Prior Topic Thread:
"How to compare research impact of toll- vs. open-access research"
http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Hypermail/Amsci/2858.html
Fyi and posting. Gene
Eugene Garfield, PhD.
http://www.eugenegarfield.org/
President, The Scientist LLC.
http://www.the-scientist.com/
Chairman Emeritus, ISI
http://www.isinet.com/
Attached is the news release regarding Open Access journals covered by Web
of Science.
<<OpenAccess.doc>>
Rodney Yancey Manager, Corporate Communications Thomson Scientific
[Amsci Forum Moderator's Note: The ISI press release says:
"Today, Thomson ISI... announced that journals published in the
new Open Access (OA) model are beginning to register impact in
the world of scholarly research... Of the 8,700 selected journals
currently covered in Web of Science, 191 are OA journals... [A
study on] whether OA journals perform differently from other
journals in their respective fields [found] that there was no
discernible difference in terms of citation impact or frequency
with which the journal is cited."
http://www.isinet.com/oaj
But if you want to get a better idea of the effect of OA on impact,
don't just compare the 2% of ISI journals that are OA journals
with the 98% that are not, to find that they are equal in impact
(for this may well be comparing apples with oranges). Compare the
much higher percentage of *articles* from the 98% non-OA journals
that have been made OA by their authors -- by self-archiving
them -- with articles (from the very same journals and volumes)
that have *not* been made OA by their authors: You will find that
there is indeed a discernible difference in terms of frequency
with which the *article* is cited, and that that difference
is from 250%-550% in favor of the articles that their authors
have made OA! That is what an ongoing series of comparisons
based on a 10-year sample of the same ISI database across all
disciplines is revealing (in computer science and physics so far):
http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Temp/OA-TAadvantage.pdf
Stevan Harnad.]
Received on Wed Apr 14 2004 - 23:11:59 BST