How are scholarly society and university publishers currently approaching journal production and access? And what are their future priorities?
To help gather collective insights in these areas, Scholastica is conducting a survey on “The State of Journal Production and Access” among scholarly societies, university presses, and university libraries that publish one or more journals independently (i.e., not outsourced to a separate publisher). We will use the results of the survey to compile an openly available report (no email required for download) on the journal production factors and open access models that society and university publishers are focusing on now and in the future. The survey will run through the 5th of June 2020.
“The State of Journal Production and Access Survey” questions span core aspects of production and access, including:
- Article file type/layout processes and priorities
- Metadata tagging standards and priorities
- Open Access (OA) journal development approaches and funding models
If you work with a scholarly society, university press, or university library that publishes one or more journals independently, we invite you to take the survey to share your experience. The information you submit for this survey will be published in an aggregated and anonymized form, and no personally identifying fields are required.
Why this survey?
As the scholarly publishing landscape continues to evolve at an increasingly rapid pace, journal production and access are two areas undergoing some of the most significant changes. From expanding article formatting and metadata needs to new OA mandates — journal publishers have more production and access considerations to factor into publication planning than ever before. Across disciplines, questions surrounding the most sustainable ways to both produce research in digitally-compatible formats — to broaden discovery and usage potential — and to make articles freely accessible to readers have become more pressing. Production and access are also converging more in recent scholarly publishing initiatives like Plan S, which not only calls for open access to research but also digital production standardization and best practices.
For scholarly societies, university presses, and university libraries independently publishing one or more journals, the changing research landscape presents many opportunities to expand the reach and use of their articles, but also many challenges. Determining where journals stand in relation to the wider publishing landscape and deciding what to prioritize with limited resources is no easy task. The goal of this survey is to gather collective insights to help society and university journal publishers and stakeholders gauge the current state of production and access and what publishing organizations are prioritizing in the near future.
We’ve kept all survey questions on the topics of production and access separate, to avoid conflating questions/responses within the different topic areas. The final survey report will also have separate sections for the topics of production and access. We believe that looking at production and access — as discrete but related aspects of publishing — will provide publishers with generative insights that they can use to gauge where the journal landscape is moving.
How to participate
“The State of Journal Production and Access Survey” will be open now through the 5th of June 2020, at which point we will gather the survey results and compile an openly available report to share with the community. The survey takes around 5-10 minutes to complete. At the end of the survey, you will have the option to include an email address to have the final report sent directly to you when it is available. That contact information is not required to complete the survey or to view the final report, and it will not be included in the published results. Any email address that you provide will not be shared with outside parties or used for any purpose other than sending you a copy of the survey report.
If you have any questions about the survey, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We would also love to hear your thoughts in the comments section! We invite you to take the survey here.
Update Note: This blog post was originally published on the 12th of March 2020, and republished on the 21st of April 2020 with additional information. The survey deadline was updated on the 26th of May.
