2025 Survey Results

Openness and transparency in research continue to gain ground among Canadian academics. Our 2025 data shows that support for open access has reached its highest level since we started tracking this metric in 2019. Researchers now see open practices not as optional extras but as core components of responsible scholarship.

Among respondents based at Canadian institutions, 73% agreed that transparent data-sharing practices should be a condition for receiving public funding, compared with 65% globally. This represents an eight-percentage-point increase from the 2023 survey within Canada alone, signaling a clear directional shift in how researchers view the relationship between public investment and openness.

The proportion of researchers who reported having deposited a preprint in the previous twelve months rose to 41%, up from 33% in 2023. Early-career researchers led this trend, with 52% of postdoctoral fellows reporting preprint activity. Librarians, meanwhile, identified infrastructure gaps as the primary barrier to broader open-data adoption, with 58% noting that their institutions lacked adequate data repositories.

Despite the positive trajectory, concerns persist around the cost of gold open access for individual researchers, particularly in humanities disciplines where grant funding is less readily available. Several respondents emphasized that equitable access to publishing pathways remains a priority area for improvement.

The 2025 results reveal persistent pressures within academic workplaces. More than one in three respondents reported facing sustained issues related to their work environment, including excessive administrative burdens, lack of institutional support, and hierarchical dynamics that discourage open dialogue.

Nearly a fifth of participants said they experienced physical health challenges that they connected directly to their workload. Among Canadian respondents, satisfaction with institutional well-being support was slightly higher than the global average, yet burnout remained a widespread concern across all career stages. Early-career researchers were disproportionately affected, with 42% reporting symptoms of burnout within the previous six months.

A recurring theme was the tension between the pressure to publish and the desire to engage in broader scholarly activities. Many respondents described a culture where teaching quality, community involvement, and peer mentoring are undervalued relative to publication output. This dynamic contributes to feelings of disconnect from the original motivations that drew many into academia.

On a more positive note, 56% of respondents reported that conversations about academic culture had become more visible within their departments over the past two years. Several pointed to newly established well-being committees and workload review processes as evidence of incremental progress, though most agreed that structural reform is still needed.