Open access publishing can be viewed as a paradigmatic shift in scholarly communication practices. Whilst there is significant progress with policy and a lively debate regarding the potential impact of open access publishing, few studies have examined academics' behaviour and attitudes to open access publishing (OAP). This article, then seeks to contribute to knowledge in relation to open access publishing by surveying an international and interdisciplinary sample of academics, with regard to issues such as: use of and intentions regarding OAP, and perceptions regarding advantages and disadvantages of OAP, journal article publication services, peer review, and re-use. Despite reporting engagement in OAP, academics were unsure about their future intentions regarding OAP. Broadly, academics identified the potential for wider circulation as the key advantage of open access publishing, and were generally more positive about the benefits of OAP, than they were negative about its disadvantages. As regards services, rigorous peer review, followed by rapid publication were most valued, with rapid peer review and promotion of papers post-publication also regarded as valuable. Strong views on re-use of their work were indicated; academics were relatively happy regarding non-commercial re-use, but were very negative regarding commercial re-use, adaptations, and inclusion in anthologies. Comparing the two major disciplinary groups, science, technology and medicine and arts, humanities and social sciences, showed a significant difference in attitude on a number of questions, but, in general, the effect size was small, suggesting that attitudes are more consistent across the academic community than might be assumed from some of the current debates. Additional analyses on the basis of gender, publication rates, years of experience produced similar results.

This article contributes to the growing body of research that explores the significance of context in health information behavior. Specifically, through the lens of trust judgments, it demonstrates that gender is a determinant of the information evaluation process. A questionnairebased survey collected data from adults regarding the factors that influence their judgment of the trustworthiness of online health information. Both men and women identified credibility, recommendation, ease of use, and brand as being of importance in their trust judgments. However, women also take into account style, while men eschew this for familiarity. In addition, men appear to be more concerned with the comprehensiveness and accuracy of the information, the ease with which they can access it, and its familiarity, whereas women demonstrate greater interest in cognition, such as the ease with which they can read and understand the information. These gender differences are consistent with the demographic data, which suggest that: women consult more types of sources than men; men are more likely to be searching with respect to a long-standing health complaint; and, women are more likely than men to use tablets in their health information seeking. Recommendations for further research to better inform practice are offered.

As one of the most active groups of Internet users, students and other young people are active users of digital health information. Yet, research into young people's evaluation of health information is limited, and no previous studies have focused on trust formation. In addition, prior studies on adults' use of digital information do not reach a consensus regarding the key factors in trust formation. This study seeks to address this gap. A questionnaire-based survey was used to collect data from undergraduate students studying a variety of disciplines in one UK university. The Trust in Online Health Information Scale is proposed, and it includes the following dimensions: authority, style, content, usefulness, brand, ease of use, recommendation, credibility, and verification. In addition, inspection of responses to specific items/questions provides further insights into aspects of the information that were of specific importance in influencing trust judgements.

This study explores trust formation in the context of health information. Trust as an interpersonal notion, when formed in a vulnerable state, is a response or belief about how the trusted will behave towards the trustor. This study focuses on the process of assessing the trustworthiness of information, in a dependency state of information need, through the identification of the many factors influencing this assessment. A set of propositions are developed to suggest the criteria by which trustworthiness is assessed as well as the factors that influence these judgements. The proposed model is tested in a large-scale survey using a trust inventory with factor analysis to explore the constructs of trust formation. Structural equation modelling is used to explore the relationship among the identified criteria and their influencing factors. The resulting framework contributes to the understanding of trust formation in digital information contexts on the criteria of usefulness and credibility and further research into the influencing factors is recommended.

This article contributes to knowledge on how users establish the trustworthiness of digital information. An exploratory two-stage study was conducted with Master’s and undergraduate students in information studies. In the first phase of the study respondents commented on the factors and processes associated with trust formation. Participants commented on authorship and references, quality of writing and editing, and verification via links to external reference sources. Findings from the second phase, based on a checklist, suggested that participants relied on a range of factors when assessing the trustworthiness of articles, including content factors such as authorship, currency and usefulness together with context factors such as references, expert recommendation and triangulation with their own knowledge. These findings are discussed in the light of previous related research and recommendations for further research are offered.