Benefits of Using Open Access: Citation Analysis

Abstract

An assessment of the impact of open access (OA) on bibliometric indicators and the altmetrics of scientific publications is presented. The object of the study was the metadata of articles placed in the RSCI bibliographic database, selected according to the following conditions: (1) the article must correspond to the subject area “pipeline transport” (according to the SRNTI classification); (2) article metadata should contain 5–7 keywords among terms from the subject area; and (3) more than three years must pass from the date of publication of the article. The results of the study confirm to some extent that the use of open access increases the number of views of articles, expands the readership and contributes to the dissemination of knowledge. However, the long-term impact of OA does not show obvious improvements in terms of bibliometric growth. It has been established that the citation of articles published on the terms of OA and non-OA levels out after 3 years, and, over time, the type of publication will not significantly affect the bibliometric indicators.