Open access in higher education and research journals
The 13 tracked higher education and research journals ranked by the share of their 2023–2025 papers that are open access, with each status's share. Open-access status as OpenAlex reports it for each paper (diamond: published in an open-access journal that charges authors no fee; gold: published in an open-access journal; hybrid: open under a licence in a subscription journal; bronze: free to read on the publisher's site without an open licence; green: only a free copy in a repository; closed: no free copy found). Papers count by publication year; the share is of the papers whose status is known. Also as Markdown.
By category: Finance · Accounting · Economics · Health Economics and Policy · Management · Marketing · Information Systems · Tourism and Hospitality · Higher Education and Research · Operations Research · Statistics · AI
Key findings#
- Of the 4,128 papers the 13 tracked higher education and research journals published in 2023–2025, 56% are open access (diamond 5%, gold 10%, hybrid 32%, bronze 3% and green 6%).
- The open-access share went from 36% in 2017 to 57% in 2025.
- The most open journal is Computers and Education Artificial Intelligence (100%), followed by International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education (100%) and Minerva (80%); the least open is The Internet and Higher Education (32%).
| # | Journal | Papers 2023–2025 | Open access | Diamond | Gold | Hybrid | Bronze | Green | Closed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Computers and Education Artificial Intelligence | 413 | 100% | 0% | 100% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 2 | International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education | 206 | 100% | 100% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 3 | Minerva | 139 | 80% | 0% | 0% | 71% | 4% | 5% | 20% |
| 4 | Higher Education | 609 | 63% | 0% | 0% | 57% | 3% | 3% | 37% |
| 5 | Innovative Higher Education | 229 | 51% | 0% | 0% | 42% | 7% | 2% | 49% |
| 6 | Studies In Educational Evaluation | 242 | 50% | 0% | 0% | 40% | 0% | 10% | 50% |
| 7 | Scientometrics | 890 | 48% | 0% | 0% | 36% | 3% | 9% | 52% |
| 8 | Journal of Computing in Higher Education | 138 | 46% | 0% | 0% | 33% | 10% | 3% | 54% |
| 9 | Higher Education Policy | 135 | 45% | 0% | 0% | 30% | 4% | 12% | 55% |
| 10 | Research in Higher Education | 144 | 45% | 0% | 0% | 36% | 6% | 3% | 55% |
| 11 | Journal of Informetrics | 303 | 41% | 0% | 0% | 20% | 1% | 20% | 59% |
| 12 | International Journal of Educational Development | 586 | 33% | 0% | 0% | 28% | 1% | 4% | 67% |
| 13 | The Internet and Higher Education | 94 | 32% | 0% | 0% | 22% | 4% | 5% | 68% |
By year#
| Year | Papers | Open access | Diamond | Gold | Hybrid | Bronze | Green | Closed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 1,085 | 36% | 4% | 0% | 10% | 4% | 18% | 64% |
| 2018 | 1,018 | 37% | 5% | 0% | 10% | 4% | 18% | 63% |
| 2019 | 1,028 | 37% | 4% | 0% | 12% | 4% | 17% | 63% |
| 2020 | 1,201 | 45% | 5% | 0% | 19% | 5% | 16% | 55% |
| 2021 | 1,274 | 50% | 5% | 3% | 23% | 9% | 10% | 50% |
| 2022 | 1,278 | 59% | 5% | 6% | 29% | 12% | 8% | 41% |
| 2023 | 1,138 | 56% | 6% | 7% | 28% | 7% | 8% | 44% |
| 2024 | 1,446 | 55% | 4% | 11% | 33% | 1% | 7% | 45% |
| 2025 | 1,544 | 57% | 5% | 11% | 35% | 1% | 5% | 43% |
| 2026 (so far) | 1,435 | 54% | 4% | 10% | 35% | 1% | 3% | 46% |
Cite this page
Scholar4AI. (2026). Open access in higher education and research journals. Journal Research Rankings. Retrieved October 31, 2026, from https://scholar4ai.com/rankings/open-access/higher-education-and-research
@misc{scholar4ai-rankings-open-access-higher-education-and-research,
author = {{Scholar4AI}},
title = {Open access in higher education and research journals},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {\url{https://scholar4ai.com/rankings/open-access/higher-education-and-research}},
urldate = {2026-10-31},
note = {Journal Research Rankings; data from OpenAlex (CC0); licensed CC BY-NC 4.0}
}