Do Open Access ETDs Affect Publishing Opportunities in the Sciences? Findings from the 2012 Survey of Academic Journal Editors

Although open public access to electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) has been widely implemented in higher education, some faculty advisors and graduate student authors are still concerned that unfiltered access to their ETDs could diminish future publishing opportunities. This presentation will discuss a survey of academic journal editors about their attitudes towards ETDs that was conducted under the auspices of the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations. At the fall 2011 Coalition for Networked Information meeting, results of a survey of social science and humanities editors and university press directors were reported. This presentation will share the latest survey findings regarding the policies of science journals in light of open access ETDs. It will also compare the results from the 2011 social science and humanities survey and the 2012 science survey.