Access to the scientific literature is perceived to be a challenge to the biodiversity conservation community, but actual level of literature access relative to needs has never been assessed globally. We examined this question by surveying the constituency of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as a proxy for the conservation community, generating 2,285 responses. Of these respondents, ∼97% need to use the scientific literature in order to support their IUCN-related conservation work, with ∼50% needing to do so at least once per week. The crux of the survey revolved around the question, “How easy is it for you currently to obtain the scientific literature you need to carry out your IUCN-related work?” and revealed that roughly half (49%) of the respondents find it not easy or not at all easy to access scientific literature. We fitted a binary logistic regression model to explore factors predicting ease of literature access. Whether the respondent had institutional literature access (55% do) is the strongest predictor, with region (Western Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) and gender (male) also significant predictors. Approximately 60% of respondents from Western Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have institutional access compared to ∼50% in Asia and Latin America, and ∼40% in Eastern Europe and in Africa. Nevertheless, accessing free online material is a popular means of accessing literature for both those with and without institutional access. The four journals most frequently mentioned when asked which journal access would deliver the greatest improvements to the respondent’s IUCN-related work were Conservation Biology, Biological Conservation, Nature, and Science. The majority prefer to read journal articles on screen but prefer to read books in hard copy. Overall, it is apparent that access to the literature is a challenge facing roughly half of the conservation community worldwide.

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保护社区获取科学文献的机会

人们认为获取科学文献是对生物多样性保护界的挑战，但从未对全球相对于需求的文献获取实际水平进行过评估。我们通过调查国际自然保护联盟（IUCN）作为保护社区的代表的选区来研究这个问题，产生了2,285份答复。在这些受访者中，约有97％的人需要使用科学文献来支持其与自然保护联盟相关的保护工作，约50％的人至少每周需要这样做一次。调查的重点围绕着一个问题：“目前，您获得进行IUCN相关工作所需的科学文献有多容易？” 并显示大约一半（49％）的受访者认为这不容易或一点都不容易获取科学文献。我们拟合了二元逻辑回归模型，以探索预测容易获得文献的因素。受访者是否拥有机构文献资源（55％）是最强的预测因素，而地区（西欧，美国，加拿大，澳大利亚和新西兰）和性别（男性）也是重要的预测因素。来自西欧，美国，加拿大，澳大利亚和新西兰的大约60％的受访者拥有机构准入，而亚洲和拉丁美洲的机构访问率约为50％，东欧和非洲的机构访问率约为40％。然而，无论有没有机构访问，访问免费的在线资料都是人们获取文学的一种流行手段。保护生物学，生物保护自然，科学。大多数人更喜欢阅读屏幕上的期刊文章，但更喜欢阅读纸质书籍。总体而言，显而易见的是，获取文献是全球大约一半保护社区面临的挑战。