Public knowledge: some findings of a survey on open access publishing

1. Public knowledge: some findings of a survey on open accesspublishing Presented at EuroCRIS Members Meeting Tartu, Estonia, 18-20 May 2005 Juergen Guedler, German Research Foundation (DFG), Department of Information Management

2. The DFG Open Access Study Aims of the study: • to gather information on new dynamics in the access to scientific information and changing patterns in scientific publication • to study similarities and differences in the various research disciplines on these topics • to learn about the expectations of the scientific community about appropriate funding schemes • To get an empirical basis in designing and developing DFG funding programmes and initiative

3. Methodogical Approach (I) • Study Concept and Design : • DFG Working Group with members from • Scientific Library Services and Information Systems • Department of Information Management • Consultations with external Experts about Open Access • Survey, Data Capture and statistical analysis: • Associtation for Empirical studies, Kassel (GES Maiworm & Over) • Field period • October / November 2004

4. Methodogical Approach (II) • Population: • DFG-grants awardees from the years : 2002 to 2004 • From all disciplines • Sampling basis: • Basis : DFG-CRIS with information • about 450.000 Grant applications (since 1982) • about 120.000 Grant applicants (since 1982) • In the considered period: 40.284 projects funded • Pre-selection : specific funding programmes • Overcoming the problem of “Over-fishing” • Database recording all persons contacted in various surveys • Sampling procedure • Stratified sampling • 4 broad scientific fields: Social Sciences and Humanities; Life Sciences, Natural Sciences and Engineering • Professional Status : Researchers in their earlier career and “established” Researchers

5. Profile of the Respondents • A total of 1.028 Respondents (response rate: 64%) • 16 % Women • 84 % researchers at universities Distribution of the respondents according to the professional status and research field (in %)

6. Publication mediums most used by researchers to get information on their fields How often do you use the following publication medium/ publication form to get informed in your field ? (1 = very often, 5 = very seldom)Percentage of 1 and 2

7. Important aspects in selecting a journal for publication When you want to publish your research results, how important are the following factors in the choice of the scholarly journal ? (1 = very important, 5 = not important at all (Percentage of 1 and 2)

8. Knowledge of Declarations and Initiative supporting Open Access Which of the following declaration and initiative do you know ? (1 = good knowledge, not in the details, no knowledge at all). Here : Percentage of 1

9. Knowledge of Open Access Journals Do you know Open Access Journals in your fields of research ? Base: All Respondents

10. Important Open Access Journals (in absolute numbers) Which are the most important OA Journals in your fields (max. five titles) Italic : only some years/issues available in OA Respondents from Life Sciences: 248

11. Usage of OA Journals How often do you use OA Journals ? (Base: Respondents who know OA-Journals)

12. Usage of OA Journals How often do you use OA Journals ? (Base: All Respondents)

13. Publication in OA Journals (arithmetic means of n of articles in the last five years) Italic : standard deviation

14. Knowledge of Pre-prints Servers Do you know Pre-print Servers in your research field?

15. Experiences with Pre-prints and postprints* (%) established researchers Early Career Researchers have published journal articles in Post-print modus** 23,9 27,4 Postprints have already published in Pre-prints archives/ Servers+ 50,0 63,9 Preprints have already published in Pre-prints archives/ Servers ++ 8,4 19,2 * All fields; **Basis : all respondents ; + Basis: Respondents who know pre-print server in their field; ++ Basis : all respondents

16. Authors’ fees Have you ever paid author fees to publish in journal ? If yes, how much have you paid ?

17. OA – Views* In the following, we list some assertions often heard in the debates about Open Access. Which do you/ don‘t you agree with ? (Point 1 and 2, on a five point scale : 1 „ I fully agree“ to 5 „i do not agree at all“), Here Percentage of 1 and 2

18. OA Views In the following, we list some assertions often heard in the debates about Open Access. Which do you/ don‘t you agree with ? (Point 1 and 2, on a five point scale : 1 „ I fully agree“ to 5 „i do not agree at all“), Here Percentage of 1 and 2

19. Supporting of OA Publishing Do you think that OA publishing should be supported ?

20. OA – Views and Experience : A Contradiction ? • The Respondents publish seldom in OA. From the different forms of OA Publishing the most used is the Post-print (Self Archiving). OA Journals are less used. • The vast majority believe that OA can improve the access to scientific journals and that it will have a lasting impact on scientific publishing. • The Respondents are clearly in favor of supporting OA . Advantage of OA OA Publication

21. Thank you for your attention! Dr. Juergen Guedler, Department of Information Management, juergen.guedler@dfg.de Infos unter www.dfg.de