As the methods by which academics and others access research and all sorts of other electronic content change, the identification of who is visiting scholarly journals or related information online, and why, becomes ever more important. It is now the case that information seekers spend more time searching than they do analysing. Recent research has also demonstrated that a large proportion of visitors to academic websites are transient visitors, often non-subscribers who turn away before crossing payment barriers to available information, or visitors whose needs seem to be satisfied by an abstract or summary. The aim of this study would be to establish who these transient visitors are, and why they have visited in the first place. Were they looking just for an abstract? Have they been put off by the need to pay for an article? Are they unaware of a pay-per-view option (or, indeed, is one not offered)? Or are they just searching the web using a general search engine which has taken them to a particular site for no apparent reason other than a matching search term? The main aim of the research would be to develop methods to capture information on these transient visitors, to establish who they are, why they have entered a particular site, and whether they are satisfied or not satisfied with what they have obtained. It would also involve some analysis of who these visitors are, and whether an untapped source of potential revenue for content holders is being lost....Proposals must be received by 1st December 2005, and should be sent to Nick Evans.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 10/19/2005 09:13:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
