What Do the Readers Think? A Look at How Scientific Journal Users See the Electronic Environment

Abstract

A study was conducted to assess how the average scientific journal reader, with little or no knowledge of electronic journal projects, viewed the electronic environment, and to gather information about these readers' reactions to the new environment. The study looked at patterns of journal use and examined whether the facilities that electronic journals offered were satisfying to the journal reader. It appears that more than a third of the surveyed scientific journal users do not read electronic journals, although a reasonable percentage of readers access more than five electronic journals on a regular basis. There is a broad consensus among the readers on the importance of the various facilities offered by publishers; readers' rating of importance is directly related to quick and easy access to a wide range of relevant, useful information.