Abstract
Starting from the perspective of Webometrics, this paper explores the improvement effect of institutional repositories (IRs) on their home institutions with respect to web presence and visibility. Taking 19 IRs from institutions affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) as study samples, we calculate the contribution of IRs to the webometric indicators of their home institutions in terms of four indicators: page counts, PDF counts, URL mention counts, and link counts. According to their open-access (OA) status, the IRs of CAS were divided into an OA group and a non-OA group, which were compared with respect to differences in the above indicators as well as browse counts and download counts. The results of the study show that: (1) IRs showed a relatively significant positive improvement with respect to Google page counts, Scholar page counts, and Google PDF counts, although the improvement effect with respect to Scholar PDF counts was almost nonexistent; (2) repositories presented a certain improvement effect with respect to URL mention counts, but the contribution of link counts was limited; and (3) OA repositories manifested noticeable advantages in terms of Google PDF counts, URL mention counts, and download counts. We conclude that IRs can improve the web presence and visibility of their home institutions, while OA IRs offer more benefits to their home institutions.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
