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Saturday, April 19, 2008

Results of UKPMC user survey

UKPMC has also released the results of a user survey it launched in January 2008.  Excerpt:

[E]very UKPMC grant holder was e-mailed and asked to complete the online survey. We also e-mailed other interested parties and a link was added to the UKPMC and UKMSS home pages to enable non-grant holders to contribute. The survey was live for approx. 5 weeks and 905 responses were received...

The majority of responses came from research scientists actively engaged in biomedical research, most of which were UKPMC Funders Group grant holders....

Of those users who had yet to deposit papers, 13% did not know that they had to....

[PS:  All the funders in the UKPMC Funders Group have adopted OA mandates.]

Q31: What, if any, barriers have you found with regard to complying with funders' open access mandates?

  • No barriers to complying with funders' OA mandate [number saying yes =] 220; [percentage saying yes =] 24.30%
  • Was not aware of funders' open access mandate 163; 18.00%
  • Don't know how to comply with funders' open access mandate 151; 16.70%
  • Funding not available to meet open access costs 257; 28.40%
  • My preferred publisher/journal does not allow open access 210; 23.20%
  • I am concerned about copyright issues 88; 9.70%
  • Other (please specify) 63; 7.00% ...