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Authors prefer to publish in journals in which they can target a very specific group of key readers, those working on similar problems.
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After target audience, they give equal importance to other aspects of the journal, such as impact factor, editorial board, e-version availability, and size of readership. Journal price is considered the least important factor.
Authors who have some experience of publishing in an open access medium lay greater emphasis on |
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Speed of refereeing |
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Pricing of the journal |
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Ease of acceptance
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Younger authors (<35 years) are much less affected by
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Impact factor |
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Coverage by abstracting and indexing |
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Availability of a hard copy
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Majority (~80%) of the authors want their work to be read by fellow researchers in their field, followed by other researchers.
Only 18% of the authors think it important for the general public to read their articles.
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Around 50% authors take no interest in copyright issues.
Asian and East European authors have greater interest in copyright issues.
Authors in earth and planetary science (19.8%), material science (19.5%), and computer science (18.3%) are likely to take more interest in copyright than those in economics (3.9%), agriculture (6.6%), and immunology and microbiology (7.6%).
Authors reflect a mix of indifference, ignorance, and resentment to copyright issues. Several authors expressed that the rights should be shared equally between the publisher and the author.
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Access to journal literature is satisfactory.
61% of the authors said that this was currently good or excellent, meaning that they have access to all or at least most of the materials they need. Only 10% of the authors said that matters were poor or very poor.
Authors from Central America and East Europe reported much lower levels of satisfaction.
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Self-publishing (make it available on the web for free) is not very popular (31%)
53% said they might consider it in the future and 12% dismissed this possibility.
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Self publishing is defined as the publishing of books or other media by the
author himself. |
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Overall, younger authors are more likely to self-publish.
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The practice of depositing material in institutional repositories is low (21%).
55% might do this in the future; 15% had no such plans. Depositing material in a repository is more prevalent among authors from the fields of computer science, mathematics, and engineering.
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Only 11% had published in open access journals. ~80% of the authors claim to know little or nothing about open access.
Researchers in government and commercial organizations had the least knowledge of open access compared to those from universities and medical schools.
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