An Overview of Publication Patterns in India's Agricultural Research Community: Journals, Open Access, and Preprints

Abstract

Abstract In April and May 2020, a survey was conducted to gather opinions and experiences regarding publications and preprints. The majority of respondents were from the agricultural science field in India. The survey revealed that the 'Journal's Impact Factor' was deemed the most important factor when choosing a suitable journal for publication. When publishing articles in Open Access, most respondents had paid Article Processing Charges, funded by various sources such as project funds, institutional support, and personal funds. While respondents expressed trust in preprints and favored institutional repositories as their preprint platform, the main drivers for sharing preprints were increased indexing, citation and visibility, and inclusion in assessments. However, the survey found that the majority of respondents had never cited preprints, nor had their preprints been cited, indicating a need for increased advocacy for preprints in India.