Sustainable scientific publishing: a pilot survey on stakeholder motivations and opinions

Abstract

Assessing sustainability of journals and publishers could guide the choice of a publication venue. However, sustainable scientific publishing is not sufficiently defined. We assessed motivations for sustainable scientific publishing and importance ratings of sustainability aspects of scientific publishing in an online survey. The questionnaire was answered by 129 participants, including publishing scientists, non-academic research institution employees, editors, administrative staff of scientific journals and publishing companies, and individuals working at sustainability organizations. Personal motivation was rated to be important for all stakeholders, especially for scientists (p < .001). Universities, journals, non-academic staff at universities, journals, and publishers were perceived to be motivated to act sustainably because of external factors such as incentives, policies, laws, and regulations (p < .001). The most important sustainability aspects of scientific publishing were the proportion of open access articles and open access costs, a sustainability policy, plan, and report, digital publication, publication of sustainability topics, support of sustainable actions for staff, sustainable operations, e.g., sustainable transport, and social responsibility for staff, including gender aspects. The low response rate limits conclusions. The results suggest a sustainability index for scientific publishers could serve as an aid for decision making in scientific publishing.