A recent study by the Publishing Research Consortium (PRC) postulates that the most prominent (and thus most citable) authors are more likely to make their articles available in an OA model, and that they are more likely to do so with their most important (and thus most citable) articles. (Executive Summary, 5B).
The PRC also postulates that there is an Early View effect with open access articles, which relates only to articles posted before final publication, and suggests that the period between the early posting of an article (either pre-print or post-print) and the appearance of the cognate published journal article allows for earlier accrual of citations. If these postulations are correct, this is good news for open access, readers, and authors!
Readers will have yet another way to sort through all of the research literature that is being produced nowadays. If one does not have time to read everything, then start with open access resources. Not only are they easier to access, they may be higher quality and more important too....
Posted by
Peter Suber at 5/20/2007 12:46:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
