Spanish Scholarly Journals in WoS and Scopus: The Impact of Open Access

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the impact of open access on the publishing policies of Spanish scholarly journals indexed by Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus. The study sample was obtained in October 2013. After discarding those that were not published in Spain and those that were inactive, we were left with a total of 406 journals (392 in Scopus and 171 in WoS, with an overlap of 157). Seven key indicators were established: age, subject area, language, publisher, portals, type of access, and copyright. Most of the data were gathered by directly analyzing the websites of the journals. Information from the Dulcinea directory was also used. Most of the journals (63 per cent of the total) were first published after 1980. Universities and commercial publishers were the most significant publishers, accounting for 42 per cent and 31 per cent of all journals, respectively. Social sciences and health sciences were the most significant disciplines, accounting for 33 per cent each. Of the journals, 60 per cent were available free immediately after publication and 76 per cent granted permission for self-archiving a version of the manuscript. By combining the two results, we estimated that 48 per cent of all journals were open access (offering free access and permission for self-archiving).