As we accelerate towards an open access world, how are your members’ views and habits evolving? It’s important to stay connected with your members’ OA needs, to ensure they get the best value possible from their society membership. To help you know your members better, here are the top findings from our latest Society Member Survey in 2022:

1. The majority of societies offer open access options on their journal

Most societies give authors the option to publish their research via open access. 79% of societies publish a peer-reviewed journal and 62% of those offer an OA publishing option on at least some journals - so OA options are clearly there for most society members who want it.     

2. Your authors are publishing more open access research than ever

Not only are most societies providing OA publishing options, but authors are increasingly choosing the OA route. Nearly half of authors have published via open access – up from 43% in 2021. There is nuance here, depending on region and career stage, with authors from the Middle East being the most likely to have published via open access, at 62%. Authors with under 10 years experience are also very likely to publish open access research – over three-quarters have already published OA research during their career.

On the other hand, authors with over 30 years of membership are less likely to have published open access (38%). Similarly, authors in the U.S publish less open access research, at 29%. However, due to new Transitional Agreements, we expect this to increase – both for the U.S and on a global scale.

3. Authors that have published via OA are likely to do so again

Once they’ve published via OA once, authors tend to repeat the experience. 63% are likely or very likely to publish open access again in the future. This continues the upward trend we’re seeing around open access, with more authors choosing and then continuing to choose OA.

4. Open access drives membership retention and renewal

As the importance of open access grows, so do the OA needs of your members. Three-quarters of members said it is important their society has an open access strategy, which makes it an important driver of society membership and renewal. Moreover, 77% of non-members would be more likely to join a society that provided funding for APCs.

5. Societies can increase member satisfaction by increasing OA opportunities

Given that open access has a crucial influence on the value of society membership, it’s worth investing in open access opportunities for members. According to the survey, 54% are satisfied with their engagement with open access via their society. However, it is below the 73% who are satisfied with access to content, for example, so there is an opportunity for improvement.

6. Most members say that flipping journals to OA either increases or has no impact on membership value

When deciding whether to flip a journal, many societies are worried about how this might impact their members. The good news is that the answer is mostly neutral – or even positive. 30% of members said that it would make their membership more valuable, which is a considerable increase from 17% in 2021. And 46% said that switching to open access for the society journal(s) would have no impact on membership. 18% said that they would still want/need to be a member, but their membership would be less valuable, leaving just 6% that said they would no longer want to be a member.

Though there is variation by region and career-stage, the rate of open access publishing is on the up. As OA becomes increasingly common, its impact on the value of membership also increases. Open access is a crucial element that drives membership retention and renewal.  There is therefore scope for societies to increase member satisfaction by expanding the opportunities they offer for members to engage with OA. We’re here to support you to develop your open access strategies – reach out to your journal manager to explore this further.