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Published on: July 5, 2011
The Open Versus Closed Access Publication Advantage in Orthopaedic Surgery
Serena K Kothari1, Daniel Nemirov, Simran Shamith
1From the Drexel University College of Medicine (Kothari, Shamith, Ilyas), Philadelphia, PA, the Rothman Orthopaedic Institute (Nemirov, Ilyas), and Drexel University (Neshal K. Kothari), Philadelphia, PA.
Summary
Open access orthopaedic research shows greater visibility and impact than closed access. Open access articles achieved higher attention scores and citation counts, challenging previous assumptions.
Area of Science:
- Orthopaedic Surgery
- Academic Publishing
- Bibliometrics
Background:
- Scientific publishing has transitioned to digital platforms, with open access (OA) and closed access (CA) as primary modalities.
- OA articles are freely accessible with an author-paid article processing charge (APC), while CA articles are behind paywalls with minimal author APC.
- Evaluating the influence of these models on research visibility and impact is crucial for the academic community.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the visibility and impact of open access versus closed access randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in orthopaedics.
- To analyze attention scores, social media metrics, readership, and citations for OA and CA publications.
- To test the hypothesis that OA publications would have higher attention and readership, while CA articles would yield more citations.
Main Methods:
- A PubMed search identified RCTs on five prevalent orthopaedic conditions (rotator cuff tears, carpal tunnel syndrome, hip fractures, ACL tears, Achilles tendon ruptures) in May 2025.
- Altmetric Attention Scores, X/Facebook/news mentions, Mendeley readers, and Dimensions citations were collected via Altmetric Explorer.
- Negative binomial regression, adjusted for publication time, compared metrics between OA and CA articles.
Main Results:
- The study included 1,223 articles: 53.8% OA and 46.2% CA.
- OA articles demonstrated significantly higher Altmetric Attention Scores, X mentions, Facebook mentions, news mentions, Mendeley readers, and Dimensions citations compared to CA articles (P < 0.05).
- Specific metrics for OA vs. CA included: Attention Scores (44.1 vs 17.2), X mentions (32.2 vs 17.4), Mendeley readers (136.6 vs 113.4), and Dimensions citations (36.8 vs 30.1).
Conclusions:
- Contrary to the initial hypothesis, OA articles exhibited superior attention metrics and citation counts over CA publications.
- These findings indicate that OA publishing enhances research visibility and engagement.
- OA publishing may lead to increased academic impact across various orthopaedic subspecialties.
