Of the scholarly journals started from 2000 - 2006 recorded in Ulrich's, the open access journals were ten times more likely to be still active, strongly suggesting an open access survival advantage for new journals.
Data from Ulrich's, July 5, 2007:
# of online, refereed, scholarly / academic journals started 2000 - 2006: 2,253
# of above ceased: 59 = .026%
# of online, refereed, scholarly / academic journals, open access journals started 2000 - 2006: 724
# of above ceased: 2 = .0027
The period 2000 - 2006 was selected, to help control for older, subscription-only journals that would have ceased before open access was an option the journal would have considered.
It should be noted that this is a quick study, which has not explored or controlled for all variables; conclusions should be drawn with caution. The data do, however, strongly suggest an hypothesis worthy of testing.
PS: For some data on the mortality rate of the first generation of OA journals --those launched between 1994 and 2004-- see Walt Crawford's two-part study (Part I, Part II) from October 2006 (or my blogged excerpt).
Posted by
Peter Suber at 7/07/2007 04:21:00 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.
