Given the current importance of Open Access (OA) in science policy, the project aims at an informed use of bibliometric metrics in the evaluation of primary OA publication venues in scientific practice.
The collaborative project with SUB Göttingen combines bibliometric studies with awareness activities to promote a responsible approach to novel OA publishing practices at universities and non-university scientific institutions. The goal is to inform about unintended consequences of the use of bibliometric metrics when choosing a venue to publish. In this way, the willingness of scientific authors to take up innovative and quality-assured OA publication offers from small and medium-sized publishers should be strengthened.
The DZHW subproject will focus in particular on the characteristics of OA journals from small and medium-sized publishers. Bibliometric and publishing indicators will be collected in order to investigate the ostensible indexability of the journals in bibliometric databases. In addition, operational processes of quality assurance will be investigated by means of qualitative case studies of individual OA journals in order to derive recommendations for action. The results will be incorporated into the support measures within the awareness activities of the INDIOA project.
