Acceso abierto en Argentina : Una propuesta para el monitoreo de las publicaciones científicas con OpenAlex

This study proposes a methodology using OpenAlex (OA) for tracking Open Access publications in the case of Argentina, a country where a self-archiving mandate has been in effect since 2013 (Law 26.899, 2013). A sample of 167,240 papers by researchers from the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) was created and analyzed using statistical techniques. We estimate that OA is able to capture between 85-93% of authors for all disciplines, with the exception of Social Sciences and Humanities, where it only reaches an estimated 47%. The availability of papers in Open Access was calculated to be 41% for the period 1953-2021 and 46% when considering exclusively the post-law period (2014-2021). In both periods, gold Open Access made up the most common route. When comparing equal periods post and pre-law, we observed that the upward trend of gold Open Access was pre-existing to the legislation and the availability of closed articles in repositories increased by 5% to what is estimated based on existing trends. However, while the green route has had a positive evolution, it has been the publication in gold journals that has boosted access to Argentine production more rapidly. We concluded that the OA-based methodology, piloted here for the first time, is viable for tracking Open Access in Argentina since it yields percentages similar to other national and international studies.