Actual and potential open access to scientific output in a specific country. A case study in Argentina

Resumen

This paper presents a methodology to estimate the actual and potential access to scientific research outputs in a specific country based on an analysis of the access model of journals used by researchers to publish their articles. It includes a study of scientific production in Argentina from 2008 to 2010 in the following areas: Medicine, Physics and Astronomy, Agriculture and Biological sciences, and Social sciences and Humanities. The sample was taken from the Scopus database and the journal access models selected through searches performed usingDOAJ, e-revist@s, SciELO, RedALyC, PubMed, Romeo- Sherpa, andDulcinea. The conclusion of this study is that Argentina offers suitable conditions to provide open access to a high percentage of the scientific literature produced at the national level, using repositories. In addition, the methodology used by the authors could be potentially used by other countries and topic areas. The results provide useful knowledge for repository managers at academic and research institutions to promote repository services development and to justify their maintenance.