Authors are focused on research impact but face funding barriers
Hoboken, NJ – October 24, 2023 – Open access is quickly becoming the preferred publishing choice among researchers, according to new research from Wiley. 75% of respondents who have published research articles in the past three years have published open access, up from 44% just two years ago.
The survey of more than 600 scholars around the globe revealed the following insights:
Growing enthusiasm for open access. In addition to the increase in authors publishing open access, 75% of respondents agree that transformative agreements (TAs) are the right solution at this time to make research findings more openly available.
At least half of researchers engage in open research practices such as open data, open peer review and self-archiving. This demonstrates that researchers are embracing all the practices that will lead to a fully open research landscape, and are not limiting their activities to open access publishing.
Researchers who are publishing open access are motivated more by the benefits than by requirements. Respondents chose “visibility and impact” (65%) and “public benefit” (54%), followed by “transparency and reuse” (33%), when asked why they engage in open access publishing, significantly more often than journal requirements (25%) and institutional requirements (22%).
Lack of funding presents the most prominent roadblock for publishing open access. The top barrier, reported by 58% of respondents, is no or limited funds available to pay fees for open access publishing. 77% of respondents said they were likely to very likely to publish open access if their APCs were paid by their funder or institution. In addition, more than half of authors who publish open access are not clear on the license requirements from their funder (51%) or institution (55%).
“Researchers play an essential role in society, and open research ensures that their findings are shared faster and with more people,” said Kathryn Sharples, Vice President, Publishing Strategy & Policy, Wiley. “At Wiley, we maintain a relentless commitment to understanding and meeting the evolving needs of the research community and to empowering our partners.”
Wiley has made a strong commitment to advancing open research, with nearly 80 transformative agreements currently in place, giving researchers from 2,500+ institutions across more than 40 countries the opportunity to publish open access and benefit from their research being freely available. Wiley continues to accelerate its open access output, publishing 25% more open access articles in 2022 than in the previous year.
Methodology
The findings are based on an online survey of 625 researchers from 97 countries around the world who have published with Wiley in the past three years and who have indicated that they stay informed by reading new research. The respondents represent a balance across subject areas and geographies. The survey was fielded between March 13 and April 24, 2023.
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