Assessing Reference Management Practices among Research Scholars of Indira Gandhi National Open University

Abstract

 In the academic world searching and managing references is a tedious task. By communicating with publishing houses scholars have to face difficulties i.e. creation of bibliographies and references in multiple citation styles (i.e. Chicago, MLA, APA, etc.). The development of Reference Management Software (RMS) has solved this problem for scholars. This study aims to explore the awareness of reference management software among the research scholars of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). Design/ methodology/ approach: The research scholars were requested to participate in the online survey to seek information regarding their awareness and choices of using RMS. There were 91 respondents in the study who completed the survey. Findings: Results indicate that despite having authored a dissertation or thesis with a master’s degree still many don’t have expertise in the use of RMS and manually managing their references. Participants are aware of the growing importance of RMS and are willing to adopt it in the future. Mendeley and Zotero RMS are highly used. Participants also expressed the need for the organisation of the training programmes. Originality/ value: Management of reference using the RMS is becoming increasingly popular among the academic and researcher community. The use of RMS facilitates  numerous advantages to the researchers i.e. search, manage, organise, share, and cite their literature & references. However, various factors affect the use of RMS, i.e. training and support from the library, commercial or open source RMS, and features of RMS.