LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE LECTURERS’ UTILISATION OF LINKEDIN AND RESEARCHGATE FOR SCHOLARLY PUBLISHING IN UNIVERSITIES IN SOUTH-SOUTH, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study determined the extent to which LinkedIn and ResearchGate are utilised by Library and Information Science (LIS) professionals for scholarly publishing in universities in South-South Nigeria. This study employed the qualitative research design. The study population comprised 700 academic publications from 140 library and information science lecturers in South-South Nigeria. The sample size was 294, corresponding to the number of visible academic publications by library science lecturers at universities in South-South Nigeria. Two-stage sampling techniques of cluster and comprehensive sampling were applied. A data mining technique was employed for the study. Text mining was applied to identify keywords in library and information science from the two academic social networking sites. Text mining was also utilised to link publications to authors from south-south Nigeria, with further segmentation into six states (Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo and Rivers States). The data obtained were analysed using bar charts and percentages to answer research questions, while multiple regression using panel data of five years was used to test the hypotheses at .05 level of significance. Findings of the study show that there is a very low level of utilisation of LinkedIn by LIS professionals for scholarly publishing in universities in South-South Nigeria. There is a significant extent of utilisation of ResearchGate by LIS professionals for scholarly publishing in universities in South-South Nigeria. It was recommended that LIS lecturers should utilise ResearchGate for open archiving, networking, evaluating collaborators’ profiles, and discussing scientific issues. LIS lecturers should always republish their articles on the two sites to enhance visibility