Institutional repositories are now vital for increasing the reputation of research and strengthening the global presence of academic institutions. Using a descriptive survey approach and a standardized questionnaire as data collection instrument, the study involved 180 academic staff members from three universities. The results showed that consistent usage is still moderate, even though most researchers are aware of and have utilized their institutional repositories. The majority of the respondents concurred that repositories boost webometric ranks and increase the visibility of research. However, significant challenges like poor training, low publicity, a lack of technical assistance, and copyright issues were noted. Despite a generally favorable opinion, the study finds that in order to fully reap the benefits of institutional repositories in raising academic visibility and raising university rankings, institutional efforts need to be reinforced through more user training, awareness campaigns, and infrastructure support.
Keywords: Nigerian Universities, institutional repositories, research visibility, researcher perception, webometric ranking
