Access models, authorship patterns, and citation impact in Ukrainian scholarly publishing (2020–2023)

This study aimed to explore the relationship between access models, authorship patterns, and citation impact in Ukrainian research output from 2020 to 2023. The focus lied on scholars affiliated with the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU) and universities. Findings highlight that OA articles constituted the majority of articles published by Ukrainian scholars between 2020 and 2023. This percentage reached 75.4% for NASU and 85.8% for universities. In both cases the rise occurred because of Gold OA and Hybrid Gold OA, the latter benefiting in part from Elsevier’s waivers. Diamond OA prevailed for NASU and Gold OA for universities. The effects of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine included (1) a decline in the share of articles in foreign journals for both NASU and universities, (2) a decrease in Gold OA in foreign journals and an increase in Gold OA in Ukrainian journals for universities, and (3) a rise in internationally co-authored Gold OA articles in foreign journals for both entities. Despite waivers for Gold OA provided by major publishers and an increase in Gold OA articles in Elsevier and Springer journals, MDPI and Aluna Publishing House remained the dominant publishers of Gold OA in foreign journals. Hybrid Gold OA, Bronze OA and Green OA articles in foreign journals had the highest citation impact. Citation impact of Gold OA outperformed Diamond OA. The study confirms the growing dominance of Gold OA, which suggests the need for sustainable OA models that ensure both equity and broad dissemination of research.