The Publishing Research Consortium is a group of associations and publishers, which supports global research into scholarly communication in order to enable evidence-based discussion.

Our objective is to support work that is scientific and pro-scholarship. Overall, we aim to promote an understanding of the role of publishing and its impact on research and teaching.

Report and Recommendations from the Scholarly Publishing Roundtable.

This is an important report (available from the American Association of Universities (AAU) giving an agreed perspective from almost all participants, from all relevant sectors) on the question of free access to the results of federally funded research)

(January 2010)

Joint statement on research into transitions in scholarly communications

The PRC is one of the signatories of a joint statement which outlines a portfolio of proposed research projects.

(November 2009)

New Report published - Access by UK small and medium-sized enterprises to professional and academic information

The PRC's fifth Research Report studies an often-neglected market segment, that of small businesses.

People in high-tech small buinesses value information more highly, and read more journal articles, than those in larger companies.  Of those that consider information important, 71% felt they had good access, and 60% that it was better than 5 years ago.  However, more than half sometimes had difficulty accessing an article, and there are a number of steps that could be taken to improve access, with corresponding benefits to UK plc.

(September 2009)

Follow-up Peer Review survey

Sense About Science has conducted a follow-up to the PRC's 2007 survey on Peer Review, to identify the preferences and concerns of authors and reviewers and to collate their views on future changes in peer-reviewed publishing.  The analysis, to be published in mid-September, both identifies trends from comparison with the earlier survey, and also explores new issues that are likely to affect editors, publishers, reviewers and authors in the next few years.

(September 2009)