Abstract
This study investigated the longitudinal impact of Open-Access (OA) publication in Israel, a country which has not yet adopted a formal OA policy. We analyzed bibliometric indicators of Israeli researchers across all academic disciplines, focusing on OA publications published in journals and repositories from 2010 to 2020. Data extracted from Scopus reveal a consistent “OA citation advantage” (OACA) throughout the study period, suggesting the influence of OA publication on citation rates beyond time and scientific novelty. Despite the highest number of publications in the green route, steadily increasing over the years, and a recent rise in gold route publications, the hybrid route demonstrates a significantly higher citation advantage, highlighting an “OA subtype citation effect”. Furthermore, our study uncovers a “funding effect” on OA grant-funded publications, indicating a doubled likelihood of publishing in OA when research is funded, contingent on the funder’s OA policy. The findings offer comprehensive insights into OA publishing trends in Israel, serving as a case study for assessing the impact of OA policy. The study underscores the importance of both funder-specific OA policies and broader initiatives by the global scientific community and intergovernmental organizations to promote OA publishing and address potential disparities in research dissemination. Efforts to combat the “rich get richer” effect can foster equitable access to scientific knowledge.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 237-260 |
| Number of pages | 24 |
| Journal | Scientometrics |
| Volume | 129 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 2024 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2023, Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary.
Funding
This work was supported by the Department of Information Science and the Faculty of Humanities at Bar-Ilan University. The study was funded by the Faculty of Humanities and the Department of Information Sciences, Bar Ilan University. Funding bodies are increasingly promoting open access to research publications due to its recognized impact and advancement (Morillo, ). According to the Sherpa Romeo ( https://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/ ), more than 100 funding organizations in Europe, including Plan S, Horizon Europe, and the Europe PMC Funders’ Group, require freely available peer-reviewed research outputs. The European Commission’s Open Research Europe platform facilitates access to scientific papers funded by Horizon Europe—Horizon 2020 ( https://open-research-europe.ec.europa.eu/ ). Studies have reported evidence of funding influencing OA publishing, with OA articles often acknowledging international and EU sources and receiving more citations (Morillo, ; Ploder et al., ; Solomon & Björk, ). Furthermore, funded articles, especially in life sciences, have steadily increased over time (Ploder et al., ), and funding amounts and sources vary significantly across disciplines and countries (Solomon & Björk, ). Institutions, journals, and publishers are also adopting policies to encourage transparent sharing of research data (Colavizza et al., ).
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Department of Information Science | |
| Department of Information Sciences, Bar Ilan University | |
| Faculty of Humanities at Bar-Ilan University | |
| Horizon Europe—Horizon 2020 | |
| European Commission |
Keywords
- OA funding effect
- OA publication policy
- OA subtype citation advantage
- Open-Access (OA) citation advantage