RE: Open access and impact factor

["Rick Anderson" <rickand@unr.edu>]

> Both he and I expect that, assuming equal interest and quality,
> this will translate into a wider actual readership, a greater use
> and more frequent citation.  I consider this the strongest and most
> basic argument for open access--it will permit more people to use the
> journal.

I guess it all comes down to the difference between "impact factor" and
actual _impact_.  If you care more about how much influence a journal has
in its field, regardless of what the statistics might say, then obviously
you would want it to be freely available to all (ceteris paribus).  If you
care about the meaningfulness of impact factor statistics, then you'd
either want all journals to be equally restricted or equally free.

-------------
Rick Anderson
Director of Resource Acquisition
University of Nevada, Reno Libraries
(775) 784-6500 x273
rickand@unr.edu