Archival research papers are increasingly free to read
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.028366
Nature : A study commissioned by the European Union’s executive branch has determined that 54% of all research papers published worldwide between 2007 and 2012 are freely accessible online. The fraction has been steadily increasing. In 1996, the start of the study period, only 28% of papers were free to read. The upward trend reflects the growing use of embargoes that liberate papers from access controls after a year or more. Also contributing to the trend is researchers’ practice of posting freely accessible copies of their papers on their websites. Although the fraction of papers published in open-access journals continues to increase, those papers amounted to only 13% of the freely accessible total in 2012.