Welcome to the 2026 Academic Encyclopedia Survey Thank you for taking the time to participate in this survey. This questionnaire is conducted by Encyclopedia, an open academic encyclopedia platform powered by MDPI.The purpose of this survey is to understand the challenges scholars face in their learning and research, as well as the support they need. This is particularly important during rapid and systematic learning, to identify pain points and explore more solutions.If you have any questions about this survey, please contact us at office@encyclopedia.pub. Section 1: User Characteristics Question Title * 1. Which best describes your current professional role? (Select one) Student (Graduate student, Master’s student, PhD student) Scholar (Professors, researchers, lecturers, industry researchers…) Not currently active in academic research but interested in encyclopedias Librarians Publishing industry professionals Other (please specify): Question Title * 2. What is your age group? (Select one) Under 18 18~24 25~34 35~44 45~54 55~64 65+ Question Title * 3. What is your primary academic discipline or field of research? (Select one) Arts & Humanities Biology & Life Sciences Business, Economics & Management Chemistry & Material Sciences Computer Science & Mathematics Engineering Environmental & Earth Sciences Medicine & Pharmacology Physical Sciences Public Health & Healthcare Social Sciences Other (please specify) Section 2: Pain Points in Scholar Learning & Researching Question Title * 4. When do you frequently need “structured knowledge”? (Select all that apply)(Structured knowledge refers to content organized in a uniform or similar format, with each item clearly verifiable, traceable to its source, and its relationships interconnected. e.g., Encyclopedia entries) Writing an academic article Writing grant applications and project proposals Preparing teaching materials or exams Explaining relevant terminology in interdisciplinary research Rapidly developing a systematic understanding of new fields Verifying online information or AI-generated content No, I do not need it Others, please specify Question Title * 5. How do you prefer to obtain knowledge in the above scenarios? (Select all that apply) Reading review/research articles Reading related textbooks Searching in general encyclopedias (e.g., Wikipedia) Finding academic encyclopedias (e.g., Oxford research encyclopedia, Encyclopedia MDPI) Watching online courses, speech or related videos Participating in academic webinars or other online discussions Using AI tools to generate summaries (e.g., ChatGpt, Perplexity) Others, please specify Question Title * 6. What are the main difficulties you face when trying to quickly gain a reliable overview of the progress in a research field? (Select all that apply) Excessive articles make it challenging to identify key publications Lack of visual timelines to illustrate the evolution of theories or technologies Terminology is used differently across disciplines It takes too much time to piece together information from multiple sources Hard to find authoritative entry points Others, please specify Question Title * 7. In your daily learning and research, do you read academic encyclopedias (e.g., Oxford Research Encyclopedia)? (Select one) Daily (4~7×/week) Frequently (1~3×/week) Occasionally (1~3×/month) Rarely (1~3×/year) Never Next