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The purpose of this paper is to measure the fully open access (OA) contents cited by researchers from top three universities in the USA (MIT, CIT and Stanford) in the field of physics. This study aims to identify the core fully OA journals widely used by researchers in the field of physics and evaluate the cited fully OA resources by applying various scientometric parameters to check the credibility of these OA resources.

The PhD theses awarded during 2014 in the field of physics and hosted in the institutional repositories of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), California Institute of Technology (CIT) and Stanford University, respectively, were selected and scanned to extract references of sources cited. Later on, Google Scholar was used to identify source journals of the extracted references. Only source “journals” were selected and analyzed; rest of other sources were ignored; accordingly, toll-access and OA journals were segregated, as such the OA-cited journals could be identified. The scientometric performance indicators were used to check the quality of identified core fully OA journal cited by USA researchers in the field of physics.

The results of this study show that fully OA resources are sufficiently used by the researchers of top three academic institutions of the world/USA. The study was also successful in identifying the core fully OA journals; besides it also reveals that these fully OA journals are highly impressive as showed by performance indicators applied. The major finding of the research includes the identification of top ten fully OA journals along with their impact based on different scientometric parameters like number of times cited, impact factor, h-index, immediacy index, impact per publication and Scimago Journal Rank (SJR).

Because of a limited corpus of literature scrutinized in this study, the findings of the study may or may not represent the global picture in the field of physics.

The paper confirms that fully OA resources usage trend is positively increasing day by day, and there are vast numbers of core OA journals with high-quality impact available for use to researchers around the world. Besides, the paper also affirms the view that there should be more publicity of fully OA literature around the globe to reap the benefits of the same.

This paper will assist researchers, libraries, information centers and research and development institutions to take a cost-efficient approach in using and disseminating the scholarly literature.

This paper is one of the first pieces of research conducted on electronic theses and dissertation (ETD’s) in top three universities of the USA, to check usage percentage and quality of fully OA journal resources cited by doctoral students in the field of physics.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the relationship between the access mode of research articles [Open Access (OA) and Toll-Access (TA)] and their subsequent citation counts in Biological and Physical Sciences in three Impact factor zones (High, Medium and Low).

Three subjects each from Biological Sciences (Biochemistry, Cell Biology and Genetics) and Physical Sciences (Astronomy, Oceanography and Optics) were selected for the study. A comprehensive list of journals (TA and OA) in select subjects of Biological and Physical Sciences was prepared by consulting Journal Citation Report’s Master Journal List (for the compilation of both Open Access and Toll Access journal list) and Directory of Open Access Journals (for the compilation of Open Access journal list). For each journal, essential details like content language, format, year of publication, access mode (Open Access or Toll Access), etc. were obtained from Ulrich’s Periodical Directory. Web of Science (WoS) was used as citations indexing tool in this study. The data set was run on the WoS to collect the citation data.

The results of the study indicate that open mode of access is not a prerequisite for higher citation boost as in the majority of the cases in this study, TA articles have garnered a greater number of citations as compared to open access articles in different Impact factor zones in Biological and Physical Sciences.

A novel approach has been adopted to understand and compare the research impact of open access (OA) and toll access (TA) journal articles in the field of Biological and Physical Sciences at three Impact factor zone levels to reveal the citation metrics encompassing three parameters, i.e. citedness, average citation count and year wise distribution of citations in select subjects of Biological and Physical Sciences.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/[DOI]/10.1108/OIR-01-2021-0029

This paper aims to highlight the damage suffered by the prominent libraries of Kashmir during September 2014 floods. The work provide an insight about the response and recovery measures being taken during and after the floods respectively in ten prominent libraries of Jammu & Kashmir [six Academic libraries (S.P. College Library, Women’s College Library, Govt. Degree College Library – Bemina, Amar Singh College Library, Gandhi Memorial College Library and College of Education Library); three Special libraries (J&K Academy of Art, Culture & Languages Library – Srinagar, Govt. Medical College Library – Srinagar and J&K High Court Library) and one Public library (Sri Pratap Singh library)].

A variety of data collection tools and techniques such as interview, questionnaire, observation, etc., were used to collect the data. The collected data have been tabulated and analyzed to derive meaningful conclusions and findings as per the set objectives of the study.

The results reveal that although libraries in Kashmir are prone to disasters like floods; yet, none of the library seems to be prepared to bear or cope such a disaster. The findings provide a gloomy picture of libraries when it comes to the measures being taken by these libraries during and after the floods to protect their resources. The paper highlights the inefficiency and incapability of libraries (in terms of disaster management) by finding that most of the libraries are without a disaster response and recovery plan as well as a disaster response and recovery team. The study recommends that some tangible measures if taken can save precious resources hosted in libraries.

The current study can help the stakeholders to chalk out scientific and systematic policy and plans for library and information centers that can be executed with minimum of fuss and anarchy.

The study offers working knowledge to library professional on ground for effective management of assets and resources in pre- and post-disaster scenario.

In the present era, research data is a concern for researchers, as they are trying to find new ways to communicate their research findings and conclusions to other researchers in order to increase visibility and credibility. BRICS nations are fast emerging economies and contribute significantly in research output. This study makes an effort to analyze and explore the role of BRICS nations towards open access research data repository registered with Registry of Research Data Repositories.

The data were gathered from re3data repository, and the search was limited to BRICS nations. The data were further analyzed and tabulated as per set parameters, namely, country-wise distribution, types of contents, subject coverage and language diversity.

The findings depict that in terms of strength, India has the highest number of data repositories, thereby achieved the first rank among BRICS nations, and South Africa has the least number of data repositories, whereas in terms of content type and subject coverage, India again is leading among BRICS nations. The English language is used by repositories as the main language of the interface.

The study helps to understand the development of research data repositories by BRICS nations. The study is further beneficial to researchers, as Registry of Research Data Repository provides a single platform to access repositories from various disciplines. Readily available data saves time, money and efforts of researchers and helps the researcher in completing their research activity in a very short span of time.

The paper has investigated open access data repositories of BRICS nation that has not been attempted earlier. This gives readers comprehensive overview of research data repositories developed in fast emerging economies of the global. The paper can be very helpful for information managers, OA promoters and education and research policy makers to devise plans and policy bearing in mind the evolving research channels in emerging economies.

This paper aims to delve into the critical examination of retractions in virology to identify the underlying factor that led to the retraction of scientific publications in this specialised domain. Further, this study offers insights into the impact of the retracted publications in the scholarly world vis-à-vis citation and Altmetric indicators.

The top 100 highly cited retracted articles from virology category were taken from the Web of Science (WoS) database. The Retraction Watch database was used for knowing the reasons for retraction for each retracted publication. The citation and Altmetric score of retracted publications were noted down from WoS and Altmetric.com databases, respectively. Journal Citation Report was used to note down the impact factor of the journals that have published these articles.

“Misconduct” (57.73%) is the most prevalent reason for the retraction of publications followed by plagiarism (18.55%) and journal issues (14.43%). The retracted papers are cited even after their retraction. Around 70.52% citations were received before and 29.47% after retraction. The highest number of retracted papers was published in the Journal of Virology (14) and Journal of Chemistry (10). High-impact factor journals such as Lancet, Cell and Nature each own one retracted paper. The study found dissemination of these publications through social media platforms with highest social media mentions (394) followed by policy and patents mentions (373) and news and blog mentions (300).

The research delves into understanding the reasons behind the retraction of virology papers and the impact of these publications through citation and Altmetric analyses. Its impactions include bolstering quality control in virology research, maintaining trust in scientific literature. Citation and Altmetric analyses offer deep insights into the broader impact of retracted papers, informing policy and publishing practices to uphold scientific integrity in virology.

This study addresses a specific and crucial aspect of scientific research retractions within the field of virology. While retractions have been studied in broader terms in scientific research, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no such study has been conducted in the scientific field of virology.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how libraries use Twitter as a social media platform and examine the tweets they post, including multimedia content such as images and video clips. The study also aims to analyse the relationship between post types and user engagement and evaluate the effects of post features, such as multimedia content, on user engagement.

The methodology of the study involved three phases. In Phase 1, a review of related literature was conducted to develop a holistic approach for the study. In Phase 2, official Twitter handles of selected libraries were identified and verified for authenticity using various methods, including cross-checking with library websites. During Phase 3, data was collected from the Twitter handles. The data was then tabulated and interpreted to achieve the set objectives of the study.

The paper examined the tweets posted by select libraries on Twitter and their impact on user engagement. The study found that most tweets were related to library resources/collection and announcements, followed by events hosted by libraries. Emotionally inspiring posts and daily facts were also commonly posted. The findings also showed that including images in tweets resulted in higher levels of user engagement than video clips did. The study suggests that incorporating images fosters engagement and boosts retweets, while watching a video takes more effort and time.

The practical implications of the study can provide insights into the tweets that generate user engagement, which can help libraries tailor their social media strategies to attract and retain more followers. The paper can help libraries measure the success of their social media activities by evaluating user engagement metrics.

The originality/ value of the study lies in its examination of how libraries use Twitter as a social media platform, including the tweets they post and the impact of multimedia content on user engagement. While previous studies have examined the use of social media by libraries, this study focuses specifically on Twitter and provides a detailed analysis of the tweets that generate user engagement.

The purpose of this study is to develop a sense of urgency and utmost care for careful disaster management to encourage disaster preparedness for museums and archives.x In particular, this study examines the techniques and methods to be used for response and recovery from different disasters to save valuable resources.

A thorough review of literature was done to identify existing plans, strategies, preparedness and management of archives and museums. On the basis of the knowledge and experience gained, it was decided to use a descriptive method for this study. Among the different data collection modes available in the descriptive method, the study framed a structured questionnaire for the collection of data. Thereafter, the questionnaire was tested for loopholes by conducting a pilot study. The questionnaire evolved as such was used to collect data from select archives and museums. The collected data has been tabulated and analyzed in tune with the set objectives. The findings of this study have been correlated with relevant findings and conclusions of previous studies in this domain to provide a better overview and sanctify the revelations further.

From the current study, the authors find that the topological location of most of the institutions is near or on river banks which is the cause of concern at the time of heavy rains, after heavy snow fall and at the time of floods. It was also found that the majority of these institutions are located near highways which is also a serious concern in terms of noise, smoke, dust and vibrations produced by the plying of different types of transports on these highways. These kinds of unwanted disturbances create a negative atmosphere on the holdings, visitors and staff of these institutions.Although all of the institutions have apparently strong looking buildings that are made up of good material, the matter of concern is that only one institution (SPS museum) has a building which was specifically made for the purpose. As the state of Jammu and Kashmir is politically and geographically unstable, it is found that most of the institutions are prone to disasters like floods, earthquake and bomb threats which pose a threat to these valuable institutions and their valuable holdings.The most necessary and important parameter that is the training of the staff for disaster preparedness is not provided in majority of these institutions.Despite the fact that funds for majority of these institutions are provided by the government, the funds provided are insufficient for having fool-proof disaster preparedness and management.

Because of tremendous significance of archives and museums in propagation and preservation of historical and cultural identity of any nation, culture, ethnicity or nation state, the current study sheds light on the status of these important institutions in a very important part of Central Asia. Kashmir in past has been the cradle of knowledge evolution and sharing in the region. As such, it possesses some of the very rare manuscripts and artifacts preserved in her archives and museums.

As this study is limited to select archives and museums of Jammu and Kashmir, the findings of this study may or may not represent the wider region of Central Asia.

The recent spate of eminence received by the MOOCs (massive open online courses) from media to academia is revolutionary in higher education. MOOCs are a disruptive technological innovation which offers open learning with the aid of the internet and delivered by the faculty of reputed institutions, globally. Since Coursera being one such significant platform, its exploration would display the broader picture of MOOCs. As a result, studying it from various dynamics has been the motive of the current endeavour.

The quantitative study of the collected data was applied with help of descriptive research methodology to measure the contribution of the top six countries namely US, China, Japan, Germany, India and UK. All these six countries were selected on the basis of GDP (harvested from official website World Bank – data.worldbank.org/ to Coursera––an online platform providing MOOCs. The involvement of these selected countries was gauged (from the official website of Coursera https://www.coursera.org/) in terms of number, type of contributing institutions, number of courses offered by those institutions, type of courses offered, number of instructors and instructor gender ratio.

The findings reveal that the United States (US) is the top contributor in terms of partner institutes (97), courses (Specialization courses – 1,267 and degree courses– 40) and number of instructors (1,290). Interestingly, it was also observed that universities are the major contributor institutes in all six studied countries. Most of the institutes provide specialization courses while a very few provide degree courses. A large number of instructors are involved for imparting these courses online. Instructor gender ratio on average is 2:1 (male: female). It was also observed that there is usually a specific common time of starting courses on Coursera.

Online platforms are the main delivery points for MOOCs; therefore, vibrancy and articulacy of such platforms make this innovation a success, and examining such a platform which exhibits such characteristics would present an overall picture of its functionality, development, evolution and future expansion of the innovation (MOOCs).

The purpose of this paper is to draw a comparison of the Web traffic ranking, usage and popularity of websites of databases of reputed publishers, namely, ScienceDirect and Emerald Insight, that provide access on subscription basis with Sci-Hub, on the basis of data obtained from Alexa databank (www.alexa.com). Sci-Hub is a website that provides pirated open-access to the research literature, where piracy, according to The Economic Times (2020), refers to the unauthorized duplication of copyrighted content.

Under present study, the quantitative study of the collected data was carried out with help of descriptive research methodology. The Alexa databank was singled out as the source of data. This study crawled through Alexa databank on 01.12.2019 and collected relevant data regarding Sci-Hub, ScienceDirect and Emerald Insight using the search terms Sci-hub.tw, Sciencedirect.com and Emeraldinsight.com sequentially. Different criteria were taken into consideration, which include global traffic rank, the average number of page views per user, time taken for uploading, bounce rate, percentage of users, the number of in-links and daily time spent on the site.

The results of this study showed that ScienceDirect has the highest traffic rank and in-linking sites among the surveyed databases. But highest number of page visits were recorded for Sci-Hub with fastest downloading speed. It has also been observed that the users spent less time on ScienceDirect and Emerald Insight as compared to Sci-Hub. This study further observed that Sci-Hub has the lowest bounce rate. Users from both the developing and developed economies use the Sci-Hub, though the highest number of visitors belongs to the developing nations.

This study provides an overview of the performance of toll-based publishing databases with pirated database based on different criteria through World Wide Web. Though, this study in no way supports or endorses the unauthorized and illegal access to knowledge, but such data helps in depicting and analyzing how much a particular database is accessed by its users all over the globe and also determines and illustrates the time spent by users while accessing a specific database, thus, providing the user preferences in information seeking activities. This study provides an overall view of adoption of open resources.

This paper aims to gauge the visibility of open content available in different formats of select open courseware (OCW) repositories through prominent search engines.

Open content in three formats (pdf, audio and video) from four OCW repositories listed in the OCW consortium under the science and technology subject heading were searched through seven select search engines.

None of the selected OCW repositories are fully visible on the selected search engines. Visibility of OCW content varied from one search engine to the other and was affected by the format in which it is available. Google is the best search engine for retrieving OCW content, whereas OCWfinder – a specialized search engine for retrieving OCW – has performed dismally.

The study demonstrates the need for enhancing the visibility of open content through using search engine optimization techniques.

The study intends to supply findings that could be used by stakeholders to improve the visibility of OCW repositories. It is an attempt to draw a comparison between search engines for their ability to index different formats of OCW in the selected repositories. Findings can be used by information professionals to brush their information hunting skills.