Open access gets more readers, but not more citations - SciDev.Net

"To suggest that open access articles do not lead to dissemination of scientific knowledge [within the scientific community] is disturbing," Nasra Gathoni, president of the Association of Health Information and Libraries in Africa, told SciDev.Net. "Most health institutions [in Africa] use these articles as tools of learning every day. To water down their usefulness, or even block access to them, would be a big letdown for us," she added....Stevan Harnad, a researcher at University of Quebec, Canada, said: "The study lacked the statistical power to show what it purported to show."...Bo-Christer Björk, researcher at the Hanken School of Economics in Finland, agreed the study "has several limitations which makes interpreting the results difficult". For example, he said, it focused on high-impact English-language journals, but "the results would probably have looked very different" if it had looked at non-English or developing country journals. But he added: "Davis's study demonstrated increased readership [for open access articles]..." And Davis told SciDev.Net he does not see his paper as an argument against, but for, open access. "I demonstrate quite clearly that free access to the scientific literature results in greater dissemination of scientific knowledge in terms of readership; it just may not result in more citations," he said...."