FW: Open Access Speeds Use by Others

["Hamaker, Chuck" <cahamake@email.uncc.edu>]

Chronicle of Higher Education
http://chronicle.com/news/article/438/open-access-speeds-use-by-others-o
f-scientific-papers-study-finds

"Open Access Speeds Use by Others of Scientific Papers, Study 
Finds In the continuing debate about open access to scientific 
literature, the pro-access side gained strength with a study, 
published this afternoon, that says that, during the first four 
to 16 months after publication, papers with free access get cited 
more often than those that require subscriptions. The study 
appears in an open-access journal, PLoS Biology, and was written 
by Gunther Eysenbach, of the University of Toronto, who also 
edits another open-access journal, the Journal of Medical 
Internet Research."

snip

Mr. Eysenbach found that the open-access papers were twice as 
likely as the password-protected articles to be cited four to 10 
months after publication, and almost three times as likely from 
10 to 16 months afterward. Not yet clear is whether the 
open-access advantage increases citation in the long run or 
whether the trend is similar for other journals.

The study is at:
http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.13
71/journal.pbio.0040157

Chuck Hamaker
Associate University Librarian Collections and Technical Services
Atkins Library
University of North Carolina Charlotte
Charlotte, NC 28223