Do Open Access Initiatives Influence Journal Collection Development Decisions? A Report from the Ad Hoc Committee for Advocating Scholarly Communications

"The increased availability of scientific journal articles via open access mechanisms is often seen as a potential solution to budgetary concerns. But to what extent does open or public access influence librarians’ collection development decisions? ...In the spring of 2010, [Medical Library Association's] Ad Hoc Committee for Advocating Scholarly Communications developed a survey to solicit data from libraries on the impact of open access initiatives on journal collection development decisions....The survey indicated that 77% of respondents had decreased or level journal budgets in the past 2 years. When asked what influences decisions to keep or cut journal subscriptions with open or public access content, the top 5 factors rated as “very important” or “important” were journal use (94%), subject area of the journal (87%), cost (84%), length of embargo period (78%), and the journal’s inflation rate (77%). The percentage of open or public access content was rated as “important” or “very important” by 61% of respondents. According to the survey, one of the factors that limits the effect of public or open access on collection decisions is that the full content of journals is not always freely available [e.g. at hybrid OA journals]....When asked what percentage of freely available content for a single journal title would influence a decision to drop a paid subscription and rely solely on open or public access content, the following indications emerged: 4% would consider dropping a subscription if up to 60% of content were freely available; 21% would consider dropping a subscription if 60%–90% of content were freely available; 49% would consider dropping a subscription if 90%–100% of content were freely available; 26% said this would not influence their decision. Respondents were asked how the length of the embargo period influenced retention of paid subscriptions. Respondents reported that they would consider dropping a paid subscription if all content were freely available after 1 year (8%), 6 months (12%), or 3–4 months (41%). Nine percent responded “Other,” while 29% said that the embargo period would not influence their decision....Very few respondents (10%) were in libraries or institutions that maintained a fund to support author fees assessed by open access publications. Twenty-eight percent reported that their libraries or institutions fund 1 or more open access memberships in entities such as BioMed Central, Public Library of Science, or Nucleic Acids Research to obtain discounted author fees for their user community. The survey makes it clear that open access publishing is of great importance to the library community and warrants continued monitoring and educational activities."