Open Access Journals: A Pathway to Scientific Information in Iran

This paper reviews the movement of open access (OA) journals in Iran, investigates and compares the influence of Iranian journals in terms of citation ranking, using the Citation Indexes of Thomson-ISI. There has been growth in the number of open access journals in Iran. The advantages of open access for Iranian researchers are: (i) provides access to other research done in their research fields; (ii) speeds up scholarly communication and scientific dialog between researchers; (iii) provides greater visibility and possibly greater impact, although only if open access to the full text is provided. Authors' experiences and motivations have a vital and key role to play in open access. This study indicates that for linguistic reasons, Iranian (Persian-language) journals may not receive and attract the attention that they deserve from the international scientific community. Since there has been little or no discussion in the literature on the impact that the increasing use of OA journals has on scientific production and academic institutions in developing countries, this case study of Iranian experience should be useful for developing countries.