NEWS RELEASE - PUBLISHING RESEARCH CONSORTIUM (PRC)

Media Contact:
Bob Campbell, Publishing Research Consortium
Tel: +44 (0)1865 476118
bcampbel@wiley.com

                                          December 2010

Access to Journal Articles – Global Results Published

Across the world, researchers in all disciplines rate journal articles as
the most important type of information – and they can get access to them.
But there is more to be done.

These are the main conclusions of a new global study released by the
Publishing Research Consortium (PRC) (http://www.publishingresearch.net)

Over 3800 researchers responded to the survey. 93% found access to journal
articles ‘very easy’ or ‘fairly easy’.

The main types of important information that they found difficult to get
hold of were ‘data sets, data models and algorithms’.

‘This survey is a rich source for publishers and all those interested in
information transfer’ said Bob Campbell, Chairman of PRC. ‘Although it’s
reassuring that the vast majority of researchers can get the articles they
need, it also points up areas where all parts of the community need to
work harder to help the researcher.’

The study extends an earlier PRC study looking at the UK only (also
available on the website http://www.publishingresearch.net). This new
study gives breakdowns by geographical area, subject discipline, type of
institution, author characteristics etc. Information types looked at, as
well as articles and data, included books/monographs, reference works,
theses, clinical guidelines, patents, conference proceedings, archives,
market research reports, trade publications, technical information. The
study focussed on those researchers who had published at least one article
in one or more of 18,000 peer-reviewed journals.

PRC plans further studies of users of research information who do not
publish in journals. ‘We would like to hear from any potential partners
who, perhaps on a regional basis, would like to join with PRC in further
work’ said Campbell.

The study is available, without charge, from the PRC website at :
http://www.publishingresearch.net

About The Publishing Research Consortium (PRC):

The PRC is a group representing publishers and associations supporting
global research into scholarly communication  in order to enable
evidence-based discussion and objective analysis
(http://www.publishingresearch.net). PRC’s objective is to support work
that is scientific and pro-scholarship, in order to promote an
understanding of the role of publishing and its impact on research and
teaching.

December 2010