Effectiveness of the EndNote intervention to improve research competency in citation management among MPhil and PhD scholars in Nepal

Abstract

Citation management software plays a critical role in systematic reviews and meta-analyses. EndNote has significantly impacted academic writing by systematizing citation management and improving overall writing efficiency. This study investigates the effectiveness of an EndNote intervention in enhancing citation management competency among MPhil and PhD scholars at the Graduate School of Education, Tribhuvan University, Nepal. A pre-experimental single-group pretest-posttest design was employed with 34 participants. The intervention was implemented through four interlinked phases: needs assessment, action planning, implementation, and evaluation. Data were collected using self-administered structured questionnaires and analyzed using SPSS version 26, with Mann-Whitney and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests applied. The findings revealed that prior to the intervention, more than half of participants (55.9%) did not use any reference management software, whereas all participants adopted EndNote by the end of the study. The mean competency score significantly increased from 2.57 (±1.158) to 3.06 (±0.851), with a p-value < 0.05. No significant associations were found between competency gains and demographic variables such as age, gender, workplace, or level of study. These results indicate that targeted EndNote training can effectively improve citation management skills among MPhil and PhD scholars irrespective of their socio-demographic variables, suggesting broader implications for academic capacity building in Nepalese higher education institutions.

Keywords

• Academic writing
• Competency
• EndNote
• MPhil and PhD scholars
• Reference management
• Tribhuvan University

Supporting Institution

Dean office, Faculty of Education, Tribhuvan University

Project Number

2080/81

Ethical Statement

The Dean Office, Faculty of Education, TU approved for the implementation of the study and provided official letter after accepting the proposal of the study.

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