Awareness and Attitudes about Open Access Publishing: A Glance at Generational Differences

This study explores PhD faculty members' current awareness of open access (OA) and perceptions of OA publishing, focusing on demographic characteristics to understand whether these variables correspond to specific perceptions and behaviors. The majority of respondents taught in Art, Humanities and Social Sciences disciplines. Results point to a growing trend in self reported knowledge of OA across all age groups but OA publishing activity is relatively limited. The younger age brackets reported higher percentages of publishing history than older age brackets, but these younger groups tended to also be tenured. Credibility of OA journals was the top concern of respondents. Results suggest that faculty authors cannot be prejudged by their age, seniority or rank as to their perception of, or experience with OA, because these indicators no longer appear to be strong predictors. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.