Faculty participation in open access repositories (OARs) based on their individual traits

Purpose: The number of open access repositories has been growing globally but faculty members have been reluctant to embrace OAR and submit their work. While there are studies that looked at socio-technical factors that affect faculty participation in OARs, this study aims to explore how the individual characteristics of faculty might impact faculty willingness to deposit their work in an OAR.

Design/methodology/approach: The survey was distributed to all faculty at a large public university in the United States who were identified as having their primary job responsibilities in teaching and research. The study employed a correlational analysis between faculty individual characteristics (i.e., age, rank, status, and academic discipline) and their willingness to deposit their work

Findings: Show there is a difference in faculty familiarity with OA principles and faculty awareness of OA policy based on individual characteristics. Furthermore, these individual characteristics have a significant impact on faculty willingness to participate in OARs. While the study reveals a significant correlation between the faculty intent to deposit and the respondent’s academic discipline, rank, and status there are other factors that affect faculty intent to participate in OAR, such as familiarity with OA principles and awareness of institution’s OA Policy.

Originality/value: The study reveals that individual faculty traits do have an impact on faculty willingness to participate in OARs. The academic discipline was found to make the most significant difference in faculty intent to deposit their work in an OAR. However, due to the ever-changing landscape of OA publishing and the ongoing outreach efforts by librarians the faculty members’ perception and participation in OARs is likely to evolve.