Tracking open access journals evolution: Some considerations in open access data collection validation

Abstract

This article examines the evolution of a collection of open access journals (OAJs,) indexed by the Science Citation Index (SCI; Thomson Scientific Philadelphia, PA) against four validity criteria including a free, immediate, full and constant access policy for at least 5 years. Few journals are found to be wrongly identified as OAJ or to have a dubious access policy. Some delayed journals evolved into gold OA; however, these are scarce compared to the number of journals that withdrew from gold OA to be an embargoed or a partially OAJ. A majority of the journals meet three of the criteria as they provide free and immediate access to their entire contents. Although a lot are found to follow a constant policy, a large number has an OA lifetime shorter than 5 years, due to the high frequency of newly launched or newly converted journals. That is the major factor affecting the validity of the collection. Only half of the collection meets all the requirements.

Countries positioning in open access journals system: An investigation of citation distribution patterns

“…1 The identification and validation methods and rationale for the selection of the journals are respectively described in SOTUDEH & HORRI [2007A;2007B] and are described here in brief.…”

The integration of open access journals in the scholarly communication system: Three science fields

“…3 For the statistical analyses it is essential to select a discipline with a relatively high number of OAJs. A considerable number of OAJs convert into non-OAJs (Sotudeh & Horri, 2007b), however, as the development over time is not the focus in this study it is sufficient that the journal had OA status at the time of data collection. An overview of the included journals and some of their characteristics is provided in appendix 1-3.…”

The citation performance of open access journals: A disciplinary investigation of citation distribution models

“…One hundred thirty-nine gold OAJs, indexed by SCI, were identified and validated in terms of their stability in providing a full, immediate, OA policy, according to the methodology described in Sotudeh and Horri (2007). In the present study, further filtering was required to homogenize the collection regarding scientific prestige.…”

“…As a newly established iconoclastic phenomenon, they encounter many challenges and perils causing them to be somewhat unstable and consequently giving rise to probable fluctuations in their performance. In a recent article, Sotudeh & Horri (2007) concentrating on the evolution of gold OAJs, showed that OAJs indexed by SCI (Science Citation Index; Thomson Scientific, Philadelphia, PA) not only reached the highest number that has ever been reported, but also a majority of them have been actively following a consistent, immediate, full-access policy.…”