dc.description.abstract | Academic journals are one of the most fundamental channels of official scientific communication because they allow scholars to quickly exchange current research results and ideas. This exchange facilitates the accumulation and advancement of knowledge. However, as the amount of research literature increases, so do the number of academic journals and the fee for periodical subscriptions, thereby obstructing the dissemination of information. As a result, scholars are beginning to promote the concept of “Open Access” (OA), which allows more users to obtain academic resources without barriers, and aims to enhance the effectiveness of scholarly communication through the internet.
With the increasing popularity of Open Access, the number of OA journals has expanded substantially, enabling a growing number of scholars to self-archive their published literature. This movement is of great interest to scholars in the field of library and information Science because they traditionally study topics related to the development of scholarly communication. How to create with the greatest research impact and shorten the process of scholarly communication are issues which LIS scholars concern. Therefore, the current OA development in the LIS field is a subject worthy of attention. This study intends to answer questions as follows: What are the characteristics of OA journals in LIS field? Are those journals covered by major databases? What are the OA policies of LIS journals? Who are key authors of OA articles? Do they self-archive their publications? What are their research impacts?
This study resulted in four major discoveries. First, OA journals are mainly published in the United States, and primarily in English. Second, only about half the OA journals are covered in major databases, and whether a given journal is included in the databases or not is related to the location of publication. Third, most of the important journals and periodicals concerned with OA allow at least one form of self-archiving. Finally, not all authors of OA-related research self-archive every one of their articles. OA articles were cited more frequently, but there is no obvious relation between OA articles and its first time of being cited.
Study results suggest that databases in the field of library and information science would benefit from give more attention to OA journals. In addition, OA journals should respond to the selection criteria of databases so that they can increase the visibility of their journals. Libraries should take efforts to promote the OA philosophy and provide tools for self-archiving, to organize OA resources for different disciplines, and to provide retrieving platforms for OA resources. Researchers should also be encouraged to publish more in OA journals or self-archive their articles in order to obtain the benefits of Open Access. | en |