We explore the impact of Open Access (OA) on stem cell research through a comparison of research reported in OA and in non-OA publications. Using an author co-citation analysis method, we find that (a) OA and non-OA publications cover similar major research areas in the stem cell field, but (b) a more diverse range of basic and medical research is reported in OA publications, while (c) biomedical technology areas appear biased towards non-OA publications.
It appears that OA helps maintain diversity of research in this highly interdisciplinary field, and hence contributes to a healthy balance of scientific advancement.
URL : http://conference.ifla.org/past-wlic/2010/155-strotmann-en.pdf