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Is open access the solution to increase the impact of scientific journals?

Author

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  • Aurelia Magdalena Pisoschi

    (University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest)

  • Claudia Gabriela Pisoschi

    (University of Craiova)

Abstract

The very nature of scientific activity and information, which are meant to be shared, is the starting point in defining a scientific journal, and the criteria according to which its value and role are determined. The authors aim at analysing some criteria that define the quality of scientific journals considering their visibility and impact. The concept of open access for journals is analysed in point of its advantages and disadvantages, since it differs greatly from the subscription-based access, whether we talk about institutional or individual subscriptions. The authors are in favour of the concept of public access, considering that it gives a journal more visibility, on the condition that article processing charges are reduced. The essential condition for a journal to become renowned is to be as visible as possible. The concept of open access is beneficial, supports instruction through and for scientific research, regardless of educational level. The aim of this paper is to emphasise the modalities, specificities and bibliometric performances (percent of citable documents, impact factor and immediacy index) of open access versus subscription-based access, as well as to investigate whether the use of open access concept determines an increase of the journals’ quality, study applied to the analysis of Hindawi Publishing Company journals and Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI) journals.

Suggested Citation

  • Aurelia Magdalena Pisoschi & Claudia Gabriela Pisoschi, 2016. "Is open access the solution to increase the impact of scientific journals?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 109(2), pages 1075-1095, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:109:y:2016:i:2:d:10.1007_s11192-016-2088-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-016-2088-x
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    Cited by:

    1. Mingyang Wang & Jiaqi Zhang & Guangsheng Chen & Kah-Hin Chai, 2019. "Examining the influence of open access on journals’ citation obsolescence by modeling the actual citation process," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 119(3), pages 1621-1641, June.
    2. Hajar Sotudeh & Zeinab Saber & Farzin Ghanbari Aloni & Mahdieh Mirzabeigi & Farshad Khunjush, 2022. "A longitudinal study of the evolution of opinions about open access and its main features: a twitter sentiment analysis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(10), pages 5587-5611, October.
    3. Antonello Cammarano & Vincenzo Varriale & Francesca Michelino & Mauro Caputo, 2022. "Open and Crowd-Based Platforms: Impact on Organizational and Market Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-26, February.
    4. Jane Cho, 2020. "Intellectual structure evolution of open access research observed through correlation index of keyword centrality," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(3), pages 2617-2635, December.
    5. Maja Jokić & Andrea Mervar & Stjepan Mateljan, 2018. "Scientific potential of European fully open access journals," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 114(3), pages 1373-1394, March.
    6. Katja Rost & Thorsten Teichert & Alan Pilkington, 2017. "Social network analytics for advanced bibliometrics: referring to actor roles of management journals instead of journal rankings," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 112(3), pages 1631-1657, September.
    7. Elena Veretennik & Maria Yudkevich, 2023. "Inconsistent quality signals: evidence from the regional journals," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(6), pages 3675-3701, June.
    8. Rongying Zhao & Xu Wang, 2019. "Evaluation and comparison of influence in international Open Access journals between China and USA," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 120(3), pages 1091-1110, September.
    9. Sergio Copiello, 2019. "The open access citation premium may depend on the openness and inclusiveness of the indexing database, but the relationship is controversial because it is ambiguous where the open access boundary lie," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 121(2), pages 995-1018, November.
    10. Minxian Zheng & Kuangji Zhao & Shikui Zhao & Yantong Zhang, 2020. "Effecting variables of journal’s ranking in forestry field," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(1), pages 135-151, October.
    11. Petr Heneberg, 2019. "The troubles of high-profile open access megajournals," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 120(2), pages 733-746, August.

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