French publishing attitudes in the open access era: The case of mathematics, biology, and computer science

This study investigates the extent to which open access (OA) publishing models affect French researchers’ attitudes. Research questions were: What place does OA have in attitudes of French researchers in mathematics, biology, and computer science? Are French researchers aware of new publishing models? Do they publish in these new outlets? What funds do they use? What kind of feedback and satisfaction can we observe? We used a quantitative approach to identify structural trends. From April to May 2015, the authors gathered empirical data (interviews, training, and meetings) on researchers’ opinions and understanding of OA publishing models to define the variables and build up the questionnaire that was sent out in June 2015. The findings of the survey demonstrated that, when choosing journals to publish their articles, researchers did not rate OA as a criterion but rather impact, prestige, and symbolic recognition. Publishing OA articles is only in its first stages in the publishing practices of researchers. Lack of policy, prescriptions, and lack of rewards explain why OA is not a factor that determines the publishing strategies of French researchers. The researchers who take the risk of OA publishing are biologists, the older and more experienced researchers, and those who are members of editorial teams.