Dataset - Journal Editors Publishing Needs

Abstract

This dataset contains aggregated quantitative results from a survey of journal editors examining how they balance open access commitments with practical publishing constraints. Conducted spring 2024, the survey collected 117 responses from editors across diverse disciplines, publisher types, and access models via the Library Publishing Coalition, Council for Editors of Learned Journals (CELJ), World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), and Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP), supplemented by twelve follow-up interviews (May-September 2024). This dataset supports the research article: "Values and viability, principles and practice: A survey of journal editors’ decision-making factors," Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communications (JLSC).

Key findings reveal that: (1) disciplinary open access prevalence, not individual editor values, predicts OA importance in publisher selection; (2) editors prioritize production support and editorial autonomy equally; (3) subscription revenue dependencies create barriers to OA transitions for society-owned journals; (4) editors strongly resist compromises requiring journal title relinquishment; and (5) APC elimination and production support matter more than open access promises alone in motivating publisher changes.

The de-identified CSV dataset includes frequency distributions, percentages, counts, and descriptive statistics for 13 survey questions covering respondent demographics, journal characteristics, Likert-scale ratings (1-5) of publisher attributes and journal policies, and willingness to compromise to change publishers. The accompanying README documents methodology, data structure, variable definitions, and limitations. The full research article provides detailed interpretation and implications for library publishers, scholarly societies, and non-commercial publishing initiatives.