Academic publisher Taylor & Francis has released the fifth in a series of press releases on the themes and findings of the Open Access Survey. In this survey, Taylor & Francis investigated authors' attitudes and values relating to the communication of research when publishing in open access journals.
According to the survey, authors agree that publication should not be limited by the ability to pay, but all research outputs should be free to read online. Respondents were asked about their level of agreement with statements concerning the communication of their research. Findings from the survey confirmed agreement that, ‘the publication of research should not be limited by the ability to pay', as affirmed by 86 percent of authors surveyed.
However, 66 percent of respondents agree that 'all research outputs should be free for everyone to read online'. This is considered to be evidence of the 'Open Access Dichotomy' - a tension between aspirations and reality. Publication of research does incur costs, it is noted. Seventy-seven percent of respondents agree that publishers are an essential part of the research communication process and significantly contribute to the dissemination of research.
Taylor & Francis charges article publishing charges (APCs) for those authors wishing to take the gold OA route to publication, which cover the costs of OA publication. It, however, offers waivers for authors in developing countries and is also an active participant in a number of development initiatives offering free or reduced price access to research for those in the developing world. Of the publisher's journals, 94.5 percent now comply with the author mandates for those funded by Research Councils UK and the Wellcome Trust.
Biological Sciences, Public Health and Social Care are said to appear consistently in the top three subjects most committed to the ideals surrounding the freedom of data, namely that 'all research outputs should be free for everyone to read online', 'the dissemination of research is a common good that should not be monetised in any way' and 'there should be no restrictions on research outputs'. Additional, Biological Science authors also show the highest level of agreement that 'publication of research should not be limited by ability pay'.
Business and Economics stands out as the subject with the highest level of agreement for the statements 'researchers have access to most of the articles they need' and 'free access to data matters more to me than free access to research articles'. In the case of free access to data - the level of agreement in Business and Economics (39 percent) is 50 percent higher than the next most supportive subjects, Politics, International Relations and Geography (26 percent).
Worldwide, as many authors agree (37 percent) as disagree (38 percent) that they have access to the articles they need. One could be forgiven for thinking those at either end of the spectrum were likely to be from very different regions of the globe. However, examining the level of agreement for each region reveals a surprising degree of homogeneity, according to the survey.
