This paper reports the results of a bibliometric analysis of scholarly journals in the field of psychology. The Impact Factors of a sample of journals have been collected from Journal Citation Reports (JCR) provided by ISI. Changes in the Impact Factors were monitored annually over two periods, 1994–1995 and 2000–2001, the years before and after electronic journals appeared. The collected Impact Factors of scholarly journals from these two periods are compared in the available media. As a result, it is found that Impact Factors of 2000 and 2001 were significantly higher than those of 1994 and 1995 in the journals published by parallel publishing (combination journals–simultaneous publication of paper and electronic journals). In particular, the Impact Factors of the combination journals increased after the journals transformed their available media from paper journals to combination ones. By contrast, in the case of paper journals, there was no significant difference betweenthe Impact Factors of 1994 and 1995 and those of 2000 and 2001. Additionally, it is possible to infer from later analyses that the citation rate is not changed by the available media in the authoritative journals which have comparatively high Impact Factors. In journals with low Impact Factors, on the other hand, the available media influences the citation rate.

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to describe the background, purpose, and achievement of the digital repository, dCollection, which preserves the research outputs of colleges and universities in South Korea. dCollection is a platform designed to assist college and university libraries in creating, managing, and maintaining digital collections.Design/methodology/approachThe article describes the experience of dCollection.FindingsThe findings describe several strategies to develop a nationwide digital repository taking into consideration the research outputs of colleges and universities in South Korea. One strategy is to encourage several large‐sized university libraries to participate as partners at the beginning of the project since they can be more influential than smaller ones to successfully set the project in motion. Another strategy is to provide advantages for small‐sized college and university libraries to participate in a collaborative digital repository without any additional expenditure. Small‐sized college and university libraries should be able to upload metadata and full texts to the KERIS server without the purchase of hardware and software and they can create and access a collaborative digital repository for free. Nationwide access of dCollection is valuable as it encourages both large and small college and university libraries to join in the project.Originality/valueThe article shares dCollection experiences with the wider community and to guide the best practices in the development of a national and global digital repository.

Recently, many articles co-authored by librarians have been published in non-library and information science journals. This may indicate that embedded librarians are actively working as research partners in various fields. However, studies have rarely discussed the roles and experience of embedded librarians and, unlike the USA and European countries, the activities of embedded librarians in Korea are not well reported. This study collected and analysed co-authored articles from Korean faculty and librarians. In addition to identifying the role of the embedded librarian by analysing the author-contributions texts of the articles, the study examined the backgrounds of librarians and the difficulties of collaborating through interviews with librarian authors. The results of the analyses show that the number of collaborative articles by faculty and embedded librarians increased over the years and, of these, almost 70% were medical publications. The roles of the librarians outlined in the author-contributions texts were as reported in previous studies but, in many cases, their role was more significant than traditional liaison work, such as reporting the study’s methodology or approving the final draft. In the interviews, the embedded librarians expressed that they had experienced some difficulties, such as lack of time, insufficient guidelines and an inadequate curriculum in their library and information science department. For librarians to be recognized as research partners, they need to communicate well with team members and have knowledge, skills and abilities related to the research. Further, to achieve this collaboration, the curriculum of departments should be reformed. If such efforts are made, it is expected that embedded librarians will continue to excel in their role as liaison librarians, which has contributed to supporting research projects.

PurposeKorea has been at the forefront of the open access movement since 2003, with four nation‐wide repositories built to date. This study seeks to review their current status and to make proposals for further progress.Design/methodology/approachThe study reviews the current status of the four nation‐wide repositories in Korea and identifies their drawbacks and solutions.FindingsKorea's repositories were all built and are operated by government agencies. Their software is superb in contrast with the small volume of contents accumulated. If those repositories are to be invigorated, coordinated efforts are required to publicise the objectives of the repositories, and to try to have all research outputs contributed to the repositories with the cooperation of the operating agencies and researchers.Originality/valueThe study suggests several strategies for invigorating Korea's nation‐wide repositories. If the strategies are implemented in a calm and orderly way, Korea's nation‐wide repositories are expected to be more successful.

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