Exploring academic staff engagement in depositing locally produced research content in open access institutional repositories in Tanzania

This study explored academic staff engagement in depositing locally produced content in open access institutional repositories in public universities in Tanzania. The general objective of this study was to establish the extent to which academic staff are engaged in depositing locally produced content in open access institutional repositories. The study employed a cross-sectional research design. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire, which was administered to 292 academic staff selected through systematic random sampling. Purposive sampling was used to select 14 key informants. The results reveal that 92.5% of the respondents were aware of the presence of open access institutional repositories and 46.2% of the respondents had self-archived their academic work in open access institutional repositories. Poor Internet connectivity, low bandwidth, and a time-consuming and unstable power supply were the challenges encountered by the academic staff in the process of uploading their work. Several recommendations are suggested to expedite the process.