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Open access movement is getting increased in Asia and the Pacific and has been started in the form of subject gateways, informal collections of articles on web pages and directories. Many Asian countries adopted the transition to Open Access journals and full-text repositories and digital libraries. Open access also helps to underprivilege countries to spread their research output. But third-world Islamic countries are far away from open access and its implementations. The purpose of this paper is to focus on open-access e-resource development in Afghanistan.

The data were complemented by documentary analysis, and information retrieved from open-access databases like DOAR, DOAJ and OER Sites.

The paper provides information about open-access development in Afghanistan and also focuses on the challenges for spreading OA awareness in Afghanistan. It suggests that how local people and universities can help to spread open-access movement.

This paper gives an idea about the educational system and other resources available in Afghanistan.

This paper fulfills an identified need to study open-access development and status in Afghanistan.

The purpose of this paper is to study globally successful public library systems with reference to their infrastructure, physical space, services, collection, processes, finances and best practices and recommend models, structure and minimum standards for smart public libraries of the upcoming 100 smart cities of India.

An email with 14 questions was sent to 50 public library system across the world. A sample of n = 18 responses were received.

The finding suggests that all the libraries have a central library and a good network of branch libraries across respective cities with adequate staff and collection to cater to the needs of the public. The size of the central library varied from 8,000 m² (Cologne Public Library) – 86,000 m² (Boston public library) and average size of the branch library varied from 200 m2 (Aarhaus) – 1,582 m2 (Barcelona). Monthly average users varied from 96,000 (Moscow) – 1.5 million (Toronto).

The Indian public library system remains uneven throughout the country with varying levels of legislation, financing and quality of library services. Even a room with few books is considered as a library. The results of this study will help develop a quality public library system of global standard and ensure that libraries are transformed into knowledge hubs.

This study is a unique exploration in which different types of libraries are defined in terms of physical space, service, staff, collection based on a global model which ensures uniform growth and development of public library systems in upcoming smart cities of India.

This paper aims to the integration of smart cities and technologies has had a profound impact on public library services globally. However, debates continue about how public libraries are incorporating smart technologies and tools, and what this means for their role in smart city development. This paper explores how public libraries are evolving to meet community needs by providing both physical and digital services.

The purpose of this study is to assess the role of public libraries in the smart cities and how they are aligning toward development of smart concepts, technologies, services such as contributions to smart city objectives, community impact, the digital divide, unique projects and readiness for future smart city advancements. So, the authors explored 11 public library systems of cities across the world implementing smart city projects.

The authors found that all the library systems offer extensive print and digital collections, sustainable buildings and a well-connected network of branches. They provide self-checkout services, makerspaces equipped with 3D printing and coding workshops and advanced recording and video editing technologies. Furthermore, these libraries function as community centers, serving diverse groups including children, women, the elderly and marginalized communities. They function as third spaces that foster lifelong learning and digital literacy.

Although smart cities face substantial debate regarding their features, tools and feasibility, public libraries have adapted and redefined their roles to become influential public institutions. They now play a crucial part in supporting vibrant and dynamic communities and neighborhoods within smart cities.

The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between public libraries, literature festivals (litfests) and reading habits in Chennai and Bangalore to understand publishing, reading and the role of public libraries to improve reading and learning among public.

A field visit to select book fairs and litfests in Chennai and Bangalore was undertaken in 2015 and 2016 to collect data. A predesigned questionnaire was used for data collection at the festivals to establish the correlation among the libraries, bookshops, book fairs and litfests. A sample of n = 445 responses were received.

The findings suggest that 47 per cent of the respondents do not have any kind of library membership, and most (n = 154) of the respondents say they own an electronic device for reading. In total, 25 per cent say reading books is one of the top leisure activities, and distance (31.7 per cent) hinders people from visiting libraries for reading. Eighty per cent agree that visiting litfests influences and improves reading habits. Further, 48.4 per cent read books several times a week, and 46.7 per cent read 5-20 books in any given year. In total, 84 per cent agree that there is a significant link between a family’s reading habits and a child’s future attitude toward reading. Also, 74 per cent agree that people who buy books from bookshops also borrow books from libraries and vice versa and endorse the fact that there is a strong relationship between book buyers and library visitors.

Litfests are booming to promote literature in India. There is a lot to be done to promote public libraries as a public good for people in India as a third space for reading, inclusion and diversity. Innovations in social media and networks, information and communication technologies and internet give an opportunity to the library sector to tap the litfest phenomenon to celebrate reading to reach a large section of the society.

This is a unique exploration to connect the stakeholders – policy makers, publishers and libraries – associated with reading, as studies of this nature are rarely reported in India, when print and digital publishing is flourishing.

The academic community has warned that predatory journals may attempt to capitalize on the confusion caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to further publish low quality academic work, eroding the credibility of scholarly publishing.

This article first chronicles the risks of predatory publishing, especially related to misinformation surrounding health research. Next, the author offers an empirical investigation of how predatory publishing has engaged with COVID-19, with an emphasis on journals related to virology, immunology and epidemiology as identified through Cabells' Predatory Reports, through a content analysis of publishers' websites and a comparison to a sample from DOAJ.

The empirical findings show that there were 162 titles related to these critical areas from journals listed on Cabells with a range of infractions, but most were defunct and only 39 had published on the pandemic. Compared to a DOAJ comparison group, the predatory journal websites were less likely to mention slowdowns to the peer review process related to the pandemic. Furthermore, another 284 predatory journals with COVID-19 engagement were uncovered from the initial exploration. These uncovered journals mostly centered on medical or biological science fields, while 42 titles came from other broader fields in social science, other STEM or humanities.

This study does not prove that predatory publications have released misinformation pertaining to COVID-19, but rather it exemplifies the potential within a complex academic publishing space. As these outlets have proven to be vectors of misleading science, libraries and the broader educational community need to stay vigilant as information intermediaries of online research.

In 2016, Bohannon published an article analyzing the download rate of the top ten countries using the illegal Sci-Hub website. Four years later, this study approaches the search behavior of these ten countries as they query about Sci-Hub in Google's search engine, the world's most widely used search engine. The authors also tracked the possible consequences of using Sci-Hub, such as plagiarism.

The search terms “Sci-Hub”, “Plagiarism” and “Plagiarism Checker” were explored with Google Trends. The queries were performed globally and individually for the ten target countries, all categories and web searches. The time range was limited between 1/1/2016 (after the date of publication of Bohannon's work) and 29/03/2020. Data were extracted from Google Trends and the findings were mapped.

Searching for the word Sci-Hub on Google has increased nearly eightfold worldwide in the last four years, with China, Ethiopia and Tunisia having the most searches. Sci-Hub's search trends increased for most of the T10C, with Brazil and Iran having the highest and lowest average searches, respectively.

Access to the research literature is required to the progress of research, but it should not be obtained illegally. Given the increasing incidence of these problems in countries at any level of development, it is important to pay attention to ethics education in research and establish ethics committees. A comprehensive review of the research process is required to reduce the urge to circumvent copyright laws and includes training and educating research stakeholders in copyright literacy. To address these goals, national and international seriousness and enthusiasm are essential.

The present study investigates information-sharing behaviour and awareness of students towards the infringement of copyright and associated rights while information sharing. The purpose of this study is to seek answers to the issue of whether or not students infringe on the rights of others and, if they do, whether they do so deliberately or unwittingly. Even though the Copyright Act and copyrighted works are often disregarded, students, teachers and peers are long-term trading and adapting new e-resources for their use.

The study collected data from students in India through a survey using Google Forms from January 2022 to May 2022. It analysed it using SPSS software to identify behaviour patterns, trends and factors influencing actions and awareness regarding potential copyright issues during data sharing.

The study finds that many students in India engage in copyright infringement, either deliberately or unwittingly. Many students are unaware of copyright laws and regulations and do not understand the consequences of their actions.

The study’s findings are limited to students in Tamil Nadu, India, and may not represent students in other countries or regions. The findings can inform policies and educational programmes that promote ethical and legal behaviour among students and help reduce the incidence of copyright infringement.

This study’s originality and value stem from its unique approach of merging information sharing, seeking and copyright concepts.

The purpose of this paper is to fill the gap in the literature by focusing on the profile and loyalty of visitors to a literary arts festival in South Africa. In addition, this research advocates that festivals can influence visitors’ supplementary behavioural intentions and actions beyond loyalty in the form of literary arts appreciation, purchases and tourism.

A visitor survey was conducted at one of the oldest literary arts festivals in the country where a total of 391 completed self-administered questionnaires were obtained. The statistical analyses comprised three factor analyses (motives to attend the festival, satisfaction with the festival offering elements and behavioural intentions) as well as structural equation modelling, to establish the relationship between the motives, evaluation of the “festivalscapes”, behavioural intentions and loyalty.

The findings confirmed that literary arts festival loyalty is the principle behavioural intention that will occur after attending a literary arts festival. However, the results demonstrated that literary arts festivals also have the potential to increase and stimulate supplementary behavioural intentions in the form of greater awareness of the arts, increased purchasing behaviour of literary works, increased travel to support the literary arts and greater personal involvement.

Festivals, irrespective of the art form that they showcase, therefore, play a significant role in encouraging and increasing purchasing behaviour, which is vital to the viability and continuation of the arts industry.

This is one of the first studies to research the literary arts festival market in South Africa, thereby making a distinct contribution by expanding the literature on the needs of this neglected market and the aspects that influence loyalty to these types of festivals.