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Access to scientific publications: the scientist's perspective
Yegor Voronin1, Askar Myrzahmetov, Alan Bernstein
1Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, New York, New York, United States of America. yvoronin@vaccineenterprise.org
Plos One
|November 25, 2011
Summary
Accessing HIV vaccine research papers remains challenging, with subscriptions only covering part of the literature. Researchers often rely on alternative methods like email requests, highlighting unequal access globally.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Research
- Scientific Publishing
- Information Access
Background:
- Scientific publishing evolves with online access and open access journals.
- Funders and universities increasingly mandate public accessibility of research.
- Focus on HIV vaccine research accessibility, crucial for developing nations.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate publication access at global institutions.
- Analyze access to HIV vaccine research literature.
- Assess the impact of open access and subscriptions on information retrieval.
Main Methods:
- Selected 50 recent HIV vaccine papers and 200 cited articles.
- Assessed subscription access levels at various institutions worldwide.
- Evaluated access through the WHO HINARI program.
- Examined response rates for reprint requests via email.
Main Results:
- 80% of recent HIV vaccine papers required subscriptions; 67% of cited papers were freely available.
- Institutional subscription access varied widely (20%-90%).
- HINARI program provided comparable access for low-income countries.
- Email reprint requests had a 55-60% success rate, with delays.
Conclusions:
- Institutional subscriptions are vital but don't guarantee full access to HIV vaccine research.
- Multiple methods supplement subscriptions, including direct author contact.
- Disparities in access levels create an uneven playing field for researchers.
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