TWENTY YEARS OF OPEN ACCESS IN HEALTH RESEARCH IN BRAZIL
APCS, IMPACT AND EQUITY
Keywords:
scholarly communication, article processing charges, research assessmentAbstract
This study aimed to analyze the adoption of Open Access (OA) publishing models by health researchers affiliated with Brazilian institutions between 2005 and 2024. A total of 673,139 articles indexed in Scopus were analyzed, and access models were identified via Unpaywall. Data on Article Processing Charges (APCs) and Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) were obtained from OpenAlex. Generalized Linear Models were employed to estimate the influence of multiple factors on FWCI. During the period, a total of US$334 million was spent on APCs, including US$253.7 million for Gold OA and US$80.3 million for Hybrid OA. Furthermore, all OA models were negatively associated with FWCI. The findings indicate that the central role of APCs in OA publishing reflects a reconfiguration of publication strategies, with payment not necessarily translating into greater scientific impact. In addition, the high costs, particularly in the Hybrid model, suggest that APCs remain a barrier to publication. These results may inform more equitable and sustainable scientific communication policies.