In the Press
Science 16 March 2007:
Minds Closed To Open Access by Elisabeth Pain
Although fans of the concept, scientists remain reluctant to publish in open-access outlets, a new study suggests. ... more
Press Release
Study on Open Access and Science Publishing
Positive Attitude Toward Open Access Publishing but Reluctance to Use
Munich/Little Rock, March 7, 2007. Researchers’ overall attitude toward Open Access publishing is very positive. Open Access publishing means providing access to scientific publications at no charge and exempt from most copyright and licensing restrictions to everyone. Up to 91% of the 688 participants in a study conducted jointly between researchers at the University of Munich and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock describe their attitude toward Open Access publishing to be positive or very positive. However many show reluctance to use these new means of distributing their research work. While about two-thirds of the respondents indicate to have accessed Open Access literature before, only one third has published work in Open Access outlets. Advantages like increased speed, range and potentially higher citation rates of Open Access publications are seen alongside insufficient impact factors, lacking long-term availability and the inferior ability to reach the specific target audience of scientists within one’s own discipline. Moreover the low level of use among close colleagues seems to be a barrier towards Open Access publishing. 73% of the interviewees believe that their close colleagues do not use Open Access media for publishing their research findings.
These are results of a study recently conducted by the Institute for Information Systems and New Media at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany, and the Department of Information Science at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. The research was in part supported by the Maulden-Entergy Endowment at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
A summary of the main results with practical implications can be downloaded here
(PDF – 330 KB – 18 pages).
Download this press release
For further information, please contact:
Prof. Rolf T. Wigand, Ph. D.
Maulden-Entergy Chair and Distinguished Professor of Information Science and Management
Department of Information Science
CyberCollege
258A ETAS Building
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
2801 South University Avenue
Little Rock, AR 72204-1099, USA
Phone: +1 501 569 8951
Fax: +1 501 683 7049
E-Mail: Contact Form
http://digital.is.ualr.edu
Prof. Dr. Thomas Hess
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich (LMU)
Munich School of Management
Institute for Information Systems and New Media (WIM)
Ludwigstr. 28
80539 Munich, Germany
Phone: +49 89 2180 6390
Fax: +49 89 2180 13541
E-Mail: Contact Form
http://www.wim.bwl.lmu.de
