Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2006 Mar;99(3):141-8.
doi: 10.1177/014107680609900316.

Open access publishing and author-pays business models: a survey of authors' knowledge and perceptions

Sara Schroter  1 , Leanne Tite
Affiliations

Open access publishing and author-pays business models: a survey of authors' knowledge and perceptions

Sara Schroter et al. J R Soc Med. 2006 Mar.

Abstract

Objectives: We aimed to assess journal authors' current knowledge and perceptions of open access and author-pays publishing.

Design: An electronic survey.

Setting: Authors of research papers submitted to BMJ, Archives of Disease in Childhood, and Journal of Medical Genetics in 2004.

Main outcome measures: Familiarity with and perceptions of open access and author-pays publishing.

Results: 468/1113 (42%) responded. Prior to definitions being provided, 47% (222/468) and 38% (176/468) reported they were familiar with the terms "open access" and "author-pays" publishing, respectively. Some who did not at first recognize the terms, did claim to recognize them when they were defined. Only 10% (49/468) had submitted to an author-pays journal. Compared with non-open access subscription-based journals, 35% agreed that open access author-pays journals have a greater capacity to publish more content making it easier to get published, 27% thought they had lower impact factors, 31% thought they had faster and more timely publications, and 46% agreed that people will think anyone can pay to get published. 55% (256/468) thought they would not continue to submit to their respective journal if it became open access and charged, largely because of the reputation of the journals. Half (54%, 255/468) said open access has "no impact" or was "low priority" in their submission decisions. Two-thirds (66%, 308/468) said they would prefer to submit to a non-open access subscription-based journal than an open access author-pays journal. Over half thought they would have to make a contribution or pay the full cost of an author charge (56%, 262/468).

Conclusions: The survey yielded useful information about respondents' knowledge and perceptions of these publishing models. Authors have limited familiarity with the concept of open-access publishing and surrounding issues. Currently, open access policies have little impact on authors' decision of where to submit papers.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

References

    1. Godlee F. Open access, and proud of it. BMJ, 2005;330:
    1. Delamothe T, Smith R. Open access publishing takes off: the dream is now achievable. BMJ 2004;328: 1-3 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Richardson M, Saxby C. Experimenting with open access publishing. Nature 2004 [www.nature.com/nature/focus/accessdebate/12.html] Accessed 7 July 2004
    1. Pelizzari E. Academic staff use, perception and expectations about open-access archives. A survey of social science sector at Brescia University. E-LIS 2004 [http://eprints.rclis.org/archive/00000737] Accessed 7 July 2004
    1. Key Perspectives Ltd. JISC/OSI Journal Authors Survey Report [www.jisc.ac.uk/uploaded_documents/JISCOAreport1.pdf] Accessed 7 July 2004

Publication types

MeSH terms