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Policy shaping the impact of open-access publications: a longitudinal assessment

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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.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Department of Information Science and the Faculty of Humanities at Bar-Ilan University.

Funding

The study was funded by the Faculty of Humanities and the Department of Information Sciences, Bar Ilan University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Digital Learning Technologies, The Israel Academic College in Ramat-Gan, Ramat Gan, Israel

    Shlomit Hadad

  2. Department of Information Science, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

    Shlomit Hadad & Noa Aharony

  3. School of Business Administration, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

    Daphne R. Raban

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  1. Shlomit Hadad
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  2. Noa Aharony
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SH: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Formal analysis, Visualization, Writing- Original draft preparation. NA: Conceptualization; Writing—Review & Editing, Supervision. DRR: Conceptualization; Writing—Review & Editing, Supervision.

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Correspondence to Shlomit Hadad.

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Hadad, S., Aharony, N. & Raban, D.R. Policy shaping the impact of open-access publications: a longitudinal assessment. Scientometrics 129, 237–260 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-023-04875-3

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