Open access-böcker som vetenskapligt kommunikationsmedel i en svensk kontext : forskares attityder till den fritt tillgängliga digitala boken

Sammanfattning: Scholarly books still play an important role in some scientific disciplines, mainly the humanities and some social sciences. Publication in open access format is still not a requirement when it comes to scholarly books in Sweden, but will likely be in the near future. Academic libraries often play an important role when it comes to supporting researchers in scholarly communication and it is likely that this role will become even more prominent. Because of this, it is important from a library and information studies perspective that the libraries have a clear idea of the problems that face researchers in the context of open access book publishing. The aim of this master’s thesis is to study researcher’s perceptions of the ongoing technology shift within scholarly communication from printed books to openly accessible digital books, and also to investigate to what extent open access is established as the solution for the problems that researchers face in the context of scholarly communication through books. To study these questions, we have used the social construction of technology (SCOT) framework in combination with the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT). The SCOT-framework allows us to examine how open access is constructed as the solution to certain problems experienced by the relevant social group researchers. UTAUT has functioned as a tool to measure acceptance and identify central problems experienced by the researchers. We conducted a survey among researchers at a Swedish university about experience of and attitudes towards open access book publishing. In addition, we interviewed five researchers about attitudes and strategies towards publishing, the future of the academic book and open access. The study revealed four main problem areas associated with open access scholarly communication: 1) accessibility and dissemination, 2) quality control, 3) merit and prestige, 4) skepticism towards technology. In addition, we identified two more factors that are highly relevant in the context of open access book publishing: how digitization affects the book format, and other relevant social groups. Open access can only really be seen as a solution to the first problem, that of accessibility and dissemination, but is still generally accepted among researchers as the only way forward. Master’s thesis in library and information studies.