Study Shows that Scientists are Still Leary of Publishing in Open Access Journals
Will articles published in open access journals persist?
Will publication in OA journals provide credit toward tenure / promotion / obtaining grants?
These and other issues are the concerns of scientists according to “Open Access & Science Publishing: Results of a Study on Researchers’ Acceptance and Use of Open Access Publishing” authored by Thomas Hess, Rolf T. Wigand, Florian Mann, and Benedikt von Walter. From the executive summary:
The study was conducted in 2006 by the Ludwig-Maximilans-University Munich, Germany, in cooperation with the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. The main focus is centered on the question if and why scientists decide or do not decide to publish their work according to the Open Access principle without access barriers and free of cost to readers. With the responses from 688 publishing scientists it could be demonstrated that the general attitude toward the Open Access principle is extremely positive. However, many seem to be rather reluctant to publish their own research work in Open Access outlets. Advantages like increased speed, reach and potentially higher citation rates of Open Access publications are seen alongside insufficient impact factors, lacking long-term availability and the inferior ability to reach the specific target audience of scientists within one’s own discipline. Moreover the low level of use among close colleagues seems to be a barrier towards Open Access publishing.
Read the study. (pdf)
