Open Access as publication method at the Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education, UiT. A feasibility study conducted among academics at the faculty to determine usage and consensus regarding Open Access publishing practices

Abstract

This master thesis explores the landscape of scholarly publishing by presenting a study done at the Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education (HSL) at UiT the Arctic University of Norway to assess publication practices and attitudes with the focus being on Open Access (OA). For this study, 444 journal publications from the faculty in 2016 and 2017 were analyzed alongside a survey asking about attitudes to OA sent to researchers at the faculty which received 164 responses. The findings showed that respondents overall were very positive to OA and that one out of four publications in 2016 and 2017 were published OA. More detailed analyses revealed that women published OA to a higher degree than men in terms of percentages but that men in overall published more than women. Across all age groups, attitudes towards OA were positive to similar degrees. An important finding was that researchers reported a lack of OA publication channels in some academic fields, an issue that causes problems in relation to Plan S, a campaign launched by the EU to mandate that all research financed by the EU is to be published OA from 2021.