Open Access Scholarly Communications on Climate Change Research in SAARC Countries

A Scientometric Analysis

Abstract

The research aims to examine the development and characteristics of open access (OA) scholarly communication on climate change in the SAARC countries (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation). The objectives include determining trends in OA publications, measuring research collaboration, identifying leading countries in OA journal distribution, examining doubling periods and relative growth rates, and exploring overlay visualizations of authors and organizations using scientometric indicators. A comprehensive search was conducted in the Web of Science Core Collection from 2008 to 2022 to gather pertinent OA publications. A total of 5,814 publications were retrieved. There is a significant increase in OA from 0.30% in 2008 to 25.76% in 2022. Collaboration among SAARC countries is prevalent, with India leading in joint publications. This study also highlights the top collaborating institutions within each country and the escalated publication growth rate over the years. The doubling time varied from approximately 0.707 to 2.32 years, suggesting a changing growth pace. Overall, all four types of OA publications experienced considerable growth over the 15 years, with Gold OA leading the way with the most growth, followed by Green OA. The results of this research help clarify the landscape of OA scholarly communication on climate change in the SAARC countries; and can guide strategies to enhance research collaboration, promote OA publishing, and effectively address climate change challenges.