Study of Institutional Repositories A Model For The Academic and Research Institutions of India

Abstract

Knowledge sharing is the key for the creation of knowledge and new newlineknowledge is created or built upon the already existing knowledge. This is in newlinepractice since the beginning of human civilization, as Newton has rightly newlinesaid if I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants . newlineThe system of scholarly communication of new knowledge which began newlinewith the first journal The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of newlineLondon has remained intact over 300 years. The system of publishing new newlineknowledge in Scholarly Journals has evolved over the years and has become newlineestablished means of communicating new knowledge. The Scholarly newlineJournals have been the vehicle for not only disseminating new knowledge newlinebut they enabled scientists and researchers to claim priority of the research newlinedone, validation of research done through peer review process, and archiving newlineof the research. These features of journal have made it indispensable for the newlineacademic community. The Eugene Garfield devised metrics for measuring newlinethe impact of Journals called Journal Impact Factor (JIF). The metrics newlinewas based on the citations of articles published in particular journal became newlineso popular that academic performance and worth of research is measured in newlineterms of JIF. The evolution of these practices made it compulsive for the newlineacademic community to publish in high impact journals for career newlineadvancement prestige and popularity. Billions of dollars poured in for newlinefunding of research and the extensive growth research activities resulted in newlinethe increase in number of journals. The commercial interests and newlinemonopolistic policies of the journals led to the so much increases in the newlineprices of journals that most affluent libraries of the world were not able to newlinesubscribe the journals of their requirement. This phenomenon is well newlinedocumented as Serial Crisis . The high prices of Journals resulted in newlinereduced subscription. Exorbitant prices are too restrictive for wide newlinecirculation of journals as the price is put as the barrier to access.