EU-funded study finds researchers favour open access publishing

Researchers, authors and funding bodies are challenging the traditional journal publishing model, with open access becoming the preferred route to publishing and accessing research results, according to a paper published today in the journal ecancermedicalscience.

The paper, “An Open Access future? Report from the eurocancercoms project” analyses the results of a survey carried out as part of the Framework Programme 7-funded Eurocancercoms project, looking at researchers’ attitudes towards open access publishing. Open access business models to challenge the traditional subscription models are also examined.

The survey, by the European Association for Cancer Research (EACR), found that 59 per cent of researchers say their work is often hindered by a lack of free access to research findings.

The internet is used by 94 per cent of cancer researchers for professional activities every day, with the majority accessing PubMed and online journals daily or 2-3 times a week.

Nearly three quarters of survey respondents have published work in open access journals, indicating a growing acceptance of open access as a route to publication. And 88 per cent of respondents said publicly-funded research should be available to be read and used without access barriers. This too is increasingly becoming the standpoint of research funders, who are listening to the concerns of researchers about access.

The incumbent, traditional publishers remain a barrier to the lower profit margin, open access publishing model. The paper suggests that open access journals will operate a 'pay to publish' model, with open access publishers supplementing income through other routes.

Research funders are already beginning to challenge the publishers by setting up their own journals. In July the European Molecular Biology Laboratory’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) was awarded a five-year contract to run and lead the development of UK PubMed Central (UKPMC), a free online literature resource for life science researchers, which is backed by funding bodies headed by the Wellcome Trust.

Now five years old, UKPMC provides access to a repository of more than two million full-text biomedical research articles, more than 25 million citations from PubMed and Agricola, patents from the European Patent Office, UK treatment guidelines and biomedical PhD theses.

More than 250 000 articles are published under open-access licenses, which means their contents can be freely reused.

Eight funders launched the service in 2007, with the award of the new contract ten more UK and other European funders joined in.

Speaking when the contract was awarded, Mark Walport Director of the Wellcome Trust said, “We are delighted that additional funders are supporting UKPMC and requiring the outputs of the research they fund to be made freely available through this open access repository. We want to build on the success of the past five years and, in partnership with research funders across Europe, transform UKPMC into a single, Europe-wide, open access repository for the life sciences."

UK PubMed Central funders said they will continue to seek the involvement of scientific publishers, funding agencies, universities and other research institutions.

The funders include Action on Hearing Loss, Arthritis Research UK, Austrian Science Fund, UK Biotechnology and Biosciences Research Council, Breakthrough Breast Cancer, British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, The Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health Directorates, and the Telethon  in Italy.

R Kenney and R Warden, An Open Access Future? Report from the eurocancercoms project, ecancermedicalscience, DOI: 10.3332/ecancer.2011.223

Eurocancercoms project website: http://www.eurocancercoms.eu