1. INTRODUCTION

The demands of higher education and the need to create knowledge, innovations and research have brought the need for scholarly and scientific research to the fore. This development has led to the relevance of journals which are important in engendering research and development especially in the academic milieu. Akpochafo (2009) submits that universities are charged with the creation of knowledge and it is one of their primary mandates. In creating knowledge, a lot of research has to be undertaken by both the universities and in research centers. Universities are viewed as contributors to innovation. The primary aim of university education however, is to engender teaching, learning, and research (Anunobi, Okoye and James-Chima, 2012).

The use of Open Access journals (OAJs) could be affected by the perception of users as regards its usefulness and relevance to meeting their information needs. Perception has been reported by researchers as a critical factor in determining the intention to use and reuse a system. According to Olajide-Williams and Popoola (2013) citing Nelson (2006), perception is the subjective process of acquiring, interpreting, and organizing sensory information. It refers to how the brain organizes and interprets sensory information. Olajide-Williams and Popoola reports that recently, perception was considered by the school of psychology called behaviorism, to be largely passive and inevitable response to stimuli. Similarly, Ekvall, Isaksen, Lauer and Britz (2000) posit that perception could be influenced by the intensity and physical dimensions of the stimulus, our own past experiences, how ready we are to respond, and our motivation and emotional state. They further assert that perception has to do with understanding issues. Perception is the cognitive impression that is formed of “reality” which in turn influences the individual’s actions and behavior towards that object.

Unfortunately, Open Access publications are perceived to have low quality in comparison with the traditional publications. Just recently, Gross and Ryan (2015) carried out a survey titled “landscapes of research: perceptions of Open Access (OA) publishing in the Arts and Humanities” at Edith Cowan University. Checking the perception of quality in open access, some considered OA journals of lower quality than subscription publications, of equal quality, higher quality, and some were unsure. Geib (2013) also submits that some researchers argued that open access journals lack quality control. This has hampered effective use of OAJs by them. The implication is that master degree students with negative perception of OAJs might not use them for academic purposes. Those who perceived OAJs to be useful and to be of relative advantage might use them more for academic purposes.

This study was carried out in two federal universities in Southwest Nigeria. The universities are: The University of Ibadan, Ibadan Oyo State and Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State Nigeria. University of Ibadan is the first university in Nigeria established in 1948 with a view to promote education, learning and research. Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife is also one of the prestigious federal universities in Southwest Nigeria. It was established in 1961 and it started its postgraduate studies and research in 1964. These two universities were selected based on their experience in research for over fifty years and it is expected that open access journals would have been maximally utilized by their master degree students. However, despite the huge benefits presented by Open Access journals, especially in the aspect of ensuring equitable access to scholarly publications without the barrier of a subscription or access fees, it has been observed that there is a gross reduction in the usage of OAJs by master degree students in Nigeria as compared to their contemporaries. This may owe to their varying perceptions about the quality and usefulness of these OAJs. It is to this end, this article sets to investigate the perceptions and use of Open Access Journals by postgraduate students in two universities in Southwest, Nigeria. In carrying out this research, this study employed six research questions and six hypotheses to ascertain the various perceptions and how these perceptions affect usage of OAJs by master degree students.

2. OBJECTIVES

The broad objective of this research is to investigate the perceptions and use of OAJs by master degree students of two universities in Nigeria. The specific objectives are to find out the master degree students usage patterns of Open Access Journals; determine the barriers that hinder the use of OAJs; investigate users' perceptions of OAJs, whether positive or negative; find out the users' perception of relative advantage of OAJs; examine the perception of the complexities of using OAJs; and to investigate the perception of compatibility of OAJs with existing scientific and scholarly standards.

3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The study seeks to provide answers to the following questions:

i. What is the frequency of use of Open Access Journals by master degree students of universities in Southwest, Nigeria?

ii. What are the barriers that hinder the use of OAJs by master degree students in Nigeria?

iii. Do users have positive or negative perceptions towards OAJs in Nigeria?

iv. What are the users’ perceptions of relative advantage of OAJs?

v. What are the users’ perceptions of complexity of OAJs?

vi. What are the users’ perceptions of compatibility of OAJs?

4. RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

The following null hypotheses will be tested at 0.05 level of significance:

H0₁: There is no significant relationship between positive perception and use of OAJS by master degree students in Nigeria.

H0₂: There is no significant relationship between negative perception and use of OAJS

H0₃: There is no significant relationship between perception of relative advantage and use of OAJs

H0₄: There is no significant relationship between perception of complexities and use of OAJs

H0₅: There is no significant relationship between perception of compatibility and use of OAJs

H0₆: There is no composite relationship between positive perception, negative perception, perception of relative advantage, perception of complexities, perception of compatibility and use of Open Access Journals by master degree students in Nigeria.

5. LITERATURE REVIEW

The literature review will comprise of relevant and existing researches that have been carried by different authors, delimiting it to variables identified in the study. The submissions and findings from the review will be used when discussing the findings of this study, looking at areas of similarities and discrepancies.

6. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

This study will be guided by Innovation Diffusion Theory developed by Rogers (2003). Perception of the usefulness and compatibility of open access journals could significantly influence intention to use. Innovation diffusion theory is considered appropriate for investigating users’ perceptions. Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT) has been employed in studying individuals’ technology adoption. The main goal of IDT is to understand the adoption of innovation in terms of four elements of diffusion, including innovation, time, communication channels, and social systems. IDT also states that an individual’s technology adoption behavior is determined by his or her perceptions regarding the relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability of the innovation (Rogers, 2003).

According to Rogers (2003), compatibility is the degree to which an innovation is perceived as consistent with the existing values, past experiences, and needs of potential adopters. Complexity is the degree to which an innovation is perceived as relatively difficult to understand and use. As Rogers stated, opposite to the other attributes, complexity negatively correlates with the rate of adoption. Thus, excessive complexity of an innovation is an important obstacle in its adoption. Since, Open Access Journals are product of ICT which could only be accessed on the Internet, the use of IDT becomes handy.

A lack of compatibility in IT with individual needs may negatively affect the individual’s IT use (McKenzie, 2001). Compatibility was found to influence Perceived Usefulness (Bhattacherjee & Hikmet, 2007), Perceived Ease of Use(PEOU) (Hernandez, Jimenez & Martin, 2010), attitude (Agarwal & Prasad, 2000; Lee, Kozar & Larsen, 2003), and intention (Saeed & Muthitacharoen, 2008; Wu and Wang, 2005). Relative advantage was found to have a positive relationship with an attitude (Agarwal and Prasad, 2000), and relative usage intention (Lin, Chan, & Wei, 2006). Complexity was found to have a negative relationship with the technology adoption intention (Son & Benbasat, 2007).

7. CONCEPTUAL MODEL FOR THE STUDY

Figure 1 proposes a relationship between the five independent variables and the dependent variable, which is the use of Open Access Journals. It proposes that when users have positive perceptions about Open Access journals, it will affect use positively. Negative perception on the other hand also has a relationship on use in that it dissuades intention to use it because of the negative impression users have about OAJs. Some perceive that OAJs are of lower quality when compared with traditional journals. Hence, these negative perceptions will not encourage use. The relationship therefore is negative, which means that if negative perception reduces, use will increase and vice-versa. Further, perception of relative advantage has a relationship with users’ use of OAJs. Users will utilize any technology if they perceive that it will be advantageous for academic activities, and if it will enhance productivity in academic pursuits. The model also proposes that if OAJs’ interfaces and platforms are perceived as too complex, use may be discouraged; and if perceived as not to be complex, use will be encouraged. Lastly, the perception that OAJs are compatible with existing values and scholarly ethics will also determine users’ usage of such. If users perceive that OAJs are less qualitative and undergo no serious review process before publishing, they may not use them for academic tasks in their institutions.

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Fig. 1

The research model

8. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The population of the study consists of the master degree students of The University of Ibadan and Obafemi Awolowo Univeristy. The Records Office of the Postgraduate School, University of Ibadan revealed that there are thirteen (13) Faculties, three (3) Institutes and six (6) Centers offering postgraduate programs within the university with a population of seven thousand four hundred and twenty three (7,423) masters’ students for 2014/2015 academic session. In OAU, there are twelve (12) Faculties offering postgraduate studies with a population of One thousand, eight hundred and sixty seven (1867) masters’ degree students. This gives a total population of nine thousand, two hundred and ninety (9,290) which is the population of the study.

The multi-stage sampling technique was used for the study. Data was collected from master degree students at first and second year (Masters 1 and 2) in the selected universities. In the first stage, three faculties were purposively selected. These three Faculties are Arts, Social Sciences and Sciences. The second stage involved the purposive selection of two similar departments, each from the selected faculties of the universities. The selected departments are Religious Studies and History from the Faculty of Arts; Economics and Psychology from Faculty of Social Sciences; Geology and Physics from the Faculty of Sciences. At the last stage, 30% sampling fraction was used to select the sample size for each of the selected departments. According to Aina (2004), the principle of sample size is that if the population is less than 1000, then 30% sampling ratio will be adequate. Thus, the sample size is 249. The data collection instrument was a structured questionnaire. Some core Open Access Journals were selected from DOAJ and used for the study. Data was analysed using frequency counts and percentages for the research questions, while correlation and regression analyses were used for testing the hypotheses. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for coding and analysing the data.

9. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

A total of one hundred and eighty five (185) copies of the questionnaire were administered to master degree students at University of Ibadan (UI), Nigeria and sixty four (64) to those in Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile Ife, Nigeria. One hundred and seventy six (176) and sixty two (62) copies respectively, were returned and found usable for analysis, giving a total of 238 (95.1 % response rate)(See Table 1).

10. HYPOTHESIS TESTING

Some hypotheses were formulated for testing in this study. They are null hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance.

Ho1: There is no significant relationship between positive perception and use of OAJs

Table 11 revealed that in both universities, there was a positive significant correlation between perception and use of OAJs by the respondents (r= 0.121^**; df = 236; p < 0.05). Thus, as use of OAJs by master degree students increases, their positive perception also increases. The null hypothesis one is hereby rejected; therefore, there is a significant relationship between positive perception and use of OAJs.

Ho2: There is no significant relationship between negative perception and use of OAJs

Table 12 revealed that in both universities, there was a negative significant correlation between negative perception and use of OAJs by the respondents (r= -0.207^**; df = 236; p < 0.05). Thus, as use of OAJs by master degree students in increases, their negative perception decreases. The null hypothesis two is hereby rejected; therefore, there is a significant relationship between negative perception and use of OAJs.

Ho3: There is no significant relationship between perception of relative advantage and use of OAJs

Table 13 revealed that in both universities, there was a positive significant correlation between perception of relative advantage and use of OAJs by the respondents (r= 0.128^**; df = 236; p < 0.05). Thus, as use of OAJs by master degree students increases, their perception of relative advantage also increases. The null hypothesis three is hereby rejected; therefore, there is a significant relationship between perception of relative advantage and use of OAJs.

Ho4: There is no significant relationship between perception of complexities and use of OAJs

Table 14 revealed that in both universities, there was a very weak positive but not significant correlation between perception of complexities and use of OAJs by the respondents (r= 0.057^**; df = 236; p > 0.05). Thus, the null hypothesis four is hereby accepted; therefore, there is no significant relationship between perception of the complexities and use of OAJs.

Ho5: There is no significant relationship between perception of compatibility and use of OAJs

Table 15 revealed that in both universities, there was a positive significant correlation between perception of compatibility and use of OAJs by the respondents (r= 0.118^**; df = 236; p < 0.05). Thus, as use of OAJs by master degree students increases, their perception of compatibility also increases. Thus, the null hypothesis five is hereby rejected; therefore, there is a significant relationship between perception of complexities and use of OAJs.

Ho6: There is no composite relationship between positive perception, negative perception, perception of relative advantage, perception of complexities, perception of compatibility and use of Open Access Journals by master degree students in Nigeria.

Table 16 shows that in both universities, the R =.312 obtained was found to be significant (F [5, 233] = 4.885; p < 0.05). This means that the R was not due to chance. With an adjusted R square of .078, it connotes that 7.8% of the variance was accounted for by the independent variables. The remaining 92.1% is accounted for by other factors not captured in this study.

Table 17 showed that there was a positive influence of positive perception on use of OAJs with β = 0.447 and t value = 1.673 at P > 0.05 (sig. 0.096), although not significant. Also, there was a negative influence of negative perception on use of OAJs with β = -0.707 and t value = -4.139 at P < 0.05 (sig. 0.000). Also, there was a positive influence of relative advantage perception on use of OAJs with B= 1.011 and t value = 1.297 at P > 0.05 (sig. 0.196), although not significant. Also, there was a negative influence of perception of complexities on use of OAJs with β = -.526 t value = -.681 at P < 0.05 (sig. 0.496), although not significant.

Similarly, there was a positive influence of perception of compatibility for use of OAJs with β = 1.146 and t value = 1.512 at P > 0.05 (sig. 0.132), although not significant. It could however be inferred from the table that the five perception factors (positive perception, negative perception, relative advantage of perception, perception of complexities and perception of compatibility) had multiple influences on use of OAJs for academic activities by master degree students in the University of Ibadan and Obafemi Awolowo University. Out of the five perceptions, only negative perception had significant multiple influence on use of OAJs by the master degree students. Therefore, the multiple influences of perceptions on use of Open Access journals by master degree students in both universities showed that, positive perception had the greatest influence on use of Open Access journals for academic activities, while negative perception had the least influence on use of Open Access journals for academic activities.

11. DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

The major academic purposes master degree students in both universities used Open Access journals (OAJs) were for personal research, learning, project/theses writing, seminar preparation, assignment, professional growth and workshop/symposium. This corresponds with the findings of Deng (2010) in his study in Australia, that there were various purposes for postgraduates to use OAJs including: gathering information on a specific topic (research), gaining general information (personal research), and completing assignments. Supporting this assertion were Pandurangaswamy and Kishore (2013) from their study that most of the postgraduate students use OAJs for the preparation of class notes, and most postgraduate students used electronic information resources for preparation of projects. These findings were also supported by Mohammed and Garba (2013) who found that postgraduate students use OA to support their thesis and dissertation, read for exams, write assignments, and to publish their journal articles.

Furthermore, on the frequency of use of OAJs for academic purpose by master degree students in both universities, it was established in the study that, majority of the respondents not use the Open Access journal as frequently as possible. From the findings, it could be ascertained that OAJs were underutilised by the respondents in both universities for their academic activities. This finding is supported by Geib (2013) who submitted that some researchers argued that Open Access journals lack quality control. This has hampered the effective use of OAJs by them. The implication is that master degree students with negative perceptions of OAJs might not use them for academic purposes. Only those who perceived OAJs to be useful and to be of relative advantage might use them more for academic purposes. Similarly, Habiba and Chowdbury (2012) also averred that postgraduate students who are most enthusiast users of OAJs preferred resources offered online free of charge.

The major barriers hindering the use of OAJs by master degree students in both universities were download delay, unavailability of Internet facilities, too many login instructions required, limited access to computer terminals and poor website design. These finding is in tandem with Dulle (2010) and Christian (2008) who identified slow Internet connectivity as a major constraint indicated by the respondents as contributing to their ineffective usage of this media in scholarly communication. It also supports Muthayan (2003) who pointed out that only a few institutions with reliable and fast Internet connection would benefit from Open Access initiatives in South Africa. Similarly, Hirwade and Rajyalakshmi (2005) considered lack of infrastructural facilities and connectivity of high bandwidth as among the inhibitors of Open Access uptake in India.. Also, in support of this finding is the submission of Dulle (2011), who posited lack of open access awareness as one of the barriers hindering the use of Open Access journals. However, this findings is at variance with Ivwighreghweta and Onoriode (2012) who viewed inadequate online scholarly communication skills and lack of awareness of Open Access as the most prevalent constraints

From these findings, it could be further affirmed that in both universities, the respondents had a very high positive perception of OAJs. The majority of the respondents posited that Open Access; enables them to access research output from highly rated journals, increase research activities impact by such works being highly used and cited, freely access scholarly literature for their seminar preparation because it is free, reduce the cost incurred in gathering materials for their thesis/dissertation, use current scholarly research in their term papers and thesis and that publishing in open access outlets exposes their scholarly work and research to a large potential readership. This was supported by Mohammed and Garba (2013) who found that postgraduate students use OA to support their theses and dissertation, read for exams, write assignments, and to publish their journal articles. Similarly, Habiba and Chowdbury (2012) also averred that postgraduate students who are most enthusiast users of OAJs preferred resources offered online free of charge.

In addition, findings further affirmed that in spite of the very high positive perception of OAJs by master degree students, majority of the respondents indicated a high negative perception of OAJs in both universities. Majority of the respondents posited that Open Access publications are not relevant for their academic purposes, that Open Access publications are generally quite mediocre or of little scientific merit to be used for their theses/dissertation, that Open Access journals have made research too cheap, hence it should not be used for theses and term paper. This finding supports Geib (2013) who submitted that some researchers argued that Open Access journals lack quality control which hampered effective use of OAJs by them. The implication is that master degree students with negative perceptions of OAJs might not use them for academic purposes. Another reason may be attributed to the barriers encountered when using the Open Access journals and publications by them.

More so, it could be inferred from the findings that in both universities, majority of the respondents indicated they have a relative advantage academically using OAJs. This is because the majority of the respondents posited that Open Access journals are beneficial to their academic purpose since it allows free access to scholarly articles all over the world with the journals being of more advantage than toll access journals. The findings were supported by Habiba and Chowdbury (2012) also opined that postgraduate students who solely depends on the heavy use of OAJs, preferred resources offered online free of charge.

From the result of findings in both universities, majority of the respondents indicated OAJs were not complex to use for academic purposes. This can be seen in the fact that the majority of the respondents posited that open access journals make their research easy to carry out with instructions interfaces on the open access journals that are easy to understand and follow when searching for articles. This is supported by Chen, Yen, Hung, Huang (2008) who established that an individual’s tendency to interact spontaneously, intensively, openly, creatively, and imaginatively with computers and their available electronic information resources depends on their ability to derive high pleasure and comfort in using it.

From the results of findings, it could be inferred that, in both universities, majority of the respondents indicated they were compatible with the use of OAJs for academic purposes as most of them posited Open Access journals to be relevant for their academic activities with the articles in open access journals being useful for their dissertations and scholarly contents which are compatible with existing values in scientific research. This is supported by Rogers (2003) who posited that compatibility depends on the degree to which an innovation is perceived as consistent with existing values, past experiences and needs of potential adopters.

Moreover, the test of a significant relationship between perception and use of OAJs by the respondents by postgraduate students revealed that in both universities, there was a positive significant correlation between positive perception and use of OAJs. Thus, as users’ positive perception increase, use of OAJs by master degree students also increases. The null hypothesis one is hereby rejected; therefore, there is a significant relationship between positive perception and use of OAJs. This agrees with Rogers (2003) who submits that positive perception about an innovation is one of the key determinants of its eventual adoption and use. This implies that, the way open journals are perceived by the researchers will to a large extent determine how they use them.

The test of a significant relationship between negative perception and use of OAJs by the respondents in both universities revealed that, there was a significant negative correlation between negative perception and use of OAJs. Thus, as use of OAJs by master degree students increases, their negative perception decreases. The null hypothesis two is hereby rejected; therefore, there is a significant negative relationship between negative perception and use of OAJs. This finding indicates that the less negative the master degree students perceive using open access journals and publications, the more they will be prone to use them.

The test of a significant relationship between perception of relative advantage and use of OAJs in both universities revealed that, there was a positive significant correlation between perception of relative advantage and use of OAJs by the respondents. Thus, as use of OAJs by master degree students in increases, their perception of relative advantage also increases. The null hypothesis three is hereby rejected; therefore, there is a positive significant relationship between perception of relative advantage and use of OAJs. This is in line with Agarwal and Prasad (2000) who found that relative advantage have a positive relationship with attitude and also Lin, Chan, and Wei (2006) who found out that relative advantage have a positive relationship with relative usage intention. The more benefit derived from the use of an innovation or technology the more the use of such technology by the user.

The test of a significant relationship between perception of the complexities and use of OAJs by the respondents in both universities revealed that, there was a very weak positive, but not significant correlation between perception of the complexities and use of OAJs by the respondents. Thus, since the relationship was not significant, the null hypothesis four is hereby accepted; therefore, there is no significant relationship between perception of the complexities and use of OAJs. This was at variance with the finding of Son and Benbasat (2007) that complexity was found to have a negative relationship with the technology adoption intention.

The test of a significant relationship between perception of compatibility and use of OAJs by the respondents in both universities revealed that, there was a positive significant correlation between perception of compatibility and use of OAJs by the respondents. Thus, as use of OAJs by master degree students increases, their perception of compatibility also increases. Thus, the null hypothesis five is hereby rejected; therefore, there is a significant relationship between perception of the complexities and use of OAJs. This is corroborated by Bhattacherjee and Hikmet, (2007) who found out that compatibility influences perceived usefulness and McKenzie (2001) who stressed that a lack of compatibility in IT with individual needs may negatively affect the individual’s IT use. This is further supported by Agarwal and Prasad (2000), Lee, Kozar and Larsen (2003) who found that compatibility influences attitude. The more compatible the open access journals are, the more the chances of being used by the postgraduate students.

From the findings on the multiple influence, it could however be inferred that out of the five perception factors (positive perception, negative perception, relative advantage of perception, perception of the complexities and perception of compatibility) positive perception had the greatest influence on use of open access journals for academic activities, while negative perception had the least influence on use of open access journals for academic activities by master degree students in the University of Ibadan and Obafemi Awolowo Univeristy. Out of the five perceptions only negative perception had significant but negative influence on use of OAJs by the master degree students.

12. CONCLUSION

Open access journals have brought a tremendous impact on the academic activities of master degree students in Nigeria. It has brought about a paradigm shift in the access to and use of scholarly journals by master degree students, as they can freely access and use them without the barrier of payment and subscription. Open access journals serve as access equalizer and have made it possible for those who are not financially buoyant to have access to peer reviewed journals freely. It is evident in the study that master degree students used OAJs for learning, personal research, term paper and dissertation. It is noteworthy that due to slow Internet connectivity, download delay, limited access to computer terminals, lack of knowledge of the existence of OAJs and too many login instructions, master degree students did not frequently use open access journals for academic purposes. More so, it was clear that the perceptions of the users towards open access journals have significant impact on the use OAJs. Positive perception, perception of relative advantage, perception of compatibility will affect the actual usage of open access journals. However, a decrease in the negative perception towards OAJs will lead to an increase usage of OAJs. Consequently, it behooves on open access publishers, government and tertiary education policy planners to ensure quality assurance in OAJ publications, and also prevent postgraduate students from using predatory open access journals for their academic tasks. This will ensure quality research and good education building that will transcend to societal and nation building.