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Welcome to the Publishing Research Consortium
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The Publishing Research Consortium is a group of associations and publishers, which supports global research into scholarly communication in order to enable evidence-based discussion. Our objective is to support work that is scientific and pro-scholarship. Overall, we aim to promote an understanding of the role of publishing and its impact on research and teaching. |
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Final report on behavioural part of PEER study published. This study, which was a qualitative look at researchers' attitudes to OA, has just been published. There are some interesting differences in the attitudes and awareness across subject fields. Most of the attitudes are quite conservative, and there is a clear expression of the necessity of retaining journal articles, whatever types of OA are considered. October 2011 The impact of free acccess to the scientific literature: a review of the literature. An article by Phil Davis and William Walters. As well as reviewing, the authors offer conclusions (e.g. access is generally improving) and possible implications for libraries and publishers.Journal of the Medical Library Association July 2011, vol 99, 3, p 208-217 Peer review: recent experiences and future directions A review article by Mark Ware, from the journal New Review of Information Networking Journal Article Mining: a research study into Practices, Policies, Plans .....and Promises Eefke Smit and Maurits van der Graaf. PRC June 2011 153pp. This is a study commissioned by PRC which offers the first comprehensive look at what publishers and others are doing, and plan to do, in both data and text mining of the scholarly, mainly journal, literature. Lots of fascinating detail from a number of viewpoints - from 29 interviews and 190 detailed responses to a survey.
Heading for the open road: costs and benefits of transitions in scholarly communications . (CEPA - Joel Cook, Daniel Hulls, David Joss and Mark Ware Consulting - Mark Ware) April 2011 52pp. A report commissioned by PRC,RIN, Wellcome Trust,RLUK,JISC. One in a series looking at transitions in part of formal scholarly communication (i.e.journal research articles). This modelled 5 scenarios, all with specific assumptions attached: Green OA, Delayed Access, Gold OA, Licence (national), and Transactional. It is probably unfair to try to reduce their lengthy conclusions to one point - so good to follow the link and read the report. However, if forced to do so, a version of gold OA with limits appears to be the report's most favoured scenario. Open Acess, Readership, citations: a randomized controlled trial of scientific journal publishing. P. Davis. FASEB Journal doi 10.1096/fj.11-182988 March 2011. This study looked at 36 journals. The conclusion is that OA leads to increased downloads but not to a citation advantage.
This study for PRC gained responses from over 3800 researchers world-wide and asked them about what types of information were important to them, and how easily they found they could get access to them. All disciplines rated journal articles as the most important. While 93% found access to them either 'very easy' or 'fairly easy', there were other important types of information, such as data sets, to which access was difficult. PRC would like to extend these studies to include users of research information who do not themselves publish. Press Release for this study December 2010
This is a PRC-commissioned study by Carol Tenopir et al of the Center for Information and Communication Studies, University of Tennessee. It looks at the importance of a series of characteristics of a publication and the interaction between them, for 400 researchers and faculty members from 12 countries. Top in importance are that the publication should be relevant, and available online at no personal cost. Then the journal itself and the fact that it should be peer-reviewed are the most important characteristics. Press Release for this study. (November 2010)
E-only journals: overcoming the barriers This report, dated November 2010, is one of a series of four studies whose principal funders are JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee), RIN (the Research Information Network), RLUK (Research Libraries UK), and PRC. The other studies are on 'access gaps', 'the dynamics of improving access', and on future scenarios. The present study is the first to be completed. It contains a series of recommendations to the different sectors, as well as exhortation to work together. To publishers, it recommends pricing policies to encourage the move to e-only, and finds, as usual in any such study, that in the UK the fact that VAT is levied on electronic subscriptions is a significant barrier. (November 2010) Faculty Survey 2009: Key Strategic Insights for Libraries, Publishers, and Societies This is the latest Ithaka S+R (Ithaka is the body which, amongst other things, runs JSTOR and Portico - S+R is their Strategy and Research arm) survey of academics. They've been doing them every three years since 2000 and map the trends in academics' habits and views on the use of digital materials. Thus each report is a valuable snapshot. Key findings this time include:
(Apr 2010)
This is the report of a survey undertaken in 2009 to provide a snapshot of what publishers are currently doing in e-books. It charts the tremendous rise in activity as well as the number of titles available, and the (still) relatively small percentage of total sales accounted for by e-books. (Mar 2010)
A study which took place over 2007-2010, from UC Berkeley. A key finding was that traditional cultures in the disciplines still rule. e.g. no evidence that what they call 'tech-savvy' graduate students are showing any inclination to buck the traditions and norms of their disciplines. (Jan 2010)
Report and Recommendations from the Scholarly Publishing Roundtable. This is an important report (available from the American Association of Universities (AAU) giving an agreed perspective from almost all participants, from all relevant sectors) on the question of free access to the results of federally funded research) (January 2010) Patterns of information use and exchange: case studies or researchers in the life sciences A Research Information Network (RIN) report from the end of 2009. Its findings are very interesting, if not surprising. They found that researchers follow their own ways of working and these diverge from the 'top-down' policies of funders etc Overcoming barriers: access to research information content Another RIN study from late 2009. This is not original research but rather summarises the findings of 5 other studies
The PRC is one of the signatories of a joint statement which outlines a portfolio of proposed research projects. (November 2009) New Report published - Access by UK small and medium-sized enterprises to professional and academic information The PRC's fifth Research Report studies an often-neglected market segment, that of small businesses. People in high-tech small buinesses value information more highly, and read more journal articles, than those in larger companies. Of those that consider information important, 71% felt they had good access, and 60% that it was better than 5 years ago. However, more than half sometimes had difficulty accessing an article, and there are a number of steps that could be taken to improve access, with corresponding benefits to UK plc. (September 2009) Sense About Science has conducted a follow-up to the PRC's 2007 survey on Peer Review, to identify the preferences and concerns of authors and reviewers and to collate their views on future changes in peer-reviewed publishing. The analysis, to be published in mid-September, both identifies trends from comparison with the earlier survey, and also explores new issues that are likely to affect editors, publishers, reviewers and authors in the next few years. (September 2009)
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