The importance of Open Science in Business Studies and Economics
An empirical study by the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics
This quantitative study deals with the question of which Open Science practices are practised in business studies and economics at universities in Germany.
A total of 314 academics from the subjects of business studies, economics, business informatics, industrial engineering and other economic subjects at universities, state universities of applied sciences, private universities of applied sciences and research institutions within and outside the Leibniz Association were surveyed. Information was collected on awareness, attitudes, application, barriers and incentives with regard to Open Science.
The need for support in this area was also identified. The results show an increasing acceptance and implementation of Open Science methods, with significant differences between different types of institutions. The management of research data, the use of Open Access publications, and the integration of Open Data and codes into the publication process were identified as key aspects. The study provides a comprehensive insight into the current landscape and challenges of Open Science in economic research.
The main results are as follows:
What significance do Open Access publications have in literature research?
- The majority of economic researchers (63.3 per cent) specifically search for Open Access literature, with Google Scholar being the preferred search source.
- Professors at universities of applied sciences show the greatest interest in freely accessible publications with 77.4 per cent, followed by university professors with 62.7 per cent.
- The differences between the economic disciplines are small.
How important is the availability of data and code in literature research?
- The availability of data and code alongside scientific articles is important for 39 per cent of respondents.
- A differentiated analysis of the qualification levels shows that junior professors in particular consider the availability of research data and codes to be important: 77.8 per cent of them attach great importance to this aspect. In contrast, interest among doctoral students, private lecturers and postdocs is around 40 per cent and 33.7 per cent among professors.
- In terms of subject area, 47.7 per cent of economists and business economists attach particular importance to supplementary data and code, while this aspect is only relevant for around a third of business economists and general economists.
What significance does Open Access have for your own publishing behaviour?
- Open Access plays only a subordinate role in the publication behaviour of economic researchers overall. The majority of their own publications are not Open Access.
- Of all qualification levels, academic staff at universities publish by far the highest proportion of their journal articles, namely almost 40 per cent, directly in Open Access.
- Economists have a higher proportion of Open Access publications (31.9 per cent) than business economists (16.6 per cent).
What are the motivations for publishing in Open Access?
- The decision in favour of Open Access publications is mainly based on the motivation to make research results accessible to a broad public (81.4 percent) and the conviction that publicly funded research should also be publicly accessible (69.3 percent).
- External requirements also play an important role, with 50 per cent of respondents choosing Open Access due to journal requirements and 30.7 per cent due to the requirements of third-party funders. Institutional requirements are relevant for 27.1 per cent of respondents.
- The biggest obstacles for economic researchers to publish in Open Access are the high fees for authors (68.5 per cent), the publication policy of the preferred journals (52.0 per cent) and concerns about the quality of Open Access journals (20.1 per cent).
How do you work with economic research data?
- Of all respondents, the vast majority – 88.8 per cent – work with data.
- The study shows that the use of research data at universities (91.6 per cent) is significantly higher than at universities of applied sciences (66.7 per cent).
- Research assistants (92.7 per cent) use data more frequently than professors (81.6 per cent).
- The main reasons for using freely accessible data are easier handling (69.2 per cent) and the reproducibility of research (67.3 per cent).
- The preference for open research data varies depending on the type of institution and academic status, with university members and academic staff particularly emphasising the reproducibility of their research.
What software is used to process research data?
- Among respondents who work with research data, R is the most frequently used analysis software in economic research at 55.3 per cent, followed by STATA (49.2 per cent) and Excel (48.1 per cent).
- The use of free or open software is mainly motivated by the desire for independence (43.8 per cent) and to facilitate the reproducibility of research results (35.5 per cent).
- The preference for free software varies depending on academic position and institution, with financial and institutional constraints playing a particularly important role at universities of applied sciences and among academic staff.
Why is research data published?
- The majority of economic researchers who work with research data publish their data and codes (62.5 per cent) in order to strengthen the credibility of their research and make the results accessible to a wider audience.
- The main reason for not publishing data and code is the high cost (66.1 per cent), followed by concerns about potential competitive disadvantages (40.4 per cent) and the lack of demand from journals (37.4 per cent).
What barriers and incentives are there in business studies and economics with regard to Open Science?
- Most respondents recognise the fundamental benefits and necessity of Open Science.
- The biggest incentive here is the prospect that the citation frequency of their own publications could increase as a result of Open Science.
- The main obstacles to the implementation of Open Science practices are legal concerns (e.g. copyright and data protection) and financial constraints (e.g. costs for Open Access publications).
- Lack of time to familiarise themselves with Open Science practices and lack of recognition in the scientific community are other significant barriers that prevent researchers from making full use of Open Science.
The full study titled „The importance of Open Science in Business Studies an Economics“ is available for download here.