UNIVERSITY FACULTY OPINION ON OPEN ACCESS PUBLISHING: A CASE STUDY OF FACULTY OF LIFE SCIENCES, ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY, ALIGARH

Abstract:  Open Access, a way for liberated availability of scholarly content through the Internet and an emerging concept for far ranging and unrestricted access to scholarly literature. OA journals and OA repositories (Institutional/Disciplinary Repositories) are the two main approaches of Open Access publishing. However, this mode of scholarly communication is not widely exploited in developing countries. This paper discusses the factors that influence the adoption of Open Access for scholarly communication and awareness, opinion and attitude of Faculty members of the Faculty of Life Sciences, AMU Aligarh. The sample population of 30 faculty members out of total 69 from the Faculty of Life Sciences, AMU Aligarh was taken to conduct the study. It was evident from the findings that the majority of Faculty members were aware of Open Access. However, most of the researchers preferred OA journals to publish but they reflect their interest in deposition into Institutional repositories. The current poor research conditions, non awareness of copyright issues, inadequate online publishing skills, and the slow Internet connectivity are the major barriers that deterred researchers to publish the research findings through Open Access means.