Self Archiving Behaviour of University Academics: Is there any difference between Humanities and Engineering Scholars?

Abstract

This study examined self-archiving practices of academic scholars in the faculty of Arts and faculty of Engineering in the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. A survey method was adapted and a web based questionnaire was used as the main data collection tool. The study established that even though most of the respondents in the two faculties were aware of self-archiving concept as means for providing open access, less percentage of them had experience in self-archiving. The findings further revealed that the Engineering scholars had more experience in self archiving and they engaged in more self archiving activities than the scholars in the faculty of Arts. Regarding the preferred content type and file format, the preference of the two faculty members are somewhat different and the scholars in the faculty of Engineering has done self archiving more easily while spending lesser time, compared to the Arts scholars. Based on the results and conclusions the recommendations were made at the end of the study.