Prospecting of Free and Open Access Journals by the Intellectual Community of Agricultural Sciences of Karnataka Region: An Analytical Study

Library and Information Centres play pivotal roles to fulfil the thirst of knowledge seekers. We are living in a revolutionary era of Information and Communication Technology (ICTs). The revolution of ICTs emerged as a boon for library and information science professions which opened a door for accessing digital resources i.e. free and open source platforms. The key objective of the study is to explain about prospect of Free and Open Access Journals special reference of Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) by the Intellectual Community (ICs) of Agricultural Sciences of Karnataka Region with special reference of University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore. The study used structured questionnaires as a tool of data collection to attain the motto of the study, 255 questionnaires distributed among ICs and 89 per cent respondents given effective responses which have been explained in data and interpretation section. The study revealed that DOAJ resources helped to fulfil the academic and research needs of the intellectual community and suggested that there is a need to promote these resources which provide more accessibility of library resources and set a trend for accessing open and free resources platforms and tools.