Drivers and Barriers for Open Access Publishing - WoS 2016 Dataset

<p>Answers to a survey on gold Open Access run from July to October 2016. The dataset contains 15,235 unique responses from Web of Science published authors. This survey is part of a PhD thesis from the University of Granada in Spain. More details about the study can be found in the full text document, also available in Zenodo.</p> <p>Following are listed the questions related to the WoS 2016 dataset. Please note that countries with less than 40 answers are listed as "Other" in order to preserve anonymity.</p> <p><strong>* 1. How many years have you been employed in research?</strong></p> <ul> <li>Fewer than 5 years</li> <li>5-14 years</li> <li>15-24 years</li> <li>25 years or longer</li> </ul> <p>Many of the questions that follow concern Open Access publishing. For the purposes of this survey, an article is Open Access if its final, peer-reviewed, version is published online by a journal and is free of charge to all users without restrictions on access or use.</p> <p><strong>* 2. Do any journals in your research field publish Open Access articles?</strong></p> <ul> <li>Yes</li> <li>No</li> <li>I do not know</li> </ul> <p><strong>* 3. Do you think your research field benefits, or would benefit from journals that publish Open Access articles?</strong></p> <ul> <li>Yes</li> <li>No</li> <li>I have no opinion</li> <li>I do not care</li> </ul> <p><strong>* 4. How many peer reviewed research articles (Open Access or not Open Access) have you published in the last five years?</strong></p> <ul> <li>1-5</li> <li>6-10</li> <li>11-20</li> <li>21-50</li> <li>More than 50</li> </ul> <p><strong>* 5. What factors are important to you when selecting a journal to publish in?</strong></p> <p><strong>[Each factor may be rated “Extremely important”, “Important”, “Less important” or “Irrelevant”. The factors are presented in random order.]</strong></p> <ul> <li>Importance of the journal for academic promotion, tenure or assessment</li> <li>Recommendation of the journal by my colleagues</li> <li>Positive experience with publisher/editor(s) of the journal</li> <li>The journal is an Open Access journal</li> <li>Relevance of the journal for my community</li> <li>The journal fits the policy of my organisation</li> <li>Prestige/perceived quality of the journal</li> <li>Likelihood of article acceptance in the journal</li> <li>Absence of journal publication fees (e.g. submission charges, page charges, colour charges)</li> <li>Copyright policy of the journal</li> <li>Journal Impact Factor</li> <li>Speed of publication of the journal</li> </ul> <p><strong>6. Who usually decides which journals your articles are submitted to? (Choose more than one answer if applicable)</strong></p> <ul> <li>The decision is my own</li> <li>A collective decision is made with my fellow authors</li> <li>I am advised where to publish by a senior colleague</li> <li>The organisation that finances my research advises me where to publish</li> <li>Other (please specify) [Text box follows]</li> </ul> <p><strong>7. Approximately how many Open Access articles have you published in the last five years?</strong></p> <ul> <li>0</li> <li>1-5</li> <li>6-10</li> <li>More than 10</li> <li>I do not know</li> </ul> <p>[If the answer is “0”, the survey jumps to Q10.]</p> <p><strong>* 8. What publication fee was charged for the last Open Access article you published?</strong></p> <ul> <li>No charge</li> <li>Up to €250 ($275)</li> <li>€251-€500 ($275-$550)</li> <li>€501-€1000 ($551-$1100)</li> <li>€1001-€3000 ($1101-$3300)</li> <li>More than €3000 ($3300)</li> <li>I do not know</li> </ul> <p>[If the answer is “No charge or I don’t know” the survey jumps to Q20. ]</p> <p><strong>* 9. How was this publication fee covered? (Choose more than one answer if applicable)</strong></p> <ul> <li>My research funding includes money for paying such fees</li> <li>I used part of my research funding not specifically intended for paying such fees</li> <li>My institution paid the fees</li> <li>I paid the costs myself</li> <li>Other (please specify) [Text box follows]</li> </ul> <p><strong>* 10. How easy is it to obtain funding if needed for Open Access publishing from your institution or the organisation mainly responsible for financing your research?</strong></p> <ul> <li>Easy</li> <li>Difficult</li> <li>I have not used these sources</li> </ul> <p><strong>* 11. Listed below are a series of statements, both positive and negative, concerning Open Access publishing. Please indicate how strongly you agree/disagree with each statement.</strong></p> <p>[Each statement may be rated “Strongly agree”, “Agree”, “Neither agree nor disagree”, “Disagree” or “Strongly disagree”. The statements are presented in random order.]</p> <ul> <li>Researchers should retain the rights to their published work and allow it to be used by others</li> <li>Open Access publishing undermines the system of peer review</li> <li>Open Access publishing leads to an increase in the publication of poor quality research</li> <li>If authors pay publication fees to make their articles Open Access, there will be less money available for research</li> <li>It is not beneficial for the general public to have access to published scientific and medical articles</li> <li>Open Access unfairly penalises research-intensive institutions with large publication output by making them pay high costs for publication</li> <li>Publicly-funded research should be made available to be read and used without access barrier</li> <li>Open Access publishing is more cost-effective than subscription-based publishing and so will benefit public investment in research</li> <li>Articles that are available by Open Access are likely to be read and cited more often than those not Open Access</li> </ul> <p>This study and its questionnaire are based on the SOAP Project (http://project-soap.eu). An article describing the highlights of the SOAP Survey is available at: https://arxiv.org/abs/1101.5260. The dataset of the SOAP survey is available at http://bit.ly/gSmm71. A manual describing the SOAP dataset is available at http://bit.ly/gI8nc.</p>