Understanding researchers’ intention and habit regarding publishing in open access journals

Abstract

Scholarly publishing is the vessel for the dissemination of research articles. Contemporary scholarly publishing is achieved by two main models, open access (OA) and non-open access (non-OA). OA refers to articles that are available at no cost to the end-user; however, authors may incur a fee for accepted manuscripts. Non-OA articles are available at a cost, either via subscriptions or via individual downloads. Governments and funders are increasingly requiring research to be made openly available. This is causing friction in the research community, as the premise of OA is supported but not necessarily the practice. There are several reasons for this, and this dissertation provides four articles with the aim of improving the theoretical and empirical understanding of researchers’ intention and scholarly publishing behavior within an extended theory of planned behavior: a reasoned action approach. The general approach included testing the importance of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) constructs and identifying and developing belief dimensions and constructs pertaining to individual differences. The approach also included a discussion and test of how habit strength (using alternative models) relates to OA and non-OA publishing intentions and behavior. Articles 1 and 2 provided the starting point by investigating how individual differences in innovativeness and personality affect the precursors (e.g., attitudes, perceived quality, and trust) of publishing intentions in a small sample of researchers. Articles 3 and 4 furthered the knowledge obtained in the previous articles and examined factors such as perceived quality and habit strength. The fourth article also assessed the effects of habit strength on both OA and non-OA publishing behavior.