Motivations, Understandings, and Experiences of Open-Access Mega-Journal Authors: Results of a Large-Scale Survey Simon Wakeling Information School, University of Sheffield, Regent Court, 211 Portobello, Sheffield, S1 4DP, UK. E-mail: s.wakeling@sheffield.ac.uk Claire Creaser LISU, Centre for Information Management, School of Business and Economics, Loughborough University, Loughborough, LE11 3TU, UK. E-mail:
[email protected] Stephen Pinfield Information School, University of Sheffield, Regent Court, 211 Portobello, Sheffield, S1 4DP, UK. E-mail: s.pinfield@sheffield.ac.uk Jenny Fry School of the Arts, English and Drama, Loughborough University, Loughborough, LE11 3TU, UK. E-mail: j.
[email protected] Valérie Spezi LISU, Centre for Information Management, School of Business and Economics, Loughborough University, Loughborough, LE11 3TU, UK. E-mail:
[email protected] Peter Willett Information School, University of Sheffield, Regent Court, 211 Portobello, Sheffield, S1 4DP, UK. E-mail: p.willett@sheffield.ac.uk Monica Paramita Information School, University of Sheffield, Regent Court, 211 Portobello, Sheffield, S1 4DP, UK. E-mail: m.paramita@sheffield.ac.uk Open-access mega-journals (OAMJs) are characterized by their large scale, wide scope, open-access (OA) busi- ness model, and “soundness-only” peer review. The last Additional Supporting Information may be found in the online version of of these controversially discounts the novelty, signifi- this article. cance, and relevance of submitted articles and assesses only their “soundness.” This article reports the results of Received January 9, 2018; revised June 21, 2018; accepted September an international survey of authors (n=11,883), compar- 25, 2018 ing the responses of OAMJ authors with those of other OA and subscription journals, and drawing comparisons © 2019 The Authors.