Nuovi strumenti per la valutazione della ricerca scientifica : il movimento dell'open access e gli archivi istituzionali

The Open Access movement (OA) focused, at the beginning, its attention on the diffusion of information without the slowness and the “weightiness” of the paper (and even online) journals. Later on, it realized that it was also possible to use this model of communication in evaluating scientific research. With the new indicators (h-index, m-index, etc.), the focus is on the work, not on the journal (impact factor). With the development of open archives – institutional or disciplinary – the traditional practice of ex-ante valuation tends to be left aside, while a new ex-post valuation is preferred, where everybody is allowed to assess a document (“open peer review” or “open peer commentary”). The Italian and the European situation are also compared.