Researchers have positive attitudes towards Open Access self-archiving

Researchers of the University of Tampere regard positively the Open Access principle (unrestricted access to research articles). They also appreciate the open institutional repositories of universities. This was discovered through the Open Access Survey for the researchers of the University of Tampere. The survey was conducted last spring by the Tampere University Library. 93 % of the respondents regard the Open Access principle as very important or quite important and 78 % are in favour of open repositories.

The survey report is published in the open repository TamPub of the University of Tampere. In the report the results are compared with surveys conducted at the University of Jyväskylä and at some British universities that have collected parallel results. Although Open Access is appreciated, only one-third of the researchers of the university in Tampere and in Jyväskylä seek to publish research articles in Open Access journals. At this point the Brits have an edge: 70 % of the researchers in Great Britain aim at publishing in Open Access journals.

The survey indicated also that both self-archiving and the TamPub repository need to become better known among researchers. Self-archiving (publishing a copy of the research article in an open repository) is a quick and free way for a researcher to get the research results openly accessible because not all academic disciplines have high quality Open Access journals. However only 12 % of the survey respondents had self-archived their publications in TamPub repository so far. The respondents reported lack of time and lack of knowledge regarding the publishers’ permission practices as the main obstacles to self-archiving.

In the future more research sponsors will have open access of the research results as precondition for their funding. According to the recommendation of European Union for its member states, by year 2016 60 % of publicly funded research results should be openly accessible.

The Open Access Survey relates to the Rector’s decision (2009) requesting the researchers to self-archive copies of their research articles. The Library is responsible for the implementation of the decision. The results of the survey will help to encourage self-archiving at the University. The survey has 205 respondents.

In October, the Open Access principle will be promoted also during the international Open Access Week (from October 22nd).

The survey report will be published also in English in few weeks.

More information:
The survey report (in Finnish): http://tampub.uta.fi (search term "Tampereen yliopiston Open Access -kyselyn tulokset")

Open Access/Self-archiving at the University of Tampere

International Open Access Week 2012

EU Commission recommendation on access to and preservation of scientific information