Open citations: A letter from the scientometric community to scholarly publishers
December 5th, 2017
Openness is central to the research endeavor. It is essential to promote reproducibility and appraisal of research, reduce misconduct, and ensure equitable access to and participation in science. Yet, calls for increased openness in science are often met with initial resistance. The introduction of pre-print servers, open access repositories, and open data sets were, for example, initially resisted, but eventually adopted without adverse effects to the scholarly ecosystem. The launch of the Initiative for Open Citations (I4OC) is facing similar obstacles. This initiative has campaigned for scholarly publishers to make openly available the references found in articles from their journals. Many publishers, including most of the large ones, support the initiative and have opened their references. However, the initiative still lacks support from a minority of the large publishers.
Calls for enhanced reproducibility have been heard across all fields of science. However, scientometrics is often unable to meet these standards, largely because of the dependency of bibliometric research upon proprietary data sources. The ability to undertake large-scale and generalizable bibliometric research, both basic and applied, is limited to a few well-funded centers that can afford to pay for full access to the raw data of Web of Science or Scopus. The remaining bulk of bibliometric research is restricted to the analysis of small data sets or the use of freely available data sources such as PubMed, Google Scholar, and Microsoft Academic. Although these freely available data sources are valuable, they suffer from shortcomings, such as incomplete coverage, data quality problems, lack of transparency, or limited large-scale accessibility. In order to conduct rigorous analyses, scientometricians need a data source that is freely available and comprehensive. This is a matter of scientific integrity, scientific progress, and equity—we must ensure that all members of the scientometric community are able to participate in and validate the research in the field. I4OC is striving to create such an opportunity.
I4OC requests that all scholarly publishers make references openly available by providing access to the reference lists they submit to Crossref. At present, most of the large publishers—including the American Physical Society, Cambridge University Press, PLOS, SAGE, Springer Nature, and Wiley—have opened their reference lists. As a result, half of the references deposited in Crossref are now freely available. We urge all publishers who have not yet opened their reference lists to do so now. This includes the American Chemical Society, Elsevier, IEEE, and Wolters Kluwer Health. By far the largest number of closed references can be found in journals published by Elsevier: of the approximately half a billion closed references stored in Crossref, 65% are from Elsevier journals. Opening these references would place the proportion of open references at nearly 83%.
Open availability of citation data is important not only for the scientometric community, but also for science at large. Scientometrics is widely used to support science policy and research evaluation, with consequences for the entire scientific community. There is a need for specialized organizations, both commercial and non-commercial, that offer scientometric services. However, in order to guarantee full transparency and reproducibility of scientometric analyses, these analyses need to be based on open data sources. Analyses based on proprietary data sources have limited transparency and tend to be difficult to reproduce. Yet, as long as half of all references are missing in open data sources such as Crossref, analyses based on these data sources do not offer a viable alternative. With such a large proportion of missing references, these data sources provide an incomplete portrait of the scholarly landscape, which can lead to negative effects, such as policies that ignore certain areas of research or certain countries.
Scientometricians have a professional obligation to promote sound practices in our field. In the current environment, advocating for open references is critical to ensure replicable and equitable research practices. We should use our relationships with journals—as authors, reviewers, and editorial board members—to advocate for openness and should expect scientometric journals to be leaders in this respect. References are a product of scholarly work and represent the backbone of science—demonstrating the origin and advancement of knowledge—and provide essential information for studying science and making decisions about the future of research. References are generated by the academic community and should be freely available to this community. We therefore issue a strong call to all publishers to make available to the academic community that which it created in the first place. To those publishers that have not already responded to the Initiative for Open Citations, our plea is: open citations now!
Original signatories
Cassidy R. Sugimoto
Indiana University Bloomington; President of the International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics
Ludo Waltman
CWTS, Leiden University; Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Informetrics
Vincent Larivière
Université de Montréal; Observatoire des Sciences et des Technologies; Associate Editor of Journal of Informetrics
Nees Jan van Eck
CWTS, Leiden University
Kevin W. Boyack
SciTech Strategies
Paul Wouters
CWTS, Leiden University
Sarah de Rijcke
CWTS, Leiden University
List of signatories
INGENIO (CSIC-UPV)
University of Malaya
National Research Council of Italy; Associate Editor of Journal of Economic Surveys
Sistema de Información Científica Redalyc
Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México
KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
Yildirim Beyazit University
Universitas Airlangga
NIFU
Hacettepe University
Swedish Research Council
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
Simon Fraser University
University of Bern
CFA, Centre for Studies on Research and Research Policy, Aarhus University
Queen's University Belfast
Linnaeus university
Uppsala university
CWTS, Leiden University
University of Wolverhampton
Columbia University & American Physical Society
University of Skövde
DST Centre for Policy Research, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
CEPED-IRD & IFRIS
Lund University
National Research Council of Italy
Università di Salerno
Texas Tech University
CLACSO-Latin American Council of Social Sciences
United Nations, ESCWA
Nagoya Gakuin University, Japan
University of Bergamo, head of the Department of Law
Bar-llan University
Charles University
University Carlos III of Madrid
Hamburg University of Applied Sciences
Faculty of Sciences, Univesity of Sfax, Tunisia
University of Washington
Maastricht University, The Netherlands
Universidad Panamericana Campus Guadalajara
École de technologie supérieure
University of Coimbra
CWTS, Leiden University
Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1
Wayne State University
UB Tübingen
University of Kentucky
KU Leuven
University of Toulouse
São Paulo State University (UNESP)
University of A Coruna- Spain
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Panjab University, INDIA
rOpenSci
Drexel University; Editor-in-Chief of Information Visualization; Specialty Chief Editor of Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics
National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences
National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Institute of Public Goods and Policies (CSIC)
Chulalongkorn University
IUPUI
University of Cádiz, Spain
École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
Umeå University
Technical University of Denmark
SPRU, University of Sussex
UiT The Arctic University of Norway
London School of Economics and Political Science
Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso
CWTS-Leiden University
Imperial College London
University of Rome "Tor Vergata"
CNRS
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Kastamonu University
Scimago Research Group
Chalmers University of Technology
Universidad de Granada
ISTI, CNR (Italy)
Centre for Higher Education Research and Evaluation, Lancaster University, UK
CEA
Beijing Normal University
Simon Fraser University
National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences
IIM Ahmedabad
Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Georgia Institute of Technology Library
BIDS, University of California, Berkeley
Macquarie University, Australia
CNRS Centre Marc Bloch Berlin
-
University of Bordeaux
Örebro University
Maastricht University
University of Antwerp
Simon Fraser University
The Carpentries
Uppsala University
University of Bath
University of Antwerp
CWTS, Leiden University
Diponegoro University, Indonesia
National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences
UiT The Arctic University of Norway
University of Kentucky
CWTS, Leiden University
UiT The Arctic University of Norway
TIB – Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology
Utrecht Universitty
MBIE, New Zealand
Zhejiang University
ex Örebro University e-publishing
Loughborough University
University of Milan
Universidad de Salamanca
University of Cambridge
The Royal Danish Library
Illinois Institute of Technology
CIESPAL, Ecuador
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Greece
University of Hertfordshire
National Library of Cuba; Editor-in-Chief of Bibliotecas. Anales de Investigación
University of Bordeaux
Lund University
cnam-cedric
University of Skövde
Université de Montréal
Universidad de la República
University of Antwerp
National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences
University of Rajasthan, Jaipur
Northwestern University
Faculty of Sciences, University of Sfax, Tunisia
University of Borås
Tilburg University
Universidad Central de Chile
Middlesex University London
Information Technology University
TIB – Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology
University of Ottawa
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Universidade Federal de São Carlos
NCSU Libraries
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
UNIVERSITY OF GRANADA
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Bucharest University of Economic Studies
German Center for Higher Education Research and Science Studies (DZHW), Berlin
FH-Bielefeld
University of Kentucky Libraries
Northwestern University
UiT The Arctic University of Norway
Stony Brook University
Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona
University of Geneva Library
Charles Sturt University
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata
Central University of Gujarat
Gothenburg University Library
Université Toulouse Jean Jaurés
KIP, Universität Heidelberg
The Open University
KTH Royal Institute of Technology
University of Skövde Library
Chalmers University of Technology
University of Wisconsin Parkside
Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information
Uppsala University
University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland
Syracuse University; co-maintainer Citation Style Language
Jyväskylä University
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
SPRU, University of Sussex
University of Kent
KMi, The Open University
Utrecht University
Universidad Andres Bello
The Three-Mode Company
University of Twente
Madurai Kamaraj University
Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar
Hanken School of Economics
Universitat de Barcelona
CWTS, Leiden University
Karolinska Institutet
CNRS
Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information
Academy of Finland
emlyon business school
University of Amsterdam
shanghai maritime university
National Library of Sweden
Chalmers University of Technology
UiT The Arctic University of Norway
University of Oklahoma
University of Oslo Library
CERGE-EI
Robert Gordon University Aberdeen
University of Edinburgh
University of Birmingham
Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies
University of the Punjab, Pakistan
LISST, Toulouse University
University of Milano
ISTI-CNR
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Ghent University
Universidade Federal de Rondônia
SPRU, University of Sussex
University of Granada
Swiss National Science Foundation
GESIS Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences
Indiana
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata
Saxon State and University Library
University of Oxford
University of Bergen
Federal University of São Carlos, Brazil
University of Coimbra
KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
iSchool, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Forschungszentrum Jülich, Central Library
Scholarly Communications Consultant
Université de Montréal
Centre for Culture and Technology, Curtin University
University of Cadiz
University of Zaragoza
University of São Paulo
CERGE-EI
Indiana University Bloomington
Delft University of Technology
Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts
CWTS, Leiden University
CWTS - Leiden University
Swedish School of Library and Information Science, University of Borås
University of Copenhagen
University of Cambridge
Leiden University
Universidad Carlos III
Editor in Chief DOAJ
RGU
Universitat Politècnica de València
Cybermetrics Lab
independent
University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy
SciELO Program
Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information
DTU Management Engineering
Universidad Nacional de Colombia
University of Twente
Embrapa SGI
Umeå university
ZBW Leibniz Information Center for Economics
Masaryk University Brno
University of Oslo
Federal University of São Carlos, Brazil
Federation of Finnish Learned Societies
University of Cantabria, Spain
APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University
Complutense University
Biblioteca Nacional de Ciencias de la Salud, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spain
Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour - Service Commun de la Documentation
Ingenio (CSIC-UPV), Universitat Politècnica de València
Chalmers University of Technology
Université Paris 7
CWTS, Leiden University
Karolinska Institutet
TU Graz
University of Manchester
Univerisidad Autónoma del Estado de Mexico
Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal
KU Leuven; Co-Editor-in Chief of Journal of Data and Information Science
King's College London
Universidad Nacional de La Plata
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
Auckland University of Technology
University of Oxford
Information Technology University, Lahore, Pakistan
ISM, CNR (Italy)
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Center for Scientific Information Analysis and Monitoring, Institute for Informatics and Automation Problems of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia
Data Archiving and Networked Services, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Chalmers University of Technology & University of Borås
University of Göttingen, State and University Library
Aarhus University
State University of New York
Nanyang Technological University
Ruhr-University Bochum
Palestine Polytechnic University
University of Kentucky
Wayne State University
ICMR-National AIDS Research Institute
National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Peking University
University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, India
McGill University
University of California, Davis
Utrecht University
Universidade Nove de Julho-UNINOVE
Banaras Hindu University, India
NIFU
Karolinska institutet
University of Illinois
SciTech Strategies
Stockholm University
Yonsei University
German Centre of Higher Education Research and Science Studies (DZHW)
University of Ljubljana
Director, Office for Scholarly Communication, Harvard University
Birla Institute of Scientific Research
Anna University
University of Education
Paulista State University
Wikimedia Foundation
Hacettepe University
CWTS, Leiden University
University of Bristol
The Royal Society
Twente University BMS Steps
University of Wolverhampton
Chalmers University of Technology
CWTS, Leiden University
University of Zagreb
National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Hacettepe University
CWTS, Leiden University
University of Sfax, Tunisia
CWTS - Leiden University
CWTS, Leiden University
MDPI, Basel, Switzerland
TU Berlin
Universidad de Chile
University of Antwerp
Kenedict Innovation Analytics
University of Liège Belgium
Colwiz
Université de Lausannne
Chalmers University of Technology
Czech Academy of Sciences
Uppsala universitet
WISE Lab, Dalian University of Technology
Aarhus university
UNU-MERIT, The Netherlands
University of Pittsburgh
GESIS Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences
University of Washington
University of South Florida
Maastricht University
University of Auckland
University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee
Beijing Normal University
University of Science and Technology of China
Maastricht University
Dalian University of Technology
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of Arkansas
Drexel University
National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences
University of Malaya
Eastern Kentucky University
Beijing Institute of Technology
National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences
CWTS, Leiden University
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Greece
Citation Style Language
Zhejiang University
National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Mannheim University Library