Does Online Access Promote Research in Developing Countries?
Empirical Evidence from Article-Level Data
Frank Mueller-Langer, Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, Munich
Marc Scheufen, Ruhr University Bochum
Patrick Waelbroeck, Télécom ParisTech
Munich Discussion Paper No. 2017-4
Department of Economics
University of Munich
Volkswirtschaftliche Fakultät
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Abstract
Universities in developing countries have rarely been able to subscribe to academic journals
in the past. The “Online Access to Research in the Environment” initiative (OARE) provides
institutions in developing countries with free online access to more than 5,700 environmental
science journals. Here we analyze the effect of OARE on scientific output in five developing
countries.
We apply difference-in-difference estimation using panel data for 18,955 articles
from 798 research institutions. We find that online access via OARE increases publication
output by at least 43% while lower-ranked institutions located in remote areas benefit less.
Results are robust when we apply instrumental variables to account for information diffusion
and Bayesian estimation to control for self-selection.
Keywords: Online Access, Academic Publishing, Information Diffusion Processes,
Instrumental Variables, Bayesian Estimation
JEL codes: O33 (Technological Change: Choices and Consequences, Diffusion Processes),
L17 (Open Source Products and Markets).
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