The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) has published a new research paper in the FASEB Journal that reportedly shows that free access to scientific journal articles leads to increases in downloads, but not to increases in citations. The number of citations is said to be a key factor used in scientific publishing to assess a research article's relative importance and value.
The study, by Philip M. Davis from Cornell University, is expected to help scientists make informed decisions about where they publish their work. It is also seen to assist governments, granting institutions and universities with evaluating whether or not their open access policies are leading to greater dissemination of useful scientific knowledge.
To reach his conclusions, Davis ran several parallel randomised controlled trials. Upon publication, articles, including those from the FASEB Journal, were randomly assigned to either the open access or the subscription-access group. He then observed how these articles performed in terms of downloads and citations over three years. He found that free access did not affect the number of citations a paper received, rejecting a widely-held belief that open access articles are cited more frequently because of their free access status. The results are consistent over time across 36 journals covering the sciences, social sciences and humanities, according to the report.
Search for more Industry study reports
To access our daily STM news feed through your iPhone, iPad, or other smartphones, please visit www.myscoope.com for a mobile friendly reading experience.
