Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

What Motivates Authors Of Scholarly Articles? The Importance Of Journal Attributes And Potential Audience On Publication Choice., Carol Tenopir, Elizabeth Dortch Dalton, Allison Fish, Lisa Christian, Misty K. Jones, Mackenzie Smith

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

In this article we examine what motivations influence academic authors in selecting a journal in which to publish. A survey was sent to approximately 15,000 faculty, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers at four large North American research universities with a response rate of 14.4% (n = 2021). Respondents were asked to rate how eight different journal attributes and five different audiences influence their choice of publication output. Within the sample, the most highly rated attributes are quality and reputation of journal and fit with the scope of the journal; open access is the least important attribute. Researchers at other research-intensive …

To Boldly Go Beyond Downloads: How Are Journal Articles Shared And Used?, Carol Tenopir, Gabriel Hughes, Christian Lisa, Suzie Allard, David Nicholas, Anthony Watkinson, Hazel Woodward, Peter Shepherd, Robert Anderson

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

With more scholarly journals being distributed electronically rather than in print form, we know that researchers download many articles. What is less well known is how journal articles are used after they are initially downloaded. To what extent are they saved, uploaded, tweeted, or otherwise shared? How does this reuse increase their total use and value to research and how does it influence library usage figures? University of Tennessee Chancellor’s Professor Carol Tenopir, Professor Suzie Allard, and Adjunct Professor David Nicholas are leading a team of international researchers on a the project, “Beyond Downloads,” funded by a grant from Elsevier. …

The Growth Of Journals Publishing, Carol Tenopir, Donald W. King

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

For the last 60 years, scholarly journals have witnessed unprecedented growth, controversy and change. Since the late 1940s, the number of scholarly journals has increased sharply, with hundreds of new titles and new topics being introduced each decade. Beginning in the late 1960s and especially since the 1990s, the form of journals has been transformed into digital versions that speed both access and delivery of articles to readers and provide enhanced functionality. E-journals are now more popular with libraries and readers than their print counterparts, although both forms continue to coexist for a majority of titles. This combination of more …

Perceptions Of Value And Value Beyond Perceptions: Measuring The Quality And Value Of Journal Article Readings., Carol Tenopir, Donald W. King

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

When measuring quality and value of journals, what is being measured, to whom does the value accrue, and why the measurement is being done must be considered. Both implicit and explicit measures of quality and value are possible. Preliminary results of ongoing readership research show that academic library e-journal collections have both purchase and use value to academic faculty. They spend their time reading, read many articles each year, and reading benefits their work in many ways.

Measuring Total Readings Of Journal Articles., Donald W. King, Carol Tenopir, Michael Clarke

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

There have been hundreds, perhaps thousands, of studies of journal reading by professionals in such fields as science, engineering, medicine, law, social science and the humanities. These studies have been done for many reasons, including research to better understand professional communication patterns and the role this plays in their work. Some studies also focus on providing specific information to journal system participants such as publishers, librarians, other intermediaries and their funders. In this article we present a description of a little used but powerful method of observing reading by scientists (1). This method is designed to measure the …

An Evidence-Based Assessment Of The "Author Pays" Model, Donald W. King, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Much discussion of author payments as a means to Open Access lacks consideration of evidence on their potential impact on the scholarly journal system. Our recent work perhaps sheds new light on both favourable and unfavourable aspects of this option.

We emphasize the diversity of communication communities among authors, and between the authors and the extensive non-author reading community. We also take a broad system perspective, given that the author payment model will potentially impact not only authors but also, for example, R&D funders, university and other organization staff and library budgets, publishers, and readers. This raises several issues. Who …

Online Scholarly Journals: How Many?, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

IT SHOULD BE EASY to determine the exact number of scholarly journals that are available online. Surprisingly, it is a challenge. Even how many scholarly journals are published in print isn't easy to calculate. Coming up with these numbers is a tale that information specialists will appreciate.

Undergraduate Science Students And Electronic Scholarly Journals, Carol Tenopir, Richard Pollard, Peiling Wang, Dan Greene, Elizabeth Kline, Julia Krummen, Rachel Kirk

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Phase I of a 2‐phase project funded by the NSF‐National Science Digital Library Project used focus groups to determine how undergraduate science students perceive journal literature and how they use digital library resources. Their perceptions and use are contrasted with faculty and graduate teaching assistants in engineering, chemistry, and physics. Undergraduates have difficulties understanding journal articles. Although they consider themselves experts on the web, they rarely use online indexes or e‐journals unless required to for class. E‐Journals should be incrementally introduced to students starting at the time they declare a major. E‐Modules developed by the library and faculty could introduce …

The Use And Value Of Scholarly Journals, Carol Tenopir, Donald W. King

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

This paper summarized results of 13,591 readership survey responses of scientists and reviews of hundreds of other readership studies reported in a recent book: Towards Electronic Journals: Realities for Scientists, Librarians, and Publishers (Tenopir & King, 2000). In particular, survey results reveal amounts and trends of reading and information-seeking patterns, such as how readers identify articles that are read and where they obtain them. The survey results also demonstrate the usefulness and value of scientific scholarly journals. Past results suggest that electronic journals and digital full-text databases will play a major role in the future of scientific scholarly journals …

Online Journals & Developing Nations, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

WE ALL KNOW HOW the escalating price of journal subscriptions takes a bite every year from our libraries' budgets. Still, if you are reading this in a library in the United States, the U.K., or any other developed nation, you may not realize the devastating effect the high costs of journals have on libraries in less developed nations. Barbara Kirsop, secretary of the Electronic Publishing Trust for Development and director of Bioline Publications, says when she asked a librarian in a sub-Saharan African nation what journals that library would order this year, the answer was, "None."

The Cost And Price Dilemma Of Scholarly Journals, Donald W. King, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

This paper examines the overall cost of the scientific scholarly journal system and find that the relative system costs have not increased since the late 1970s. Why then have journal prices skyrocketed over this same period? We first describe typical scholarly publishing costs, because to understand journal prices one must understand the factors that affect these costs. We then describe some factors that have likely contributed to spiraling price increases and changes in journal subscription demand. Finally we discuss some alternative pricing policies that might help in the future. This paper summarizes results reported in a recent book: Towards Electronic …

Moving Toward Electronic Journals, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

PRINT STILL PREDOMINATES in journal publishing, but that role may soon fade. Too slowly or too quickly, steadily or in fits and starts (depending on your perspective and patience level), scholarly journals are moving toward reliance on digital forms. This is happening in part because librarians, scholars, and even some publishers are unhappy about the current state of print journals.

Designing The Future Of Electronic Journals With Lessons Learned From The Past: Economic And Use Patterns Of Scientific Journals, Carol Tenopir, Donald W. King

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Studies of thousands of both university and non-university scientists demonstrate the importance of scholarly journals to their work. Amount of reading has remained high and scientists who read more, are more successful. Readings have shifted from personal subscriptions to more readings from library provided journals. Personal subscriptions have gone down from 5.8 subscriptions per scientist in 1977 to about 2.9 subscriptions. The drop is due to the rising prices of subscriptions, prices that have increased beyond inflation rates. Processing costs decrease some with electronic journals, but the high fixed costs associated with creating scholarly journals are the same for print …