Utilization of open access resources among the academic staff At South Eastern University of Sri Lanka: a case study

Abstract

This article aims to provide an overview of Open Access (OA) resources and its utilization by the academic staff at South Eastern University of Sri Lanka (SEUSL) and the level of growth of OA resources. The concept of OA has been greatly developed globally, and these benefits have prompted researchers to change their academic communication practices. The data was collected using questionnaires. The population of this study was 210 staff members and 136 staff members were selected as the research sample data for analysis using stratified random sampling technique. Used SPSS version (23) to analyze the data to examine the tools used to get awareness on OA Resources by research scholars. The majority of the respondents have used OA resources for academic-related activities and found utilization of OA are to be very encouraging. The studies found the OA resources that are accessed online have been well utilized. The use of academic social networking sites, OA journals, e-books, online lecture videos, etc. is very encouraging. Similarly, universities and research institutions can formulate OA policies, establish institutional knowledge bases, and encourage the publication of articles in OA journals and archive them in digital knowledge bases for future development and research. In addition, this will help librarians to make strategic decisions for the development of open science. This study recommends conducting exploratory research to identify university communities.