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Cybercrimes increase day by day in parallel to cyber-attacks and cyber-threats. Due to such an increase, required cybersecurity precautions against all kinds of cyber-attacks and cyber-threats should be taken by both organizations and individuals. This study aims to develop a reliable and valid measurement tool to measure cybercrime awareness levels of individuals.

In this study, a scale named as Cybercrime Awareness Scale (CAS) has been developed and psychometric properties of the scale have been tested by two separate studies.

The first study included a total of 500 respondents (294 female and 206 male). In the first study, factor structure of the proposed scale has been determined through an exploratory factor analysis. The results revealed a three-factor structure (i.e. information systems crimes, personal data crimes, and privacy and security). Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficients for the subdimensions were 0.95, 0.92, and 0.90, respectively. The sample of the second study consisted of 494 respondents (281 female and 213 male). The confirmatory-factor-analysis results revealed that three-factor structure is valid and optimal model. Further, the proposed scale demonstrated moderate concurrent validity results in relation to the Digital Data Security Awareness Scale.

Findings indicated that the CAS is a valid and reliable measurement tool to measure individuals' cybercrime awareness level. This study makes a novel contribution to the existing cybersecurity literature by providing the CAS, which is developed by following rigorous methodological standards.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-01-2022-0023/

This paper aims to focus on the information literacy skills and how the resources are being used by medical students of Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute (MGMCRI), Pondicherry, India. The main aim is to determine the medical students use, purpose, search strategies and sources through which aware and literacy skills acquired. Further, this paper aims to bring out the problems faced.

A survey method was conducted through a structured questionnaire distributed among 120 medical students from first year to fourth year. Stratified random sampling was used for selection of students.

Findings of the study revealed that medical students largely used medical databases such as Bentham Sciences, ProQuest, PubMed and MedlinePlus. Further, the paper reveals that majority used health information for updating their knowledge and to acquire general information. The students’ information literacy level found minimal, which may be the reason majority of the students found difficulty in locating the desired materials followed by irrelevant information, inadequate e-resources and lack of awareness reported some extent.

The recommendations made based on the study are expected to be beneficial to the authorities and library administration of the surveyed institution to take appropriate measures for effective utilization of resources.