posted on 2006-03-06, 11:07authored byMargaret J. Pickton, Cliff McKnight
Although a number of studies have investigated the attitudes of published
academic authors with respect to open access (OA) publishing and
institutional repositories (IRs), none have considered the views of other
institutional stakeholders. Research students, in particular, are a group that
could make a major contribution to an IR, both currently and in their future
careers. But how acceptable is their work to those responsible for IRs?
The project described here investigates the views of repository managers.
A short email survey was carried out, comprising questions about student
use of the repository, advocacy undertaken and attitudes toward research
student content. Responses were received from representatives of 35
universities in the UK and abroad.
Repository managers were overwhelmingly in favour of permitting the
deposit of research student work, albeit under specified conditions. One
half of the respondents mentioned allowing, or even encouraging, the
deposit of theses and dissertations. The relative newness of many
repositories meant that advocacy to student authors was limited, although a
number of managers were including the repository as an information source
in routine research training sessions.
The paper concludes that there is a need for clear guidance on the quality
of repository content; that evidence of use should be sought; and that IR
policy should accommodate the needs of all stakeholders.
History
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Citation
PICKTON, M. and McKNIGHT, C., 2007. Is there a role for research students in an institutional repository? Some repository managers' views. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 39 (3), pp. 153-161.