Investigating Status of Electronic Publishing and Scholarly Communication among Academic Communities in Ethiopia Higher Learning Institutions

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.