[Forwarding from SOAF List, Ross]
> -----Original Message-----
>
> NFAIS members may find this notable essay from Thomson-ISI to be of
real
> interest. Entitled "The Impact of Open Access Journals", the full text
is
> available at <http://www.isinet.com/oaj>. At this point in time, ISI
> indexes material from nearly 200 Open Access titles across a variety
of
> disciplines. This quantitative analysis is the first published study
from
> ISI on this topic.
>
> >From the press release, dated April 14, "Thomson ISI recently
conducted
> a
> study of the overall performance of OA journals as they are added to
the
> mix of scholarly publications used by the research community. Using
ISI
> citation metrics such as impact factor and cited half life, the study
> focuses on determining whether OA journals perform differently from
other
> journals in their respective fields. The study's initial findings
> indicate
> that there was no discernible difference in terms of citation impact
or
> frequency with which the journal is cited."
>
> The essay was authored by James Testa, Director, Editorial
Development,
> Thomson-ISI, and Marie E. McVeigh, Product Development Manager,
> Thomson-ISI. It responds to a number of questions surrounding the
> performance of OA titles in specific disciplines, as documented in the
> Journal Citation Report (JCR). As an example, two of the categories
> touched
> on for the purposes of comparing known differences in citation
patterns
> due
> to the pace of research and publication between fields were
"Pharmacology
> &
> Pharmacy" and "Mathematics".
>
> A few of the selected findings:
>
> -- When ranked by Impact factor in their respective categories, OA
> journals
> fall throughout the category, with more of a tendency to the lower
ranks.
> (see pg 3)
>
> -- The study suggests that OA journals have a broadly similar citation
> pattern to other journals but may have a slight tendency to earlier
> citations (pg. 6)
>
> -- The wide distribution of these OA journals has not yet been shown
to
> have any appreciable effect on their appearance in lists of cited
> references in other journals (pg 10).
>
> The study, apparently part of an on-going analysis, provides credible
> grounds for discussion about Open Access.
>
> Jill O'Neill
> Director, Planning & Communications
> NFAIS
> (v) 215-893-1561
> ==========
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