Analysis of Open Science Practices and Citation Impact

This research article investigates the effects of sharing research data, code, and preprints on citation counts within the context of Open Science practices. The study utilizes a dataset known as Open Science Indicators, which encompasses all PLOS publications from 2018 to 2023, alongside a comparison group from the PMC Open Access Subset, analyzing approximately 122,000 publications. The findings reveal that the early release of publications as preprints correlates with a significant citation advantage of about 20.2% on average, while sharing data in online repositories correlates with a smaller citation advantage of 4.3%. However, no significant citation advantage was found for sharing code. The article emphasizes the varying degrees of Open Science practice adoption across different scientific disciplines and highlights the need for further research into alternative measures of impact beyond citations. The results are relevant to researchers, publishers, funders, and policymakers interested in the implications of Open Science on academic impact.