Open Access Publishing In Science

An international study on Open Access was conducted by the Institute for Information Systems and New Media at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitä München, Germany, and the Departments of Information Science and Management at the University of Arkansas. Almost 90% of the participants believed that Open Access publications will serve as an easier access to scientific knowledge. About 40% of the respondents believed that Open Access publishing would be practiced. The study also explored the behavioral intention of researchers to publish in Open Access outlets. More than 70% of the respondents answered favorably when asked for an overall evaluation of the usefulness of Open Access publishing. The study shows that the overall attitude towards Open Access among the scientists is very positive. The main reasons for this includes easier access to literature for everyone, high citation rates, higher impact, and a high amount of knowledge.