Institutional repositories as tool to the scientific knowledge management in the academic environment

Abstract

Universities have, traditionally, been recognised as the loci of scientific knowledge production and transfer. Although it has been possible to find studies on knowledge management within the university context in the specialised literature, these studies usually deal with the scientific knowledge in the same perspective of the organisational knowledge. However, the scientific knowledge and the environment where it is created, shared and used are peculiar. In this sense, institutional repositories appear as an alternative to both the speed up of the scholarly communication process up and the scientific knowledge management (SKM). This paper therefore discusses the adequacy and applicability of institutional repositories as tool to the scientific knowledge management.