Analysis of the use of open archives in the fields of mathematics and computer science

The objective of this paper is to study the use of institutional open archives in France, and more specifically “Hyper Article en Ligne” (Hal).

This study analyses self‐archiving of articles by those of the French researchers in mathematics and computer science who work in relation with the French National Network of Mathematics Libraries (RNBM). The survey was performed by sending a questionnaire to the researchers via libraries of the RNBM.

The paper provides information about the knowledge of open archives, about information search, experience in self‐archiving and copyright awareness of French researchers in mathematics and computer science.

This paper tries to identify the causes of the difficult development of open archives in France.