[Open-access] Fwd: NewsRelease Open for business open access journals reaching the same scientific impact as subscription journals

Fri Jul 13 11:10:58 UTC 2012

Hi all,

Please excuse cross-posting - see below for an annoucement of a paper on
the scientific impact of open access publishing. We now have scientific
rigour!

Naomi

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Hilary Glover <hilary.glover at biomedcentral.com>
Date: 13 July 2012 11:54
Subject: NewsRelease Open for business open access journals reaching the
same scientific impact as subscription journals
To: "info at okfn.org" <info at okfn.org>

Send Date:13-Jul-2012 11:53

Dear Colleague,

BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Medicine is pleased to be able to
add scientific rigour to the debate about open access research, by
publishing an article which compares the scientific impact of open access
with traditional subscription publishing and has found that both of these
publishing business models produce high quality peer reviewed articles.

This release is embargoed until 00:01 GMT 17th July 2012

If you have any questions regarding this release please contact me.

Dr Hilary Glover
Scientific Press Officer, BioMed Central
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3192 2370
Mob: +44 (0) 778 698 1967
Email: hilary.glover at biomedcentral.com

Open for business: open access journals reaching the same scientific impact
as subscription journals

BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Medicine is pleased to be able to
add scientific rigour to the debate about open access research, by
publishing an article which compares the scientific impact of open access
with traditional subscription publishing and has found that both of these
publishing business models produce high quality peer reviewed articles.

The debate about who should pay for scientific publishing is of continuing
importance to the scientific community but also to the general public who
not only often pay for the research though charitable contributions, their
taxes, and by buying products, but are also affected by the results
contained within these articles.

Many publically funded agencies, such as the Wellcome Trust and NIH require
that scientific research sponsored by them is made freely available to the
public. However the issues aren't as simple as just putting the results of
your research on line. Scientific research goes through the quality control
filter of peer review and journals act as gatekeepers performing
quality-assuring peer review, and who provide web-based repositories.
Scientists currently rely on publishing in peer reviewed high quality
journals to show that their research itself is of good quality, is of
importance to their field of research, and consequently improves their
chances of obtaining funding to continue their work.

One way of measuring quality is by impact factors calculated from citation
data (how many times other scientists have mentioned the research).
Bo-Christer Bjork from Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki, and David
Solomon from Michigan State University compared the impact factors of 610
open access journals and over 7000 subscription journals.

The citation rate for subscription journals was overall 30% higher than for
open access ones but this difference was largely due to a high share of
older OA journals, particularly from regions like Latin America in the
citation indexes. When like was compared with like, for instance, journals
founded after 2000 from difference regions or disciplines, the differences
disappeared.

Bo-Christer Bjork, explained, "The open access debate has included
accusations from some traditional publishers and their lobbyists that Open
Access publishing implies low scientific quality and endangers the quality
assurance function of the peer review system that the academic community
and publishers have built up over decades."

Explaining the results Prof Bjork said, "If you take into account the
journal discipline, location of publisher and age of publication the
differences in impact between open access and subscription journals largely
disappear. In medicine and health, open access journals founded in the last
10 years are receiving on average as many citations as subscription
journals launched during the same time."

David Solomon continued, "It is easy to see why scientists might be
sceptical of electronic, open access journals - after all they have their
reputation to maintain. Open access journals that fund publishing with
article processing charges (APCs), sometimes called gold open access, are
on average cited more than other OA journals. Since the launch of
professionally run high quality biomedical journals in 2000 gold OA has
increased by 30% per year and many of these are on a par with their
subscription counterparts."

- ENDS -

Media contact
Dr Hilary Glover
Scientific Press Officer, BioMed Central

Tel: +44 (0) 20 3192 2370
Mob: +44 (0) 778 698 1967
Email: hilary.glover at biomedcentral.com

Notes to editors

1. Open access versus subscription journals: a comparison of scientific
impact
Bo-Christer Bjork and David Solomon
BMC Medicine (in press)

Please name the journal in any story you write. If you are writing for the
web, please link to the article. All articles are available free of charge,
according to BioMed Central's open access policy.

Article citation and URL available on request on the day of publication.

2. BMC Medicine is the flagship medical journal of the BMC series,
publishing original research, commentaries and reviews that are either of
significant interest to all areas of medicine and clinical practice, or
provide key translational or clinical advances in a specific field.

3. BioMed Central (http://www.biomedcentral.com/) is an STM (Science,
Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the open access
publishing model. All peer-reviewed research articles published by BioMed
Central are made immediately and freely accessible online, and are licensed
to allow redistribution and reuse. BioMed Central is part of Springer
Science+Business Media, a leading global publisher in the STM sector.

Please click on the link(s) provided.

NewsRelease_Open_for_business_open_access_journals_reaching_the_same_scientific_impact_as_subscription_journals.doc<http://www.ukdistribute.com/links/1342176501559-NewsRelease_Open_for_business_open_access_journals_reaching_the_same_scientific_impact_as_subscription_journals.doc>

Open access versus subscription journals_a comparison of scientific
impact.pdf<http://www.ukdistribute.com/links/1342176501903-Open%20access%20versus%20subscription%20journals_a%20comparison%20of%20scientific%20impact.pdf>

For further information, please reply to Hilary Glover
**<Hilary+Glover+%3Chilary.glover at biomedcentral.com%3E>

If you no longer want to receive announcements from us, please do not reply
to this e-mail. Instead simply click
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-- 
Naomi Lillie
Foundation Administrator and Community Coordinator (Open Bibliography)
Open Knowledge Foundation
http://okfn.org/
Skype: n.lillie
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