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The purpose of this paper is to investigate open access practices (OAPs): a roadmap to research paper publications in academic institutions. The rationale that necessitates this scenario was the dwindling nature of the inability of researchers and lecturers/academics in African academic institutions to access related materials in their subject areas, while also advancing effort to publish their research papers in open access.

This paper applied a qualitative research approach, in which literature was harvested from Web of Science for developing and writing the research paper.

This paper establishes that OAP, when embraced, could advance and transform research paper publication in higher education institutions because its practices are globally welcome. The authors reiterate that considering the benefits accrued to OAPs, knowledge gap in terms of literature and methodological approach still exists in academic institutions in Africa; hence, the authors promote OAPs as a roadmap for research paper publications in academic institutions. It is expected that by OAPs, researchers would no longer struggle to harvest literature, of theses, dissertations and other research papers, deposited in institutional repositories required for deepening their research activities because those literature studies or those documents have to be paid for through subscription fees of published papers and publishing in open access by journals. This is what most academics have experienced because, most times, the literature which academics harvest from the internet and different institutional repositories and databases is already paid for by the different institutions that housed the literature where it is domiciled. For instance, most academic library institutions in the world pay for subscription fees of research papers and documents. This is to advance and facilitate deepened research activities in their institutions, when researchers, academics and students want to harvest materials through their university library websites.

This paper, which considers OAP as a roadmap to research paper publications in academic institutions in Africa, is insightful and unique considering the wave of OAP globally.

The concept of ubiquitous assimilation in e-commerce, denoting the seamless integration of technologies into customer shopping experiences, has played a pivotal role in aiding e-satisfaction and, consequently, fostering patronage intention. Among these, text-based chatbots are significant innovations. In light of this, the paper aims to develop a conceptual framework and comprehend the patronage behaviour of artificial intelligence-enabled chatbot users by using chatbot usability cues and to determine whether the social presence and flow theories impact e-satisfaction, which leads to users’ patronage intention. The current research provides insights into online travel agencies (OTAs), a crucial segment within the travel and tourism sector. Given the significance of building a loyal clientele and cultivating patronage in this industry, these insights are of paramount importance for achieving sustained profitability and growth.

The research framework primarily focused on the factors that precede e-satisfaction and patronage intention among chatbot users, which include social presence, flow, perceived anthropomorphism and need for human interaction. The researchers collected the data by surveying 397 OTA chatbot users by using an online questionnaire. The data of this cross-sectional study were analysed using covariance-based structural equation modelling.

Findings reveal that e-satisfaction is positively linked with patronage intention and the variables of social presence and flow impact e-satisfaction along with chatbot usability cues. There were direct and indirect relations between chatbot usability and e-satisfaction. Moreover, the personal attributes, “need for human interaction” and, “perceived anthropomorphism” were found to moderate relations between chatbot usability cues, social presence and flow.

The impact of chatbot’s usability cues/attributes on e-satisfaction, along with perceived attributes – social presence and flow in the realm of OTAs contributes to the human–chatbot interaction literature. Moreover, the interacting effects of perceived anthropomorphism and the need for human interaction are unique in the current contextual relations.