Open Access Repositories - maximizing and measuring research impact through university and research-funder open-access self-archiving mandates

Abstract

No research institution can afford all the journals its researchers may need, so all articles are losing research impact (usage and citations) from would-be users whose institutions cannot afford paid access. Articles that are made “Open Access,” by self-archiving them on the web are cited twice as much, but only about 15 percent of articles are being spontaneously self-archived. The only institutions approaching 100 percent self-archiving are those that mandate it. Surveys show that majority of authors (95%) will comply with a self-archiving mandate.