New report reveals WMU faculty, researcher perspectives on open access publishing

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Western Michigan University Libraries has released the results of its 2024 Open Access Publishing Survey, conducted by Professors Michele Behr and Ed Eckel. The survey explored Western faculty, staff and graduate student experiences with open access publishing.

The survey received 192 responses from October through December 2024. The final report provides insight into publication habits, financial considerations and perceptions of open access publishing across the university community. 

Open access is the “free, immediate online availability of research articles” and the right to use them, according to the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition. 

Publishing research open access not only expands its reach to global audiences, but it can help remove barriers for learners and other researchers to move the work forward. However, open access publishing can have financial considerations, as researchers often pay article processing charges (APC) to make their work openly available.

“Scholarly publishers are the ones who control access to and pricing for scholarly journals,” says Eckel. “In doing so, they control who gets to access the content and to publish.”

Behr notes that open access offers enormous value for scholars and the global community, but the economics are a challenge. 

“The survey allows us to better understand the perspectives of the WMU community, in order to better educate and advocate around these issues,” Behr says.

“We are hoping, by sharing the results of this survey, we can remind WMU faculty that they are the researchers and that they should try to take control of their research back from the publishers,” Eckel adds.

Access the OA Publishing Survey Report on the University Libraries’ Open Access webpage.