A Crisis in “Open Access”: Should Communication Scholarly Outputs Take 77 Years to Become Open Acces

A Crisis in “Open Access”: Should Communication Scholarly Outputs Take 77 Years to Become Open Access?

Nader Ale Ebrahim, PhD Research Visibility and Impact Consultant aleebrahim@Gmail.com @aleebrahim www.researcherid.com/rid/C-2414-2009 http://scholar.google.com/citations All of my presentations are available online at: https://figshare.com/authors/Nader_Ale_Ebrahim/100797

Research Visibility and Impact Center-(RVnIC) ©2019-2021 Dr. Nader Ale Ebrahim

23rd August 2019

Abstract This study diachronically investigates the trend of the “open access” in the Web of Science (WoS) category of “communication.” To evaluate the trend, data were collected from 184 categories of WoS from 1980 to 2017. A total of 87,997,893 documents were obtained, of which 95,304 (0.10%) were in the category of “communication.” In average, 4.24% of the documents in all 184 categories were open access. While in communication, it was 3.29%, which ranked communication 116 out of 184. An Open Access Index (OAI) was developed to predict the trend of open access in communication. Based on the OAI, communication needs 77 years to fully reach open access, which undeniably can be considered as “crisis in scientific publishing” in this field. Given this stunning information, it is the time for a global call for “open access” by communication scholars across the world. Future research should investigate whether the current business models of publications in communication scholarships are encouraging open access or pose unnecessary restrictions on knowledge development.

Keywords communication, open access, WSIS, UNESCO, Budapest Open Access Initiative, business model of publishing, Open Access Index (OAI)

Research Visibility and Impact Center-(RVnIC) ©2019-2021 Dr. Nader Ale Ebrahim

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A Crisis in “Open Access”: Should Communication Scholarly Outputs Take 77 Years to Become Open Access?

Research Visibility and Impact Center-(RVnIC) ©2019-2021 Dr. Nader Ale Ebrahim

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87,997,893 documents which were obtained from all 184 categories of the Web of Science Core collection, 84,274,416 (95.76%) were nonOpen Access and 3,723,504 (4.24%) were Open Access Research Visibility and Impact Center-(RVnIC) Š2019-2021 Dr. Nader Ale Ebrahim

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Figure 1. Trends of publications in the Web of Science category: Communication 1980-2017.

DOI: (10.1177/2158244019871044)

Note. OA = open access.

DOI: (10.1177/2158244019871044)

Table 1. Comparison Between OA and Non-OA Documents Based on Type of Documents.

DOI: (10.1177/2158244019871044)

Table 2. Top 20 Countries for OA Publications from 2007 to 2017.

DOI: (10.1177/2158244019871044)

Table 3. Comparison Between OA and Non-OA Documents Based on Languages.

DOI: (10.1177/2158244019871044)

Note. OAI = Open Access Index.

DOI: (10.1177/2158244019871044)

Note. OAI = Open Access Index.

DOI: (10.1177/2158244019871044)

Much is left to be desired in Open Access communication development

Research Visibility and Impact Center-(RVnIC) Š2019-2021 Dr. Nader Ale Ebrahim

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The “communication” scholarly outputs consist of a very small portion of the total outputs in all 184 categories in WoS, its degree of “accessibility” is much less than average, ranked at 116 of 184.

Research Visibility and Impact Center-(RVnIC) ©2019-2021 Dr. Nader Ale Ebrahim

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Thank you!

E-mail: aleebrahim@Gmail.com Twitter: @aleebrahim www.researcherid.com/rid/C-2414-2009 http://scholar.google.com/citations All of my presentations are available online at: https://figshare.com/authors/Nader_Ale_Ebrahim/100797

Research Visibility and Impact Center-(RVnIC) Š2019-2021 Dr. Nader Ale Ebrahim

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References 1. A. Ghanbari Baghestan, H. Khaniki, A. Kalantari, M. Akhtari-Zavare, E. Farahmand, E. Tamam, N. Ale Ebrahim, H. Sabani, and M. Danaee, “A Crisis in “Open Access”: Should Communication Scholarly Outputs Take 77 Years to Become Open Access?,” SAGE Open, vol. 9, no. 3, SAGE Open. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244019871044 My recent publication: 1. Ale Ebrahim, S., Ashtari, A., Pedram, M. Z., & Ale Ebrahim, N. (2019). Publication Trends in Drug Delivery and Magnetic Nanoparticles.

Nanoscale Research Letters, 14(59). doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s11671-019-2994-y 2. Parnianifard, A., Azfanizam, A., Ariffin, M., Ismail, M., & Ale Ebrahim, N. (2019). Recent developments in metamodel based robust black-box simulation optimization: An overview. Decision Science Letters, 8(1), 17-44. doi:10.5267/j.dsl.2018.5.004. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3192794 3. Elaish, M. M., Shuib, L., Ghani, N. A., Mujtaba, G., & Ale Ebrahim, N. (2019). A Bibliometric Analysis of M-Learning from Topic Inception to 2015. International Journal of Mobile Learning and Organisation, 13(1), 91-112. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJMLO.2019.096470 4. Nordin, N., Samsudin, M.-A., Abdul-Khalid, S.-N., & Ale Ebrahim, N. (2019). Firms’ sustainable practice research in developing countries: Mapping the cited literature by Bibliometric analysis approach. International Journal of Sustainable Strategic Management, 7(1/2). doi:. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJSSM.2019.099036 5. Hussein, M. H., Ow, S. H., Loh, S. C., Thong, M.-K., & Ale Ebrahim, N. (2019). Effects of Digital Game-Based Learning on Elementary Science Learning: A Systematic Review. IEEE Access, 7(1), 62465-62478. doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2916324

My recent presentations: 1. Ale Ebrahim, Nader (2019): Introduction to “Research Tools”: Tools for Collecting, Writing, Publishing, and Improving Research Visibility. figshare. Presentation. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.8258957.v1 2. Ale Ebrahim, Nader (2018): Publishing Procedure and Strategies to Improve Research Visibility and Impact. figshare. Presentation. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.7475036.v1 3. Ale Ebrahim, Nader (2018): Scientific Misconduct. figshare. Presentation. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.7471988.v1 4. Ale Ebrahim, Nader (2018): Collecting, Writing, and Publishing via “Research Tools”. figshare. Presentation. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.7472273.v1 5. Ale Ebrahim, Nader (2018): New Tools for Measuring figshare.

Presentation.

ResearchResearch VisibilityImpact. and Impact Center-(RVnIC) https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.7441403.v1 ©2019-2021 Dr. Nader Ale Ebrahim 15