The Role of Academic Social Media in Enhancing Collaborative Research Activities of Library and Information Science Educators in Nigerian

Academic social media in enhancing research activities

Abstract

The study investigated the role of academic social media (ASM) in enhancing research collaborative activities of library and information science educators (LISE) in Nigerian universities. Research collaborative activities among LISE in Nigerian Universities were discovered to be low. Meanwhile, ASM avails researchers the opportunity to partner with researchers within and outside Nigeria and also enable them to engage in cross disciplinary research activities.  The objectives of the study were to determine the perception of LISE on use of ASM in enhancing research collaborative activities, identify the types of ASM used for research collaboration and the level of use of ASM in enhancing research collaborative activities. The research method used for the study was descriptive survey research design. The population of the study was 368 LISE from Federal, State and Private Universities in Nigeria.  Questionnaire was administered to a sample of 268 LISE selected from 28 library and information science schools in Nigeria through a multi stage sampling technique. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics. The findings from the study revealed that majority of the respondents’ utilised Research gate; most of the respondents did not utilise ASM as a medium to collaborate with colleagues abroad and in other disciplines. In view of that, the study recommended that LISE should endeavour to familiarise themselves with other social media platforms so as to enhance research collaborative activities among others.