"Open access legal scholarship is 50% more likely to be cited than material published in proprietary journals"

“Citation Advantage of Open Access Legal Scholarship”

James M. Donovan
University of Kentucky College of Law Library

Carol A. Watson
University of Georgia Law School

UGA Legal Studies Research Paper No. 11-07

Abstract:
To date, there have been no studies focusing exclusively on the impact of open access on legal scholarship. We examine open access articles from three journals at the University of Georgia School of Law and confirm that legal scholarship freely available via open access improves an articleâ€™s research impact. Open access legal scholarship â€“ which today appears to account for almost half of the output of law faculties â€“ can expect to receive 50% more citations than non-open access writings of similar age from the same venue.

“Open access legal scholarship is 50% more likely to be cited than material published in proprietary journals”