An investigation of open access citation advantage through multiple measures and across subject areas for articles published from 2005 to 2014
dc.contributor.advisor | Prozesky, Heidi | en_ZA |
dc.contributor.advisor | Mouton, Johann | en_ZA |
dc.contributor.advisor | Blanckenberg, Jaco | en_ZA |
dc.contributor.author | Basson, Isabel | en_ZA |
dc.contributor.other | Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology. | en_ZA |
dc.date.accessioned | 2019-02-25T07:10:19Z | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2019-04-17T08:21:10Z | |
dc.date.available | 2019-02-25T07:10:19Z | |
dc.date.available | 2019-04-17T08:21:10Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2019-04 | |
dc.description | Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2019. | en_ZA |
dc.description.abstract | ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Advocates for open access (OA) practices proclaim it to have several benefits, for researchers, for science and for society at large. One of the proposed benefits is that the increased visibility provided by gratis access to research leads to OA publications receiving more citations than those publications of which no OA versions are available. This study investigated the veracity of this claim, by determining whether OA journal articles (defined in this study as gold OA articles) experience a citation advantage when compared to non-OA journal articles. To do so, an analysis was conducted of all articles and reviews published from 2005 to 2014 and indexed in the Clarivate Analytics Web of ScienceTM (WoS). This study included a description of the presence of OA journal articles in comparison to non-OA journal articles to provide context for the citation analysis. Three different measures of citation advantage were applied, as formulated in the following research questions: 1)Do OA journal articles attain a higher mean normalised citation score (MNCS) than non-OAjournal articles? 2)Do a higher percentage of OA journal articles than non-OA journal articles receive at least onecitation within two years after publication? 3)Is there a higher percentage of OA journal articles than non-OA journal articles among themost frequently cited 1%, 5%, and 10% of articles? These questions were explored firstly for all the articles, and then for articles published in each of the years separately. Secondly, the data were disaggregated by subject area and analysed for all the articles, and then only for those published in 2014. In addition, the percentage of articles that were published in OA journals was ascertained. Whether OA journal articles experienced a citation advantage was determined through a three-fold process. Firstly, it was determined whether OA or non-OA journal articles had a higher score or percentage in terms of the measure of the citation advantage in question. Following that, the statistical significance of the difference was tested, and, lastly, the effect size was determined as an expression of the variability in the measure that access status accounts for. This study found that the percentage of articles published in OA journals had increased considerably, from 3.3% in 2005 to 13.1% in 2014. This is likely due to the launch of new OA journals, considering the retroactive assignment of the OA tag in WoS. While the vast majority of subject areas exhibited an increase in the percentage of articles published in OA journals, seven displayed a decrease. By 2014, the majority of articles, in all but three subject areas (of 274), had been published in non-OA journals. This study determined that there is no general OA or non-OA journal citation advantage, as access status accounts for little of the variability in the number of citations articles receive. This was the case for the majority of subject areas as well. OA journal articles experienced a definite citation advantage in only a few subject areas. It is therefore misleading to claim that publishing in an OA journal will necessarily lead to a citation advantage. It is likely that other factors, such as whether the journal is established and the practices of OA journals, have a stronger effect on the number of citations articles receive. | en_ZA |
dc.description.abstract | AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Voorstanders van oop toegang (OT) praktyke voer aan dat dit geassosieer word met verskeie voordele vir navorsers, die wetenskap en die samelewing oor die algemeen. Een van die voorgestelde voordele is dat die addisionele sigbaarheid wat verkry word deur gratis toegang tot publikasies te verskaf, tot gevolg het dat sodanige publikasies meer aanhalings sal ontvang as dié waarvan geen OT-weergawes beskikbaar is nie. Hierdie ondersoek het die geldigheid van hierdie stelling bestudeer, deur te bepaal of artikels in OT-vaktydskrifte (in hierdie ondersoek omskryf as goue OT artikels) bevoordeel word ten opsigte van die aantal aanhalings wat hulle ontvang in vergelyking met artikels in nie-OT-vaktydskrifte. Om te bepaal of OT-vaktydskrifartikels voordeel trek, is ʼn sitaat-analise gedoen van alle artikels en resensies wat vanaf 2005 tot 2014 gepubliseer is, en in Clarivate Analytics se Web of ScienceTM (WoS) geïndekseer is. As deel van die ondersoek is ʼn beskrywing van die teenwoordigheid van OT-vaktydskrifartikels in vergelyking met nie-OT-vaktydskrifartikels ingesluit om konteks te verskaf vir die sitaat-analise. In hierdie ondersoek is drie metings van aanhalings-voordeel ondersoek, aan die hand van die onderstaande navorsingsvrae: 1) Het OT-vaktydskrifartikels ’n hoër gemiddelde genormaliseerde aanhalingstelling as nie-OT-vaktydskrifartikels? 2) Ontvang ’n hoër persentasie OT-vaktydskrifartikels as nie-OT-vaktydskrifartikels minstens een aanhaling binne die eerste twee jaar ná publikasie? 3) Is daar ’n hoër persentasie OT-vaktydskrifartikels as nie-OT-vaktydskrifartikels onder die artikels wat in 1%, 5% en 10% van gevalle die meeste aangehaal word? Hierdie vrae is eerstens vir al die artikels ondersoek, en daarna vir elk van die jare afsonderlik. Tweedens is die voordeel ten opsigte van aanhalings ook ondersoek vir elk van die WoS-vakgebiede afsonderlik. Dit is eerstens ondersoek vir al die publikasies; daarna slegs vir dié wat in 2014 gepubliseer is. Daarbenewens is die persentasie artikels wat in OT-vaktydskrifte gepubliseer is, ook ondersoek. Drie stappe is gevolg om te bepaal of OT-vaktydskrifartikels ʼn aanhalings-voordeel ervaar. Eerstens is bepaal of OT- of nie-OT-vaktydskrifartikels ʼn hoër persentasie of telling het wat betref die betrokke meting van aanhalings-voordeel. Daarna is die statistiese beduidendheid van die verskil getoets. Laastens is die effekgrootte bepaal as ’n uitdrukking van die variasie in die meting wat kan toegeskryf word aan toegangs-status. Die ondersoek het bevind dat die persentasie artikels wat in OT-vaktydskrifte gepubliseer word, oor die jare aansienlik toegeneem het, vanaf 3.3% in 2005 tot 13.1% in 2014. Dit kan waarskynlik toegeskryf word aan die loodsing van nuwe OT-vaktydskrifte, aangesien WoS terugwerkend die OT-vaktydskrif-etiket aan alle artikels wat in ʼn OT-vaktydskrif gepubliseer is, koppel. Terwyl die persentasie artikels wat in OT-vaktydskrifte gepubliseer word in die oorgrote meerderheid vakgebiede toegeneem het, het sewe ʼn afname getoon. Teen 2014 is die meerderheid van vakgebiede se artikels, met die uitsondering van drie (uit 274), in nie-OT-vaktydskrifte gepubliseer. Hierdie ondersoek het bepaal dat daar is geen algemene aanhalings-voordeel is vir OT of nie-OT- vaktydskrifartikels nie, aangesien die toegangs-status van ʼn vaktydskrif min invloed het op die aantal aanhalings wat ʼn artikel ontvang. Dit was ook die geval vir die meeste vakgebiede. Slegs in ’n paar vakgebiede ondervind OT-vaktydskrifartikels ’n besliste aanhalings-voordeel. Om dus in ʼn OT-vaktydskrif te publiseer, sal nie noodwendig verseker dat die artikel meer aanhalings ontvang nie. Ander faktore, soos hoe gevestig ’n vaktydskrif is en die praktyke van OT-vaktydskrifte, het moontlik ’n groter invloed op die aantal aanhalings wat artikels ontvang. | af_ZA |
dc.description.sponsorship | Financial assistance of the National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF) | en_ZA |
dc.format.extent | 288 pages | en_ZA |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/105966 | |
dc.language.iso | en_ZA | en_ZA |
dc.publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University | en_ZA |
dc.rights.holder | Stellenbosch University | en_ZA |
dc.subject | Open access publishing | en_ZA |
dc.subject | Bibliographic citations -- Analysis | en_ZA |
dc.subject | Scientometrics | en_ZA |
dc.subject | Journal articles -- Citations -- Analysis | en_ZA |
dc.subject | UCTD | |
dc.title | An investigation of open access citation advantage through multiple measures and across subject areas for articles published from 2005 to 2014 | en_ZA |
dc.type | Thesis | en_ZA |