Drivers and Barriers for Open Access Publishing - WoS 2016 Dataset

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.

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.

* 1. How many years have you been employed in research?

• Fewer than 5 years
• 5-14 years
• 15-24 years
• 25 years or longer

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.

* 2. Do any journals in your research field publish Open Access articles?

• Yes
• No
• I do not know

* 3. Do you think your research field benefits, or would benefit from journals that publish Open Access articles?

• Yes
• No
• I have no opinion
• I do not care

* 4. How many peer reviewed research articles (Open Access or not Open Access) have you published in the last five years?

• 1-5
• 6-10
• 11-20
• 21-50
• More than 50

* 5. What factors are important to you when selecting a journal to publish in?

[Each factor may be rated “Extremely important”, “Important”, “Less important” or “Irrelevant”. The factors are presented in random order.]

• Importance of the journal for academic promotion, tenure or assessment
• Recommendation of the journal by my colleagues
• Positive experience with publisher/editor(s) of the journal
• The journal is an Open Access journal
• Relevance of the journal for my community
• The journal fits the policy of my organisation
• Prestige/perceived quality of the journal
• Likelihood of article acceptance in the journal
• Absence of journal publication fees (e.g. submission charges, page charges, colour charges)
• Copyright policy of the journal
• Journal Impact Factor
• Speed of publication of the journal

6. Who usually decides which journals your articles are submitted to? (Choose more than one answer if applicable)

• The decision is my own
• A collective decision is made with my fellow authors
• I am advised where to publish by a senior colleague
• The organisation that finances my research advises me where to publish
• Other (please specify) [Text box follows]

7. Approximately how many Open Access articles have you published in the last five years?

• 0
• 1-5
• 6-10
• More than 10
• I do not know

[If the answer is “0”, the survey jumps to Q10.]

* 8. What publication fee was charged for the last Open Access article you published?

• No charge
• Up to €250 ($275)
• €251-€500 ($275-$550)
• €501-€1000 ($551-$1100)
• €1001-€3000 ($1101-$3300)
• More than €3000 ($3300)
• I do not know

[If the answer is “No charge or I don’t know” the survey jumps to Q20. ]

* 9. How was this publication fee covered? (Choose more than one answer if applicable)

• My research funding includes money for paying such fees
• I used part of my research funding not specifically intended for paying such fees
• My institution paid the fees
• I paid the costs myself
• Other (please specify) [Text box follows]

* 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?

• Easy
• Difficult
• I have not used these sources

* 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.

[Each statement may be rated “Strongly agree”, “Agree”, “Neither agree nor disagree”, “Disagree” or “Strongly disagree”. The statements are presented in random order.]

• Researchers should retain the rights to their published work and allow it to be used by others
• Open Access publishing undermines the system of peer review
• Open Access publishing leads to an increase in the publication of poor quality research
• If authors pay publication fees to make their articles Open Access, there will be less money available for research
• It is not beneficial for the general public to have access to published scientific and medical articles
• Open Access unfairly penalises research-intensive institutions with large publication output by making them pay high costs for publication
• Publicly-funded research should be made available to be read and used without access barrier
• Open Access publishing is more cost-effective than subscription-based publishing and so will benefit public investment in research
• Articles that are available by Open Access are likely to be read and cited more often than those not Open Access

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.