In its relatively short existence, open access—the free, online, and immediate availability of scientific outputs in journals and repositories—has contributed to the availability and impact of scientific knowledge across the globe. As a result, the authors hypothesize that researchers and students increasingly prefer that their work appears in open access journals or open access repositories, resulting in improved access to quality, peer-reviewed scientific information and faster scientific and technological advances. Surveying authors at doctoral-granting institutions of higher education in Portugal, the authors seek to determine the extent to which this is true among Portuguese university teachers and researchers, to gauge their familiarity with open access, the importance they attach to open access when choosing a publication outlet, and to determine their preferences for achieving open access. The results show that Portuguese researchers are aware of the benefits of open access, regularly publish in
open access journals, and deposit their papers in institutional or disciplinary repositories. The authors recommend continued improvement of training on institutional open access policies, European open access goals, and funding body requirements to increase open access to the fruits of Portuguese research still more
