Academics are increasingly using the Internet as an aid to teaching, encouraging students to retrieve information and undertake research for assignments. Use of research produced in the region appears to be discipline specific with Health and Life Sciences making greater use of outputs from the region. However, universities are not achieving research and publishing objectives due to lack of awareness of availability, and inaccessibility of research resources and platforms for dissemination. Future interventions need to address existing constraints, concerns and fears regarding Open Access, with establishment of a southern African regional publishing and dissemination platform that has appropriate bandwidth and infrastructure