InTech, a Croatia-based open access (OA) publisher, has published the results of a survey appraising attitudes and awareness of the research community towards the OA business model in scholarly publishing.
The InTech white paper, titled 'Open Access: Awareness and Attitudes amongst the Author Community', is based on a review of current research and a survey sent to 20,000 STM researchers worldwide. The survey attracted an overall response rate of 1.3 percent, with 275 participants taking part and 253 (92 percent) completing it. The majority of respondents were researchers (75 seventy) based at a university (70 seventy).
Key findings from the report reveal that of 258 participants who responded when asked, 51 percent said they understood OA publishing, and 36 percent said they had some knowledge of it. The report notes that the OA publishing experience is lower but still strong. Twenty six percent of the respondents said that they had published with an OA publisher for a journal article and 10 percent for a book.
It was found that researchers in biological sciences had greater awareness and experience, particularly in journals, while participants from the earth sciences and technology had lower awareness and less OA publishing experience. Over 25 percent of researchers are aware of OA publishers such as PLoS, InTech, BioMedCentral and Hindawi.
For OA journal publications, it is the image and reputation of the journal itself that is the most important factor for authors when considering where to submit their work; but for books it is the image and reputation of the publisher. The survey highlighted that authors want more support from publishers in getting their work noticed - services provided by publishers where the level of satisfaction scored lowest centred on PR and media support; post-publication information on usage / citations / peer feedback; and promoting the author effectively alongside their work.
The survey also explored the most common concerns surrounding OA publishing; among these were author fees. Over 65% (of the 256 participants who responded) said they were willing to pay author fees, 30% said they would be willing to pay if it helped ensure the widest possible audience for their work, while 38% would only pay in exceptional circumstances. The full results can be downloaded from: http://www.intechweb.org/js/ckeditor/kcfinder/upload/files/InTech_WhitePaper_FutureofOA_Dec11.pdf.
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