The public consultation 'Online survey on scientific information in the digital age' spurred great interest among different categories of stakeholders, with 1 140 responses received.

The responses embrace the different stakeholders: national governments, regional and local governments, research funding organisations, university/research institutes, libraries, publishers, international organisations, individual researchers, citizens and respondents identified as 'other', among which there were NGOs, industries, charities, learned societies and scientific and professional associations.

Preservation of digital scientific information: Responding to the question asking whether preservation of scientific information is at present sufficiently addressed, 64 % of the respondents disagreed or disagreed strongly. The main barriers signalled in this area were: uncertainty as to who is responsible for preserving scientific information (80 %); the quality and interoperability of repositories (78 %); and the lack of a harmonised approach to legal deposit (69 %).