Thomson ISI finds open access journals making an impact

Citation

(2004), "Thomson ISI finds open access journals making an impact", The Electronic Library, Vol. 22 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/el.2004.26322dab.013

Thomson ISI finds open access journals making an impact

Thomson ISI finds open access journals making an impact

Thomson ISI has announced that journals published in the new open access (OA) model are beginning to register impact in the world of scholarly research. A significant number of OA journals meet the Thomson ISI selection criteria, which ensures that only the highest-quality content is indexed.

Of the 8,700 selected journals currently covered in Web of Science(R), 191 are OA journals. Though small in comparison to the total number of journals indexed in Web of Science, the number is quite significant in terms of the progress made by the OA movement. The Thomson ISI editorial staff reviews nearly 2,000 journals annually, but only 10-12 per cent of the evaluated journals are accepted. The same established set of criteria that is applied to traditionally published journals is also applied to OA journals as part of the selection process.

James Testa, director of Editorial Development, Thomson ISI, said:

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  Just as the Internet radically changed how Thomson ISI delivers its information solutions to the research community, it (the Internet) has also fundamentally changed the practical and economic realities of publishing. However, the Internet has not changed the need for the research community to easily access the most relevant scholarly research, making the element of selectivity key – the reason why Thomson ISI employs such rigorous editorial standards.

Thomson ISI recently conducted a study of the overall performance of OA journals as they are added to the mix of scholarly publications used by the research community. Using ISI citation metrics such as impact factor and cited half life, the study focuses on determining whether OA journals perform differently from other journals in their respective fields. The study’s initial findings indicate that there was no discernible difference in terms of citation impact or frequency with which the journal is cited.