For the first time, the publication opening rate has passed the 50% mark, but large disparities remain between the disciplines.
According to the French Open Science Barometer (BSO) more than half of French scientific publications are now open access: 56% of 2019 production (measured in 2020), i.e. the equivalent of 87,000 publications. This rate confirms a trend observed for several years with the national open science policy.
“For the first time, the opening rate of the publications of the last year exceeds that of the others, which testifies to shorter delays in the availability in open access, whatever the mode of opening” welcomes the Open science committee. In 2018, the number of French open access scientific publications amounted to 74,996, i.e. 49% of the 155,000 publications listed.
Almost three-quarters of mathematics publications
But all disciplines are not in the same boat. With a rate of 74.9%, mathematics leads open access, mainly in open archives, ahead of fundamental biology (69%). With 44.9%, the human sciences do not yet benefit from the same enthusiasm for open access. For Open Science, “these differences should not obscure the fact that the increase in the opening rate is observed in all disciplines, despite a still strong disparity”.
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