In the just-concluded EKA 2021 competition where East and Central African countries team participated, 8 Kenyatta University students drawn from the Department of Library and Information Studies emerged in position one.

The Post Modern Library has been engaging students to do peer training as a way of promoting the usage of Library Resources. One such engagement has been the participation in Emerald Knowledge Ambassadors - EKA competitions in the last few years.

Welcome to The Knowledge Retreat

Taylor & Francis Group one of the world’s leading publishers of scholarly journals, books, eBooks, and reference works is hosting an online training named "The Knowledge Retreat" for free expert advice on focus and inspiration when writing.

Register for free access to expert advice on improving your focus and inspiration when writing or researching.

Articles published by Taylor & Francis for KU authors are now deposited in our Institutional Repository Under Research Papers RP) Community.

EIFL - Taylor & Francis Journals Licence Agreement allows depositing publisher PDFs (downloaded from https://www.tandfonline.com/) in any repositories 12 months after publication for STM disciplines and 18 months for Social Sciences and Humanities disciplines.

EIFL has renewed its agreement with SAGE for the IMechE journals from the Institute of Mechanical Engineering, and the renewed agreement includes open access publishing terms for authors which guarantees a waiver (100% discount) on Article Processing Charges for authors from Kenya when publishing an article in one of the IMechE journals.

The agreement runs until December 2024, and the offer is available to CORRESPONDING authors.

Direct link to most recent title list of journals with discounted or waiver APCs for corresponding authors from Kenya: https://www.eifl.net/kenya_apcs

How to claim the waiver:

The waiver or discount is automatically applied as SAGE’s system will recognise an eligible corresponding author’s affiliation to eligible countries or institutions.

You can find more information on this page:

https://eifl.net/apcs/imeche-apcs-open-access-publishing

EIFL has renewed its agreement with Cambridge University Press which guarantees a waiver (100% discount) on Article Processing Charges for authors from Kenya when publishing an article in one of the Cambridge University Press fully open access journals.

 The agreement runs until December 2022, and the offer is available to CORRESPONDING authors.

Direct link to most recent title list of journals with discounted or waiver APCs for corresponding authors from Kenya: https://www.eifl.net/kenya_apcs

 How to claim the waiver: 

Once the completed licence to publish form has been received, authors will receive an email from Rightslink-CCC, who work on Cambridge’s behalf to collect Article Processing Charges (APCs). All authors must complete this process. Within the Rightslink process, corresponding Authors from eligible countries should select their country and select ‘Apply Discounts’. They will then be returned to an updated version of the charges page, where the net total will be updated to reflect the waiver.

 You can find more information on this page:

https://eifl.net/apcs/cambridge-university-press-apcs-open-access-journals

Image from APKFab Random Chat & Date

Please note that you do not need to log in to the maktaba platform. Ignore the login tab. However you need to register and login to use the e-resources on the maktaba platform. See the information below:

Steps to the registration
1. Register to access e-books and e-journals by simply clicking on this link:  https://elibraryku.remotexs.co/user/register
2. Check your registered email for further instructions such as creation of the password you will be using to log in to the system. The username is the email you use to register (ie your student email)
3. Log in on https://elibraryku.remotexs.co/user/login

SAGE Research Methods Online (SRMO) is a research methods tool created to help researchers, faculty and students with their research projects. SRMO links researchers to content from books, book chapters, journals, reference books, and videos. SRMO covers methods and concepts to help you design research projects, understand particular methods or identify a new method, conduct your research, and write up your findings. SRMO focuses on methodology and can therefore be used across all disciplines.

Elsevier has put together a webinar series that will address highly requested topics from researchers. The series is called The Researcher Toolbox … powered by Scopus

The series we will be covering:

• Essential tips for Publishing in High Impact Journals – Lessons from Cell Press Presented by: Dr. Rebecca Eccles (PhD), Scientific Editor at Molecular Cell (Cell Press, Elsevier)
• Making sense of Open Access and Pre-Prints Presented by Lucia Schoombee (Senior Research Intelligence Consultant) and Daneshree Moodley(Core Products Consultant)
• Get the Most out of your Author Profile Presented by Isabel Butt (Scopus Senior Product Manager)
• Responsible use of Research Metrics Presented by Dr. Andrew Plume President for the International Centre for the Study of Research and Senior Director of Research Evaluation at Elsevier.
• How to get indexed in Scopus and why Presented by Prof Jaya Raju(Content Selection and Advisory Board Member) and Shareef Bhailal(Senior Scopus Product Manager)

Register here

Please register to access e-books and e-journals by simply clicking on this link  https://elibraryku.remotexs.co/user/register

Once you are successfully registered, check your registered email for further instructions.

If you are using a mobile gadget, you can easily scan the QR code on this page for the link to the registration process

Nb: If you have forgotten the password to your corporate email you are advised to submit a ticket to support.ku.ac.ke

Image from https://twitter.com/open_to

There is a growing demand for good quality statistical data that is timely and reliable. Open data sources provide data that is free for anyone to reuse, modify and share. The sources include:

Local data sources

• Kenya Open Data
• Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS)
• Kenya Data Portal
• African Open Data Network
• InfoTrak
• Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD) data

Global data sources

• Visual Capitalist
• World Bank Open Data
• World Health Organization (WHO) Open Data Repository
• The Global Health Observatory
• Worldometer
• Google Public Data Explorer
• Google Dataset Search
• European Union Open Data Portal
• Data.Gov
• UNICEF Dataset
• WHO (COVID-19) Situation Dashboard
• NextStrain
• Covid-19 Visualizer
• The UNWTO Tourism Data Dashboard 

 A Knowledge Map presents you with a topical overview for your search query based on the 100 most relevant documents matching your query. The visualization is intended to give you a head start on your scholarly search. You can identify relevant areas at a glance and documents related to them.

Benefits of using Knowledge Maps

Get an overview of a research topic: knowledge maps provide an instant overview of a topic by showing the main areas at a glance, and papers related to each area. This makes it possible to easily identify useful, pertinent information.

Separate the wheat from the chaff: we cluster similar papers together. This makes it easier to identify relevant content when you are searching for an ambiguous term, or when you would like to identify content from a single discipline in a multidisciplinary field.

Identify relevant concepts: one of the most difficult tasks when you are new in a research field is to learn the “language” of the field. Open Knowledge Maps makes it easier for you by labeling research areas with relevant concepts.

Find open content: our knowledge maps include both closed and open access papers. However we highlight open access papers – and the majority of those papers can be read from within the interface. And if not, the fulltext is only a click away.

Click here to access the Open Knowledge Maps

1. Go to Mendeley- https://www.mendeley.com/
2. Create an account
3. Download Mendeley
4. Set up Mendeley by installing the following under Mendeley tools

a. Web Importer

b. MS Word Plugin

5. Build your Mendeley library by

a. Adding files from your desktop

b. Adding folders from your desktop

c. Adding entry manually

6. Cite within the word document by following the pop up prompts
7. Insert bibliography- An option within the Mendeley reference tools that reside under the word reference tools
8. Choose style
9. Always sync for back up on the Mendeley online version
10. For more help see Mendeley guides

EIFL (Electronic Information for Libraries) has negotiated a number of agreements with publishers that secure waived or discounted Article Processing Charges (APCs) for corresponding authors to publish their articles in open access. The list of journals is available on https://www.eifl.net/kenya_apcs

Altmetrics stands for "alternative metrics.” In real sense however, they are complementary to traditional, citation-based metrics. The metrics are becoming widely used in academia as evidence of influence for promotion and tenure and in applying for grants. They capture online interactions with a piece of research.  The sources of the metrics are for example Wikipedia, public policy documents, discussions on research blogs, mainstream media coverage, bookmarks on reference managers like Mendeley, and mentions on social networks such as Twitter. For more information on the subject click here

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1. If you are a first time user register by simply clicking on this link https://elibraryku.remotexs.co/user/register
2. Once you are successfully registered, check your registered email for further instructions.
3. Log in on https://elibraryku.remotexs.co/user/login and Click on e-resources link and scroll down to E-books category. Past papers are placed in this category
4. On the search bar, input the unit code of the exam and search

NB: Our policy is to have sample papers for the units.

Dr  Shem Wambugu Maingi has co-authored a book titled Tourism Destination Management in a Post-Pandemic Context. The book has four editors from different countries across the globe – Dr. Vanessa Gowreesunkar from the island of Mauritius, Dr. Shem Maingi from Kenya (Kenyatta University), Dr. Hiran Roy from Canada, and Dr. Roberto Micera from Italy. The book is a timely strategy providing timely solutions to tourism destinations globally, as following the COVID-19 outbreak, most countries were struggling to develop their coping capacities to save their tourism economies. The uniqueness of this book is that it draws from case studies and success stories from a variety of destinations from Europe, America, Asia, Africa, Indonesia and islands.

It is a matter of pride that the function was graced by eminent personalities such as the Minister of Tourism and Wildlife of Kenya, the CEO of WTTC, the UNESCO Chair on Inclusive Museums and Sustainable Heritage Development, the CEO of African Tourism Board, Vice Chancellors of universities, Emerald representatives and series editors.

Watch the launch on

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CLYONEcTB623RNbu_baaVbC3XGF2JRZL/view

Image from https://www.nist.gov/image/google-scholarjpg

Google scholar is a search engine that indexes metadata of full text scholarly literature. Scholars can also create their profiles on the platform.

Follow these simple steps to create an account

1. Log in to your corporate email
2. Go to Google scholar
3. Click on “My profile” on the left hand corner
4. Fill in the required fields
5. Click on next
6. Select articles you have authored from the suggested list
7. To find missing publications, search using article titles or DOIs
8. You can also add missing publications manually if required.
9. Click next
10. Select the option of “Email me updates for review
11. Click on “Make my profile public”

Editing an existing account

In editing, you may need to add publications not captured or delete publications that Google Scholar has automatically and erroneously added to your profile. Follow the steps below:

1. Log in to your Google Scholar account by following the first three steps given above
2. Click on the plus Icon found at the top of the list of publications
3. The first two options (Add article groups and add articles) will bring up a list of publications that Google Scholar suggests maybe yours
4. Tick on your publications and save them to your profile by clicking on the tick ( ✔) sign at the top right corner of the dialog box
5. The third option gives you an opportunity to add articles manually if they are not available in Google Scholar or Google Scholar has not associated them with you
6. You can also configure article updates by selecting the fourth option. Click on “don’t automatically update my profile” to avoid Google Scholar erroneously adding articles to your profile

Using mobile gadget? Simple scan the code

Please register to access e-books and e-journals by simply clicking on this link https://elibraryku.remotexs.co/user/register

Once you are successfully registered, please check your registered email for further instructions.

If you are using a mobile gadget, you can easily scan the QR code on this page for the link to the registration process

Nb: If you have forgotten the password to your corporate email you are advised to submit a ticket to support.ku.ac.ke

Think. Check. Submit helps researchers identify trusted journals and publishers for their research. Through a range of tools and practical resources, this international, cross-sector initiative aims to educate researchers, promote integrity, and build trust in credible research and publications. Visit the website for more information.

Image from SciRange Publications

EIFL has negotiated a free read & publish agreement with the following journals:

• Development
• Journal of Cell Science
• Journal of Experimental Biology

This means that corresponding authors from these countries will not have to pay any Article Processing Charges (APCs) for open access publishing when an article is accepted for publication by one of the three hybrid journals published by The Company of Biologists. The offer runs until 31st December 2023. Click here for a full list of journals with waived or discounted Article Processing Charges

Scan this QR code to go to e-resources  registration

Please note that we have moved from our previous e-resources access platform to Remotexs. Our online/digital/e-resources are now available on RemoteXs. The platform facilitates access to our e-resources whether one is on the campus network or off the campus network.

What should you expect?

1. If you are a first-time RemoteXs user you will be required to self-register by going to the link https://elibraryku.remotexs.co/user/register. Once your registration is approved you will receive an e-mail containing information about how to log in, set your password, and other details.
2. The links to E-resources, Off Campus Self Registration and Off Campus E-resources Access on our Maktaba platform will redirect you to the Remotexs  self-registration page

Nb: If you have forgotten the password to your corporate email you are advised to submit a ticket to support.ku.ac.ke

What is a journal Impact Factor?

Impact Factor (IF) is used to measure the importance of a journal by calculating the average number of citations to recent articles published in the journal. IFs are useful in comparing journals in the same discipline.

How is IF measured?

Journal Citation Reports (JCR) provides ranking for journals in Science, Technology, and Social Sciences. The ranking is however limited to journals indexed in Web of Science. Access to JCR is by subscription.

The SCImago Journal & Country Rank on the other hand is a free portal that includes journals and country scientific indicators. You can check the IF of a journal on this site. The site is also useful in identifying high impact and authentic journals.

Beware that with the mushrooming of predatory journals, fake/ fraudulent impact factors have emerged. Some of these are Global Impact Factor (GIF), Universal Impact Factor (UIF) and Citefactor.

List of misleading and questionable journal metrics

https://predatoryjournals.com/metrics/

Kenyatta University has free trial access to eBook Academic Collection Trial, eBook Business Collection Trial and eBook Education Collection Trial from EBSCO.

The eBook Academic Collection Trial is a large selection of multidisciplinary e-book titles representing a broad range of academic subject matter, and is a strong complement for any academic collection.

The eBook Business Collection Trial package contains e-books covering business research, special project and entrepreneurial needs, and general business concepts. It encompasses a variety of business topics, such as marketing, finance, supply chain management and entrepreneurship, with additional focus on career growth, personal development, communication and networking.

Taylor & Francis has an agreement with EIFL that guarantees no - or heavily reduced - Article Processing Charges (APCs) for authors from EIFL partner countries when they publish in a Taylor & Francis-owned fully Open Access (OA) journal, including Cogent journals. Kenya is one of the partners included in the agreement.  The agreement runs until 2023. You can view the title list here and browse it by subject.

How does it work?

The new submission system, “Submission Portal”, will automatically recognize countries and will alert eligible authors that they are eligible for a waiver or discount, and prompt them to apply for it. They will need to tick a box to apply for the waiver or discount. The waiver will not be automatically applied.

Subjects covered in the offer

Arts & Humanities, Behavioral Sciences & Social Care, Business, Economics and Sociology, Education, Geography, Information Science, Sport & Heritage, Life, Earth & Environmental Science, Medicine & Health, Physical Sciences and Engineering, Politics, IR & Area Studies.

For more journals with Article Processing waivers click here

When searching the library electronic resources, you may have come across the option of downloading an item as an ePub.  EPub stands for electronic publication. This format is optimized for viewing on mobile devises. The document resizes to fit your screen. It is therefore advisable to opt for the EPub format if you are accessing the resources on a devise such as smart phone, tablet or e-reader.

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Please note that once your off campus registration is approved you will receive an e-mail containing information about how to log in, set your password, and other details. To activate your account, click on the link provided in the email. You will then get a prompt requiring you to set the password that you will be using to log in to the platform.

To register click here

Scopus is a bibliographic database containing abstracts and citations for academic journal articles. It covers nearly 22,000 titles from over 5,000 publishers, of which 20,000 are peer-reviewed journals in the scientific, technical, medical, and social science.

If you searching for potential journals to publish in, you can search for journals in your subject field on the Scopus preview interface under the link to Sources

The January 2021 edition of Webometrics ranking has placed Kenyatta University at third position after University of Nairobi and Egerton University respectively. The ranking results are usually released in January and July of every year. The current edition has dropped the metric on presence. The ranking is therefore based on visibility/impact, transparency/openness and excellence. The University’s best performance was in the metric of openness where we were placed second after UoN. This metric considers the cumulative citations of the top 210 authors from the respective institution. The primary objective of the ranking is to promote open access.

Search for Scholarly Journals to Publish your Research Papers at The Observatory of International Research (OOIR) website which hosts papers published in 792 peer-reviewed journals across the social sciences:

• Political Science

• Sociology

• Law

• Geography

• History

• Communication

The choice of journals is based on Web of Science 's SSCI (Social Science Citations Index). The journals listed cut across Open Access to Closed Access models. Some of the Journals listed do not deposit scholarly metadata at CrossRef.

Select a Journal from the list and click on the URL after the word Homepage to Access the Author and Manuscript Submission Guidelines.

Access free and Open Access Journals from EFL (Electronic Information for Libraries) in Arts and Humanities, Law, Medicine & Health, Science & Mathematics and Social sciences. Access other free resources available from EIFL

Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL) has negotiated a number of agreements with publishers that secure waived or discounted Article Processing Charges (APCs) for researchers in Kenya, to allow them to publish their articles in open access at a waived or reduced fee. Click on negotiated publishing charges for a list of publishers that are part of the negotiated agreement.  The title list includes titles from all applicable publishers. It includes details of the offer (waiver or discount), any conditions, and can be searched by subject.

EIFL is a not-for-profit organization that works with libraries to enable access to knowledge in developing and transition economy countries in Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe and Latin America.

CS. Cyrus Gichaga Karanja, the Administrator at the Kenyatta University  School of Agriculture and Enterprise Development (SAED) donated books to Kenyatta University Post Modern Library on 17/12/2019.

The books were received by Dr. Gitau Njoroge, the Chief University Librarian and Mr. Muchai the Head Librarian Bibliographic Control.

Faculty staff and students from the Kenyatta University Schools of Medicine, Pharmacy and Nursing were trained on the ClinicalKey platform on 6^th and 7^th November 2018. The sessions were facilitated by Mohamed Tanamly who has a medical background. He also introduced participants to ClinicalKey Medical Education. Kenyatta University has been given trial access to the platform which has been described as the next-generation medical learning platform

There was an apparent safety scare at the Post Modern Library on Monday the 18th March 2019 at about noon. Following this incidence, it has been clarified that the noise that triggered the scare was a result of impact of breakage of floor tiles on 3rd Floor next to the lift.

Our users are therefore advised as follows;

1. The library is very safe and normal library services resumed at 3.30pm on the same day.
2. Students and staff who left their personal items should check with the service counters.
3. Library users who may have left with library books are requested to return them to the Library’s circulation counter.
4. Library users who may have picked other user’s items are also advised to surrender them to the Library at the circulation counter.