Does Open Access Publication Generate More Readership & Citations?

Will publishing your work in an open access publication generate more readership and citations? Yes and no, according to a Cornell University study. Using a sample of open access journals in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities, the authors found that such articles received significantly more downloads and reached a broader audience within the first year, yet were cited no more frequently, nor earlier, than subscription-access control articles within 3 years. Full cite: Open access, readership, citations: a randomized controlled trial of scientific journal publishing, Philip M. Davis, Department of Communication, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York Hat tip to beSpacific