Analysis of use of open archives in mathematics and computer science. This study analyzes the self-archiving activities of one part of mathematical and computer science community in France.
The questionnaire was sent to members of this community by several libraries of the National Group of Libraries in Mathematics with the aim of determining the use of institutional open archives in France, in particular Hal (French ArXiv : all recent documents are transferred to ArXiv automatically).
The objective of this analysis is: [1] to understand the position of the researchers in relation to open archives, [2] to examine the modalities of depositing files in institutional open archives, [3] to detect and evaluate the practices used by the researchers.
Conclusion: [1] Almost half of participants of the inquiry say that they know the term "open archives". [2] The majority of researchers find the articles they need (or their references) in libraries, but on-line journals with access to the full text are consulted often. [3] The researchers use ArXiv to find electronic preprints and Google to find the full text of articles. [4] The sources of on-line articles with free access are still not very well known, as for example in the case of open free journals. [5] More than 80% of respondents find the articles which they need without any difficulty. Almost 60% ask the librarian's help only sometimes and 35% does not need any help. [6] The articles on line in full text the most consulted (at least once per week) were published during the last ten years. [7] Almost 50% of researchers publish 2-3 articles per year. [8] The majority put one copy of their articles on personal websites and 28% have done it for at least 5 years. [9] The researchers always deposit many more articles on their personal webpages (63%) than in Hal (12%) or ArXiv (16%). [10] Those who have already deposited publications in Hal or ArXiv find them easy to use and say they needed less than 30 minutes for the first deposit and less than 15 minutes for subsequent deposits. [11] The majority does not read the contracts signed with the editors, they do not know of the possibility of negotiating the contracts. [12] The difficulties of the development of open archives are not technical, but social. [13] The utility of institutional open archives is not well understood yet. [14] It seems essential to diffuse in a broader way the legal aspects of the scientific publications and to sensitize the researchers to the checking of contracts signed with the editors.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 3/05/2006 02:34:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
