Open Access News

News from the open access movement


Thursday, March 24, 2005

New report on ejournals

The Science Advisory Board has completed a new study, Future of Online Scientific and Medical Publishing. Excerpts from the study summary: 'In an electronic journals study of more than 1,900 scientific and medical researchers, The Science Advisory Board found that researcher’s assign greater value to online journals that directly aid in their career advancement. “Researchers are attracted to the “prestige-factor” of a particular journal, which is assessed both by its impact factor and reputation,” observes Tamara Zemlo, Ph.D., MPH, Executive Director of The Science Advisory Board. The primary attraction of the online versions of print journals is their immediacy: an overwhelming 88% of researchers want peer-reviewed articles posted online before the print version appears....Notwithstanding their affinity for electronic publishing, scientists and clinicians do not want cost to constrain their ability to publish papers or review others' work. Researchers indicated that fees related to these services should be nominal (less than $5/page). This value-consciousness influences scientists’ opinions regarding the open access publishing system where there was a negative bias towards authors' fees. However despite these objections, fees are not a key determinant for authors when deciding where to submit their papers. This perception also holds true for how they access information. For instance, the acceptance of pay-per-view is growing --from 4% of researchers in a 2001 electronic journals study to 18% in this study.'

(PS: This is just the summary. The report itself is either not online or very well hidden. I'd like to see it, since I suspect that the question about OA journals made it sound as if processing fees were to be paid by authors out of pocket rather than by author-sponsors such as employers or funders.)