We have 58 books in the OAPEN-UK pilot – 29 are available open access and 29 are available under the normal route to market. In November 2011 we sent out a survey to the authors of these titles and to members of our Steering Group which includes 5 publishers, some researchers, librarians and research council reps. The survey asked a variety of questions about their attitudes and perceptions and provides us with a baseline to track changes against as we progress through the project. What we are specifically looking at is if participation in the project changes their perceptions towards open access.
Of the 31 authors who responded, (it’s a small sample size but the findings are supported by our researcher survey which had 690 responses), financial compensation is not important and was ranked very low compared to career advancement and releasing information for social progress and knowledge in society.
Read the full article published in Insights to find out more about our authors and steering group’s perceptions and view the survey data in our baseline presentation.