Does open access foster interdisciplinary citations? Decomposing open access citation advantage

Kai Nishikawa () and Akiyoshi Murakami
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Kai Nishikawa: Institute of Library, Information and Media Science, University of Tsukuba
Akiyoshi Murakami: National Institute of Science and Technology Policy (NISTEP), Ministry of Culture, Science and Sports (MEXT)

Scientometrics, 2025, vol. 130, issue 5, No 19, 2963-2986

Abstract: Abstract The existence of an open access (OA) citation advantage—that is, whether OA increases citations—has been a topic of interest for many years. Although numerous studies have focused on whether OA increases citations, expectations for OA go beyond that. One such expectation is the promotion of knowledge transfer across various fields. This study aimed to clarify what effects OA, particularly gold OA, has on knowledge transfer across fields. Specifically, we measure the effect of OA on interdisciplinary and within-discipline citation counts by decomposing an existing OA citation advantage metric. OA increased both interdisciplinary and within-discipline citations in many fields studied, and only interdisciplinary citations in chemistry, computer science, and clinical medicine. In these three fields, clinical medicine showed a tendency toward interdisciplinary citations, independent of journal or paper. These findings suggest that OA fosters knowledge transfer across disciplines.

Keywords: Open access citation advantage; Open access; Gold open access; Interdisciplinary citation; Knowledge transfer (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1007/s11192-025-05297-z

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