Scientific journal Science has published a report, according to which having research published in open access (OA) journals and other free sources does not lead to increased exposure and citations. These findings are seen to provide new insight into the nature of scholarly discussion and the future of the open source publication movement.
It is observed that an increasing number of scientists are publishing their research in open source outlets online. As these publications are freely accessible over the Internet, it is believed that more interested readers will find them and potentially cite them. Earlier studies have assumed that the open source format can more than double the number of times a journal article is used by other researchers.
James A. Evans, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Chicago, and Jacob Reimer, a student of neurobiology at the same university, analysed millions of articles available online. These included those from open source publications and those that required payment to access. The results revealed that, on an average, when a given publication was made available online after being in print for a year, being published in an open source format increased the use of that article by about 8 percent. When articles are made available online in a commercial format a year after publication, however, usage increases by about 12 percent.
Evans and Reimer's research also points out that researchers in the developing world, where research funding and libraries are not as robust as they are in wealthier countries, were far more likely to read and cite open source articles.
The University of Chicago team concludes that outside the developed world, the open source movement 'widens the global circle of those who can participate in science and benefit from it.' So while some scientists and scholars may choose to pay for scientific publications even when free publications are available, their colleagues in other parts of the world may find that going with open source works is the only choice they have.
