Summary:
Delayed open access (OA) refers to scholarly articles in
subscription journals made available openly on the web
directly through the publisher at the expiry of a set embargo
period. Although a substantial number of journals have
practiced delayed OA since they started publishing e-versions,
empirical studies concerning OA have often overlooked this
body of literature. This study provides comprehensive
quantitative measurements by identifying delayed OA journals
and collecting data concerning their publication volumes,
embargo lengths, and citation rates. Altogether, 492 journals
were identified, publishing a combined total of 111,312
articles in 2011; 77.8% of these articles were made OA within
12 months from publication, with 85.4% becoming available
within 24 months. A journal impact factor analysis
revealed that delayed OA journals have citation rates on
average twice as high as those of closed subscription
journals and three times as high as immediate OA journals.
Overall, the results demonstrate that delayed OA journals
constitute an important segment of the openly available
scholarly journal literature, both by their sheer article
volume and by including a substantial proportion of
high-impact journals.
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