Abstract

Internet has provided many tools for communicating information and knowledge resources. Among them, academic websites are of highly importance, playing a vital role in scholarly as well as awareness services. Hence, the present research aims to do an investigation into current condition of websites of Islamic Azad University (IAU) comprehensive branches using a researcher-made evaluation checklist – as data gathering tool – which is based on related literature particularly suggested checklist by Mohammad Ismaeel (2004), researcher's observation of academic websites, and specialists' viewpoints. Research population is composed of websites of IAU comprehensive branches including Central Tehran, Sciences and Research, North Tehran, Medical Sciences, South Tehran, Khorasgan, Arak, Karaj, Mashhad, and Najafabad. In order to examine research questions, both descriptive (frequency distribution tables) and inferential statistics (T test) have been applied. Research findings indicated that (1) target websites, on average, have included 49.44% of criteria and sub-criteria considered in the checklist, and (2) there is no significant difference between websites of branches located in Tehran and other cities. Finally, according to research findings, some recommendations have been offered to improve and qualify academic websites.