A readership study was recently conducted to ascertain Drug Discover News' coverage of the market and satisfaction levels of the readers. Two hundred and eighty-four respondents completed the survey, with survey results compiled and endorsed by K.C. Associates, Wilmington, Del. In the survey, readers were asked their reading habits, how well the publication covered current industry topics, and finally to rate their overall satisfaction with the publication.
Readers were asked to compare the content of Drug Discovery News with other publications in the drug discovery industry and rate it "superior", "better", "average", or "below average". Seventy-nine percent of respondents replied that Drug Discovery News was either "superior" or "better" than its industry counterparts, a strong showing for a start-up publication.
Overall readership of the publication was also high. Of the 284 respondents, 47% had read all three of the last three issues, another 35% had read two with 18% reading only one issue. The reading habits also show that Drug Discovery News gains the attention of readers as soon as it hits their desk, with 79 percent of respondents saying they skim through the issue, 18 percent read it from cover to cover and only 3 percent shelve the publication for future reference.
Survey respondents were also asked to rate, on a scale of 1 to 5, with five being the best, how well DDN reported on each of the major sections of the publication, based on the mission of the publication to report on the news that impacts the drug discovery and development industry.
A mean rating of 3.5 to 5 would indicate the publication is meeting its goal very well, a rating from 2.5 to 3.5 is considered neutral with any rating below 2.5 indicating the publication is not meeting it's goal. In this area of overall editorial, Drug Discovery News registered a mean rating of 4.18 indicating a very strong performance in meeting the editorial goal and a very high rating for a start-up publication. Rating breakdowns for individual sections showed a similar, consistent, performance with all major sections of the newspaper receiving a mean score of 4 or higher.
