1 International Open Access Week St. Lukes Campus, University of Exeter, 25 th October 2012

2  To examine the benefits of Open Access to the research process prior to publication  To examine the benefits of Open Access after publication  Visibility and impact  Evidence  To examine the benefits of research repositories such as ERIC  To examine the wider issue of publically funded research being publically available

3  Effect on quality of research  increased resources  aids all aspects of the scientific method planning, experimental design and methodology  Better practice  reduces citation bias  reduces problem of ‘hollow citing’

4  Visibility of research  The publication of research outputs in immediate open access journals or their availability in institutional repositories exposes then to a wider readership  Increase in interest in research  Increased citation rate

5  Higher citation rate  Increased availability = increased downloads = increased citations Antelman 2004  ‘Do open-access articles have a greater research impact?’  Examined articles in four disciplines  Philosophy, political science, electrical and electronic engineering and mathematics  chosen as they represent various stages of adoption of open access  ‘number of citations’ used to determine whether articles have a greater impact when their authors make them freely available

6 Antelman % 51% 86% 45% Difference in citation rate

7 But....  Is this increase in citation rate due to other confounding factors? I.Top authors who are highly cited may be at better institutions which may be more likely to have publication repositories II.A greater number of authors on a publication may increase both the number of citations and the likelihood of it being open access – it only takes one! III.The benefits of OA are simply due to authors allowing free access to ‘trophy’ publications in personal or institutional repositories after their publication in non-OA journals

8 Eysenbach 2006  Bibliometric analysis of a cohort of OA and non-OA articles published between June and December 2004 in the same journal (PNAS: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)  Controlled for potential confounding factors including, number of authors, authors’ publication history and impact, country, funding and discipline  Open access articles were twice as likely to be cited in the first months (OR = 2.1 [ ]) & almost 3 times as likely to be cited in the months after publication: OR = 2.9 [ ]  Secondary analyses showed that papers in immediate OA journals were cited more than those in non-OA journals which were made available through repositories

9  Across a variety of disciplines, OA articles have a greater research impact than articles which are not freely available 1  Readers find OA outputs more easily, read them more often 1 and citing them earlier and more often in their own work 2  This effect is evident even after controlling for confounding factors relating to authorship and institution 2

10  ERIC – allows searches by collection, subject, author, theme  Mutual benefit due to U of E reputation for research  Success within a discipline may raise profile for all rather than just those involved  Stimulation of new research ideas  Increase in access to research outputs and ideas could stimulate new avenues of research  Collaborations  Across institutions  Across disciplines  Benefit to researchers, institutions and research as a whole

11  ‘Publically funded research should be publically available’  In non-OA publication public funds are used three times in the research process 3  To pay for; 1) research, 2) peer review & 3) access  RCUK and the HEFCE announced plans to ensure greater open access 4 ‘significant outputs from research activity are made available as widely as possible both within and beyond the research community. Open access to published research can benefit the research base, higher education, and the UK economy and society.’  OA is now advocated by many institutions & funders

12  Open access, via immediate OA journals or depositories can benefit researchers at all stages of the research process  The main effects are an increase in resources and increased visibility and impact of research outputs  Can also stimulate interest across disciplines and institutions allowing greater collaboration  The wider issue of publicly funded research being publically available is beginning to be addressed due to support from RCUK & HCFCE and as OA increasingly becomes a mandate of the provision of funding.

13 1.Antelmann, Kirstin (2004). Do open access articles have a greater research impact? College & Research Libraries News, 65(5), Do open access articles have a greater research impact? 2.Eysenbach, Gunther (2006). Citation advantage of open access articles. PLoS Biology, 4(5).Citation advantage of open access articles 3. RCUK & HEFCE Press release - px px 4. Information on Funding mandates - access.org.uk/information-and-guidance/publication-policies/#5http://open- access.org.uk/information-and-guidance/publication-policies/#5

14 International Open Access Week St. Lukes Campus, University of Exeter, 25 th October 2012