arXiv@25: Key findings of a user survey

📝 Abstract

As part of its 25th anniversary vision-setting process, the arXiv team at Cornell University Library conducted a user survey in April 2016 to seek input from the global user community about arXiv’s current services and future directions. We were heartened to receive 36,000 responses from 127 countries, representing arXiv’s diverse, global community. The prevailing message is that users are happy with the service as it currently stands, with 95 percent of survey respondents indicating they are very satisfied or satisfied with arXiv. Furthermore, 72 percent of respondents indicated that arXiv should continue to focus on its main purpose, which is to quickly make available scientific papers, and this will be enough to sustain the value of arXiv in the future. This theme was pervasively reflected in the open text comments; a significant number of respondents suggested remaining focused on the core mission and enabling arXiv’s partners and related service providers to continue to build new services and innovations on top of arXiv.

💡 Analysis

As part of its 25th anniversary vision-setting process, the arXiv team at Cornell University Library conducted a user survey in April 2016 to seek input from the global user community about arXiv’s current services and future directions. We were heartened to receive 36,000 responses from 127 countries, representing arXiv’s diverse, global community. The prevailing message is that users are happy with the service as it currently stands, with 95 percent of survey respondents indicating they are very satisfied or satisfied with arXiv. Furthermore, 72 percent of respondents indicated that arXiv should continue to focus on its main purpose, which is to quickly make available scientific papers, and this will be enough to sustain the value of arXiv in the future. This theme was pervasively reflected in the open text comments; a significant number of respondents suggested remaining focused on the core mission and enabling arXiv’s partners and related service providers to continue to build new services and innovations on top of arXiv.

📄 Content

1

arXiv@25: Key findings of a user survey

Oya Y. Rieger Cornell University Library Ithaca, NY oyr1@cornell.edu Gail Steinhart Cornell University Library Ithaca, NY gss1@cornell.edu Deborah Cooper Cornell University Library Ithaca, NY dsc255@cornell.edu

ABSTRACT As part of its 25th anniversary vision-setting process, the arXiv team at Cornell University Library conducted a user survey in April 2016 to seek input from the global user community about arXiv’s current services and future directions. We were heartened to receive 36,000 responses from 127 countries, representing arXiv’s diverse, global community. The prevailing message is that users are happy with the service as it currently stands, with 95% of survey respondents indicating they are very satisfied or satisfied with arXiv. Furthermore, 72% of respondents indicated that arXiv should continue to focus on its main purpose, which is to quickly make available scientific papers, and this will be enough to sustain the value of arXiv in the future. This theme was pervasively reflected in the open text comments; a significant number of respondents suggested remaining focused on the core mission and enabling arXiv’s partners and related service providers to continue to build new services and innovations on top of arXiv.

1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

arXiv is a moderated scholarly communication forum informed and guided by scientists and the scientific cultures it serves. Established at Los Alamos National Laboratory by physicist Paul Ginsparg in 1991 as a means for researchers in theoretical high-energy physics to share their work in advance of publication, arXiv now plays a central role in the broader range of disciplines it serves, and is a model for the potential for transforming scholarly communication in general (Ginsparg 2011). Cornell University Library assumed management responsibility for arXiv when it moved with Ginsparg to Cornell in 2001. The site is now collaboratively governed and supported by the research communities and institutions that benefit from it most directly, ensuring a transparent and sustainable resource (Rieger 2011). As arXiv has grown, it has developed a business model to sustain it (Rieger and Warner 2010), with current financial support coming from the Simons

1https://confluence.cornell.edu/display/culpublic/arXiv+Review+S trategy
Foundation, Cornell University Library, and about 190 member libraries from all around the world.

As part of its 25th anniversary vision-setting process1, and in recognition of the critical need to modernize its infrastructure, the arXiv team at Cornell University Library (CUL) conducted a user survey in April 2016 to seek input from the global user community about the current services and future directions. This paper reports the results of that survey, and possible next steps.

2. METHODS In preparation for surveying arXiv users, the arXiv team conducted a literature review and surveyed members of its Scientific and Member Advisory Boards (SAB and MAB, respectively).2
   The literature review laid the groundwork for the survey design as the papers raised many relevant questions and brought up common themes. Some papers broadly looked at digital repositories and perceptions of self-archiving and depositing (Kim 2010; Nicholas et al., 2012); others considered in detail the specifics of publishing in an open access environment and raised issues such as author fees and citation (Fowler 2011). Frequently mentioned themes included: reasons to deposit into arXiv (Nicholas et al.,

2012. and the value of “early dissemination of research findings” (Fowler 2011); scholarly reputation; long-term preservation; adhering to standard practice in the field; the willingness to cite a preprint only (Fry et al., 2015), whether to publish in the open access realm specifically, and the impact on retaining rights for published papers (Fowler 2011).
      Papers that addressed the effectiveness of specific features within repositories were most relevant for informing our survey design. These focused predominantly on methods of searching, for example, by known articles, subject-based search, author search and full text searching. The ease of the submission process and citation features were also commonly discussed. The literature review also uncovered specific enhancements users would like to see, such as 2 For information about arXiv’s business and governance model, see: https://confluence.cornell.edu/x/xKSTBw
      2

mobile access, personalization and collaboration tools (Gentil-Beccot et al., 2009). The MAB and SAB survey focused on the areas of quality control and rapid dissemination, subject area expansion, developing new services and improving on current services, and the future of arXiv. The survey of the MAB and SAB then served as the basis

This content is AI-processed based on ArXiv data.