Purpose

This study aims to investigate the research and citation impact of open access (OA) journals versus non-OA journals being published in the spectrum of library and information science (LIS) across the world and to further ascertain whether OA journals have greater citation counts than subscription-based journals in LIS discipline.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 116 LIS journals (58 OA and 58 non-OA) were chosen from Scimago website. After selecting the journals, Publish or Perish software program was used to retrieve the publications and their corresponding academic citations by using International Standard Serial Number of journals from Google Scholar for the period of 2011–2018. The non-parametric Mann–Whitney U-test was applied on various research and citation indicators, namely, citation count, citations per author, citations per paper; g-index, h-index, hI norm and hI annual through SPSS.

Findings

Findings of the study demonstrate that non-OA journals in LIS have a significant citation advantage over OA journals. Moreover, Mann–Whitney U-test analysis rejected all the eight null hypotheses and reveals that non-OA journals in LIS discipline have greater citation counts, citations per author, citations per paper; g-index, h-index, hI norm and hI annual than OA journals.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that embarks upon a whole-scale investigation of citation impact of OA and non-OA journals in LIS, which has implications for both research and practice. This study would serve as a reference guide to all involved in scholarly communication activities including academic communities, librarians, research funders, publishers and policymakers for publishing research work, grant funding, designing policies and subscriptions.

中文翻译：

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开放获取期刊是否具有更大的引文影响？图书情报学期刊研究

目的

本研究旨在调查开放获取 (OA) 期刊与非 OA 期刊在全球图书馆和信息科学 (LIS) 领域的研究和引文影响，并进一步确定 OA 期刊的引用次数是否高于LIS 学科中基于订阅的期刊。

设计/方法/途径

从 Scimago 网站上总共选择了 116 种 LIS 期刊（58 种 OA 和 58 种非 OA）。选择期刊后，使用 Publish or Perish 软件程序从 Google Scholar 检索 2011-2018 年期间的国际标准期刊编号，检索出版物及其相应的学术引文。非参数 Mann-Whitney U 检验应用于各种研究和引用指标，即引用次数、每位作者的引用次数、每篇论文的引用次数；g-index、h-index、hI norm 和 hI annual 通过 SPSS。

发现

研究结果表明，LIS 中的非 OA 期刊比 OA 期刊具有显着的引用优势。此外，Mann-Whitney U 检验分析拒绝了所有八个零假设，并揭示了 LIS 学科中的非 OA 期刊具有更高的引用次数、每位作者的引用次数、每篇论文的引用次数；g-index、h-index、hI norm和hI annual优于OA期刊。

原创性/价值

据作者所知，这是第一项对 LIS 中 OA 和非 OA 期刊的引文影响进行全面调查的研究，这对研究和实践都有影响。本研究将作为所有参与学术交流活动的参考指南，包括学术团体、图书馆员、研究资助者、出版商和政策制定者，用于出版研究工作、拨款资助、设计政策和订阅。