Open  Access  Influence  on  Argentinean  Scientific Publishing  Patterns

The objective of this study is to estimate the influence of Open Access on publication patterns of the Argentina scientific community in different disciplines (Medicine; Physics and Astronomy; Agriculture and Biological Sciences; and Social Sciences and Humanities), based on an analysis of the access model that the chosen journals used to communicate their research results during 2008-­‐2010. The sample was taken from the SCOPUS database and the open access models were selected through searches done using the following sources: DOAJ, e-­‐revist@s, SCielo, Redalyc, PubMed, Romeo-­‐Sherpa, and Dulcinea. The real and potential accessibility of national scientific production was analyzed following both golden and green routes, respectively, as well as through subscription to the Science and Technology Electronic Library that belongs to the Argentinean Ministry of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation. Our results show that, on average, and involving the studied group of themes as a whole, 70% of internationally visible Argentinean scientific production is published in journals that, in one way or another, adhere to the Open Access movement, with a ratio of 27% for the golden route and 43% for the green route, with variations according to areas of academic discipline. Between 16% and 30% (according to areas) of the articles that were published in journals that adhere to the green route were accessed via subscription. The percentage of journals without access is around 30% for Social Sciences and Humanities, and it reaches nearly 45% for the other areas. In conclusion, Argentina offers very favorable conditions to release a high percentage of the scientific literature that is generated in the country through Open Access options, as well as to optimize its investment in journal subscriptions through an increase in the number of publications that are available via institutional repositories and self-­‐archiving mandates, contributing also to increased visibility and long-­‐term preservation for its national scientific and technological production