Academic Publishing: How Researchers Define and Value Different Types of Publications

What is it about?

This study surveyed researchers in Austria about academic publishing. It looked at what defines a publication, what publication types exist, and which new types should be recognized in the future. The findings show that researchers care most about content quality rather than formal criteria like where something is published. While traditional publications such as journal articles remain dominant, new types like datasets and teaching materials are becoming more important. Researchers want credit for a wider range of work, especially data publications, teaching materials, and software. Most academic publishing still targets other researchers rather than the general public. Younger researchers tend to be more open to new publication types than professors, and different academic fields have different needs and preferences. The study suggests that research assessment should recognize more diverse types of publications. Libraries should expand their research support services for publishing, documenting, and storing these different types of work.

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Why is it important?

This study helps publishers, libraries, and universities understand what researchers actually need and value. For publishers: The findings show that researchers want to publish more than just traditional articles. Publishers can develop new products and services for datasets, software, teaching materials, and other formats that researchers create but currently struggle to share. For libraries: The study reveals gaps in current services. Libraries now know they need to help researchers document, store, and share diverse types of work, not just books and journal articles. This means building new systems and offering new support services. For research evaluation: The results show that current evaluation systems are too narrow. Universities judge researchers mainly on journal publications, but researchers produce many other valuable outputs. Evaluation systems need to recognize datasets, software, teaching materials, and public engagement. Different fields also need different approaches since they work in different ways. The study provides clear evidence that the current system doesn't match what researchers do or what they think is valuable. This gives libraries, publishers, and universities concrete reasons to change and specific directions for improvement.