What are authors’ attitudes to open access publishing in 2014?

With open access continuing to have a high profile, is all the debate and discussion helping to inform researchers and influence their thinking?

The results of the 2014 Taylor & Francis Open Access Survey have been released for the first time today at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/openaccess/opensurvey/2014

The survey asked researchers a series of questions on their perceptions of open access; their attitudes, values and understanding of it; and what they believe the future of research communication to be. Having previously surveyed their authors in 2013, the results offer some intriguing shifts in opinions, placing responses from both years next to each another to show how views have changed, and to what degree. Responses show that positivity towards open access, when discussed in general, is growing.

There were significant increases in the proportions strongly agreeing that open access offered a wider circulation than publication in a subscription journal (from 38% to 49%), and that it offered higher visibility (27% to 35%). 70% of respondents also disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement ‘There are no fundamental benefits to open access publication’, an increase of 10% year-on-year and a strong indicator that open access continues to be viewed as a force for good. Licences continue to be a contentious issue, with 53% of authors showing a first or second preference for the CC-BY-NC-ND licence. Despite strong advocates for CC-BY, it remained the ‘least preferred’ option in this survey. However, there is evidence that opinions on this are softening as understanding increases, with this proportion dropping from 52% in 2013 to 35% this year.

The full survey results and top level report is now available on Taylor & Francis Online at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/openaccess/opensurvey/2014

Findings on open access mandates will be published soon. Tell us what you think via Twitter @TandFOpen and follow the conversation at #oasurvey2014.

Best wishes,

Shafina Segon Head of Marketing Journals & Online Resources Shafina.segon@tandfindia.com