Why do researchers share, and how should publishers respond?

@charlierapple NFAIS May 2017

@charlierapple

Co-founder of Kudos• Helping publishers benefit from

author sharing

Passionate about increasing reach and impact of research through copyright-compliant sharing (among other things)

Recent survey of over 7,500 researchers – opinions and behaviours around content sharing

The rise and rise of Scholarly Collaboration Networks

Platforms to share and discover research, get stats, ask questions, and make connections.

Platforms to monetize author data and publisher content, regardless of copyright.

@charlierapple

2017 survey on SCN usage

Publishing

@charlierapple

7,500+ respondentsWeighted towards

early careerSTEMEuropean / North American

2017 survey on SCN usage

SCNs are (increasingly) frequently usedResearchGate n = 6,213

Academia.edu n = 4,629

MyScienceWork n = 261

Mendeley n = 3,168

Humanities Commons n = 142

Social Science Research Network n = 812

Profology n = 22

Trellis n = 92

Daily Weekly Monthly Quarterly 1-2 x year Never

@charlierapple

SCNs are (increasingly) used foraccessing / uploading content

To access copies of articles /

books / chapters that I cannot

access elsewhere

66%To find and

connect with other researchers

61%To check metrics

for my publications

59%To upload copies

of my publications

(articles / books / chapters etc)

57%

Figures taken from survey by Kudos and 10 publisher partners; April 2017; n = 6,293

@charlierapple

moral high ground

“We want to bring transparency to science so it can be even more useful for all. There’s a lot wrong with the current system; it’s confusing at best. Researchers waste a lot of time because they don’t share what doesn’t work … We’re fixing these problems …”

Ijad Madisch, CEO and cofounder, ResearchGate

powerful friends

tick tock

So far, journal publishers don’t seem to have lost much revenue because of scholarly networks.

But publishers will have to

adopt new strategies now to avoid

substantial losses in the near future

Quote taken from Schiermeier, Quirin.Science publishers try new tack to combat unauthorized paper sharing.Nature. 2017:145-146. doi:10.1038/545145a

Joe Esposito

83% agreed or strongly agreed that

copyright should be respected

CFigure taken from survey by Kudos and 10 publisher partners; April 2017; n = 5,513

@charlierapple

@charlierapple

didn’t realisepublisher policies apply to sharing

21%don’t have time or

thought it too complicated

to check copyright

37%would find it

useful to have a single place to

check copyright

87%

n = 5,513 n = 5,513 n = 5,942

Copyright is hard to navigate

@charlierapple

51% of non OA articles

taken from a sample of 500on ResearchGate

infringed copyrightHamid Jamali,

Charles Sturt University

doi:10.1007/s11192-017-2291-4

Figure taken from Jamali, Hamid R. Copyright compliance and infringement in ResearchGate full-text journal articles. Scientometrics. 2017:1-14.

0 1000 2000 3000 4000

Requesting a copy from the author via email

Googling for a free copy

“Request a copy” buttons in repositories

Requesting a copy from the publisher via email

Requesting / providing a free copy via SciHub

#icanhazpdf requests via Twitter

I access other people's work this wayI share my own work this way

@charlierapple

Innate tension: conscience vs convenience

Copyright should be respected

I should be entitled to

upload my work

@charlierapple

83% 60%

n = 5,513

Solution: don’t compete – leverage

@charlierapple