Developing a Low Cost Open Source Research Portal.

This paper outlines an overview, methodology and design used to develop a low cost Online Research Portal developed completely using open source software namely PHP scripting language, MYSQL and Apache. This design can be used to develop any research portal with user registration, user login; file uploads of any format, paper details with impact factor and publication searching. The intention of a research portal is to develop an information hub to provide a platform for undergraduate, postgraduate students and staff to share ideas, build up on researches previously conducted and keep a record of people's academic contributions. These databases can contribute to the knowledge generation for the support and promotion of research development. When fully complete, it is intended that the portal can automatically and dynamically grade publications according to the impact factor. Currently the University of Botswana does not have decentralized databases such that departments can be responsible for their own updates. Updates will further update the main University database. This database can be implemented for keeping records and easy access. The same context can be applied for other Tertiary Institutions and nationally for Botswana as a whole as no database is implemented nationally to have a complete record for theses, researches and dissertations in the country. This paper proposes a methodology which implements research portals at different departments and institutes managed separately and then updates into one national database for Botswana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]