Physics vs. Chemistry: Two models of scientific publishing

Abstract

Aproximately twenty years ago the electronic journals appeared. Since then, scientific publication system has been undergoing a slow transition, though it seems that its destiny is not exactly what was predicted. Now that social sciences are changing the way they disseminate knowledge, becoming increasingly similar to the basic and applied sciences, it is important to consider whether all of those sciences publish in the same way. To answer this, various parameters related to Open Access (OA), e-journals and repositories are studied related to Physics and Chemistry, two disciplines with differences in their publication behaviour and use. From the results, it can be concluded that what differentiates Physics from Chemistry is mainly the success and functionality of their digital repositories, rather than their OA journals.