# A tipping point for open citation data

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2106.04695 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.04695/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 8 Jun 2021.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Mapping Climate Change Research via Open Repositories & AI: advantages and limitations for an evidence-based R&D policy-making](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.09246/) (2022)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Open citation data can improve the transparency and robustness of scientific portfolio analysis, improve science policy decision-making, stimulate downstream commercial activity, and increase the discoverability of scientific articles. Once sparsely populated, public-domain citation databases crossed a threshold of one billion citations in February 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Shortly thereafter, the threshold of one billion public-domain citations from the Crossref database alone. Since the relative advantage of withholding data in closed databases has diminished with the flood of public-domain data, this likely constitutes an irreversible change in the citation data ecosystem. The successes of this movement can guide future open data efforts.