Thank you for the pointer to this survey. I have begun but not completed a critique of this survey. Some overall comments to keep in mind:
Taylor & Francis is the scholar-friendly-sounding "brand" of multinational conglomerate Informa.plc. While T&F may prefer that we focus on the brand, I think that it is very important for scholar's to be aware when giving away our work and services to whom we are giving, in this case a for-profit corporation whose purpose is to provide profit to shareholders. It is appropriate for a commercial scholarly publisher to conduct research to improve their products and services. However, many of these questions suggest that this survey is intended to inform public open access mandate policies. This kind of survey should not be conducted by a commercial company with a stake in the outcome. In that sense, this is a "fox researches hen" or "Enbridge surveys Canadians on environmental perspectives" survey.
It is telling of how much power we scholars have given to commercial publishers that T&F can readily conduct this survey of tens of thousands of researchers worldwide. What would it take for a social sciences researcher to conduct a study on this scale?
Considering the source, it may come as no surprise that the survey contains significant bias and methodological problems. Interestingly, some of the bias is more towards than against open access, a refreshing change for a traditional publisher. Nevertheless, two biased questions leading in different directions do not add up to good methodology.
Dr. Heather Morrison
> PDF at
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/pdf/open-access-survey-march2013.pdf>
> Taylor & Francis did this survey about open access journals and data, sample size= 14,700. A very interesting snapshot of the publishing culture in transition.
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>
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> From: Taylor and Francis <
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> Date: Wed, Apr 3, 2013 at 12:10 PM
> Subject: Taylor & Francis Open Access Survey - Full Report
> To:
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> Dear Ted Strauss,
>
> Taylor & Francis would like to thank those of you who were able to respond to our recent survey on Open Access.
>
> This survey, circulated in the final weeks of 2012 leading into early 2013 was the largest single survey conducted by our Research and Businesses Intelligence Department to date. Over 14,700 of you responded, and we sincerely thank each and every one of those respondents.
>
> A number of you have asked why we carried out this survey. Our motivation was a genuine curiosity about your views towards Open Access and many related topics, such as peer review, licensing, reuse and metrics. Many of you commented on the length of the survey, this was due to our interest in so many different aspects of Open Access, and we appreciate the time that respondents took to answer the many questions posed.
>
> The Open Access environment has been changing and developing at an extraordinary rate, and we wanted to ensure an up-to-date understanding of your views and needs in response to these changes, in order to adapt our services and policies accordingly. We believe that you should be able to choose the best publication outlet for your research, whether Open Access or not, and want to provide you with the best service so that you will continue to publish with us in the future. Your responses have already influenced some of our decision-making, and will certainly continue to do so.
>
> A number of you asked for both a copy of the results of the survey, and the questions themselves. You can find a document encompassing both here:
>
>
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/pdf/open-access-survey-march2013.pdf
>
> This report contains charts showing the raw results from all the questions in the survey along with details about the survey population and resulting sample.
>
> We have begun to release a series of press releases exploring the findings of the survey in more depth, and covering as many aspects of your responses and views as possible:
>
> Initial press release with results of the survey
>
> Over 14,700 authors respond to Taylor & Francis Open Access Survey!
>
> Subsequent press releases with regional and subject breakdowns
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> Taylor & Francis survey reveals clear need for author choice of licensing options for Open Access publication of their articles
>
> Taylor & Francis survey reveals that commercial re-use of their work would be unacceptable to most authors
>
> More to follow in the coming weeks…
>
> Thank you once again to all respondents.
>
> Regards,
>
> Victoria Gardner, Open Access Publisher
> Taylor & Francis
>
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> We have recently launched a Twitter account, @TandFOpen, and you may wish to follow us to receive the latest commentary on the survey (#oasurvey).
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> --
> Ted Strauss
> Co-founder of Trudat.co
>
> I'm organizing Open Data Exchange in Montreal, April 6, 2013
>
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