abstract
- © 2017, University of La Laguna. All rights reserved.Introduction: Scientific knowledge is essential for the development of nations as well as individuals. Open access journals and online social networks (SN) have the potential to facilitate access. This research aimed to analyze the extent to which open access journals are using SNs as communication channels. Method: Using a quantitative approach, digital methods were used to analyze 3,448 open access journals indexed on Scopus. Results and conclusions: A) In total, 14.4% of the journals have at least one online social networking profile linked to their official websites; B) there is a significant difference between the proportion of first-quartile journals (Q1) having individual social network profiles and the volume of social network followers as compared to the rest of journals (Q2, Q3, and Q4). These results allow us to identify an important opportunity area around using SN and open access journals as tools for the dissemination of scientific knowledge.