Publishing research through gold open access (OA) continues to deliver the highest levels of usage, reach, and impact for authors, according to new evidence from Springer Nature. Eight years after the publisher first reported the advantages of gold OA, its latest findings confirm that these benefits remain consistent despite ongoing changes in the OA landscape.
The new white paper, From Access to Impact: How Open Access Shapes Research Reach, Citations and Global Visibility[1], shows that authors publishing via gold OA across disciplines experience:
• Nearly seven times more downloads per article compared with non‑OA publications.
• On average, 50% more citations than non‑OA articles.
• Greater equity in access, with gold OA articles receiving over eight times more downloads in low‑income countries and more than seven times more downloads in lower‑middle‑income countries compared with non‑OA articles.
The findings build on previous analyses, including recent data from STM, reinforcing the sustained advantage of gold OA in maximizing visibility, reach, and impact while broadening access to knowledge globally.
Katharine Szamuely, Vice President of Open Access at Springer Nature, noted that the consistency of these results underscores the continued value of gold OA. She emphasized that making the version of record immediately available provides tangible benefits for researchers, institutions, and society worldwide. Szamuely added that after more than two decades of advancing OA, Springer Nature sees gold OA as central to enabling immediate access to high‑quality research, and highlighted the importance of supporting its growth in sustainable and equitable ways.
Springer Nature’s earlier studies, along with data from its Annual and OA reports, corroborate these findings and align with STM’s analysis showing gold OA as a principal driver of immediate, freely available access to research.
The full white paper is available at the publisher’s website.
Click here to read the original press release.
