institutionalization of e-publishing in
Ethiopian public universities and other similar research institutions so as to improve the
dissemination of research output emanating from their legally authorized operations or missions.
