Pakistan Journal of Information Management and Libraries

Critical Thinking and Academic Writing in the Age of Generative AI

2026-03-06T07:44:29+00:00

Assessing the Visibility and Accessibility of Open Educational Resources (OER) in Malaysian Higher Education

2024-12-08T11:27:55+00:00

Open educational resources (OER) facilitated by information and communication technologies offer a transformative platform to enhance teaching and learning processes. OER has become an essential tool in education, enabling communities of users to consult, adapt, and utilize resources for non-commercial purposes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Open Educational Resources (OER) assumed a pivotal role in supporting the development and dissemination of both newly created and adapted teaching and learning materials. One of the key advantages for educators and academics lies in the flexibility to select and tailor resources that align with diverse instructional requirements. This study investigates the current landscape of OER initiatives in Malaysian higher education through a comparative web-based analysis of 36 leading universities listed in the QS Asia University Rankings. The research identifies patterns using an OER evaluation checklist, which includes criteria such as platform hosting, accessibility, search interface, resource guides, subject alignment, repositories, copyright practices, licensing, and metadata standards. The findings offer valuable insights for educators, institutions, and policymakers to enhance OER integration, support sustainability, and promote broader adoption of open education. In addition, the results underscore the need for coordinated efforts to strengthen OER initiatives within higher education institutions and to provide a benchmark for national and institutional progress.

Factors Affecting Citations

2024-11-13T17:39:58+00:00

The study aimed to investigate the citation patterns of the most productive Pakistani authors. It also examined the factors influencing citation behavior and counts. A quantitative study design and Bibliometric approach were employed to attain the study objectives. One hundred of the most productive authors were identified from ten years of publication data of the top Ten Pakistani Universities ranked in the Web of Science (WoS). The bibliographic details of their publications and related citation data were extracted and descriptive and inferential statistics were performed to analyze the data. It was found that the authors have published 10907 publications, obtaining widely scattered 198636 citations. One-tenth of the publications were not cited, and some just had one citation. The findings of the statistical tests for the difference in citation counts by different types of publications revealed a significant difference between academic ranks, single and collaborated publications, collaboration types, journal quartile, journal impact factor, different document types, funded and non-funded publications, and publications in local and foreign journals. Moreover, funded publications, publications in foreign journals, international collaborated publications, and review papers received more citations. The study contributes to the literature by highlighting valued factors of scholarly productivity. Keeping these factors under consideration may help researchers, HEIs, and policymakers when revising academic research policies.

Core Competences of Scientific Journal Editors

2025-02-17T01:33:18+00:00

Scientific research is a complex process involving data collection, data analysis, and dissemination of research findings through scholarly communication, such as publication in journals. In scholarly communication, the role of journal editors as gatekeepers is essential. Editorial appointments are often based on administrative duties, with faculty or department heads appointed as editors-in-chief, which can lead to a lack of editorial competence.

This paper examines the core competencies required of journal editors to demonstrate editorial professionalism in the era of digital scholarship and open science. The study uses a questionnaire to collect data. A total of 79 responses were received from participants, including editors-in-chief and associate editors of Malaysian journals indexed in the WoS or Scopus databases. Most respondents gave positive responses in the four identified areas of core competencies. However, the lowest ratings were in areas related to open science, specifically open access, open peer review, and open data. The results are important for understanding editors' skills in open research. The findings would be helpful in developing training modules for scientific editors based on the identified core competencies.

Building Resilience and Safe Guiding Strategies for University Libraries in Disaster-Prone Areas

2025-05-28T14:02:33+00:00

University libraries in disaster-prone areas are increasingly at risk from natural and man-made disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, fires, and technology meltdowns, which can disrupt library services and potentially lead to the loss of valuable materials. The Hazara region in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, is particularly vulnerable to such disasters. However, the level of disaster preparedness of libraries in this region has not been extensively studied. This research aims to examine the existing disaster preparedness, response, and recovery protocols in public and private university libraries across the Hazara region. The study population comprised the library staff of all five universities in the region. Qualitative research and purposive sampling methods were utilized. 15 semi-structured interviews were conducted with library staff. The thematic analysis of the qualitative data highlighted several principal themes. The study results suggest the need for creating tailored disaster management policies. It is recommended that international best practices be adapted to the local context. This will guarantee the long-term effectiveness and sustainability of the preparedness strategies implemented. Furthermore, these tailored disaster management policies should weave disaster risk reduction into the fabric of library planning and implement ongoing training programs for staff. This research fills a literature gap and offers practical, evidence-based approaches to making libraries more resilient in areas frequently hit by disasters.

Library and Information Science Internship

2025-08-29T01:54:10+00:00

This study explores whether Library and Information Science students from three universities who participated in experiential learning through internship programs have identical or different experiences during their internships under selected internship items and factors. The study also aims to gauge LIS interns' own personal experiences in their internships. The study results have demonstrated LIS interns' agreement with the Internship Experience Factors, indicating that the internships provided a meaningful learning experience. Interns from the University of Northern Philippines (UNP) reported better learning experiences than those from the Benguet State University (BSU) and the Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities (HCM-USSH). The correlation among the internship factors was consistently weak, except for the level of agreement among students on communication skills and the rest of the areas of the learning experience, except for the comfort with work environments item. It is recommended that an LIS Internship guide be established to improve the LIS interns' learning experience further. This guide can ensure that all interns have comparable experiences regardless of the type of library or institution to which they are deployed. Furthermore, it will make these experiences more holistic, standardized, and international in scope when collaborations are sought. A future study should also consider the exact nature of more universities.