Open access policies: a survey of IUPUI faculty attitudes

Abstract

In the Fall semester of 2013 we conducted a campus-wide survey of IUPUI faculty attitudes toward changes in scholarly communications. Here we report preliminary results pertaining to open access repositories, policies and mandates. These results are compared to earlier versions of the same survey conducted in 2006 at the University of California and in 2010 at the University of Toronto. On the IUPUI campus most faculty respondents (55%) were unaware of the institutional repository, IUPUIScholarWorks. Likewise, the majority (72%) were unfamiliar with institutional open access policies such as those at Harvard, MIT, Duke and Kansas. When asked, however, if IUPUI should consider implementing a similar policy, 52% were unsure, 39% were supportive and only 9% disagreed. With increased outreach and information on the topic, we believe that IUPUI faculty would be willing to consider a campus-wide, opt-out open access policy.