Abstract
This study aims to evaluate the return on investment (ROI) of ScienceDirect subscriptions at Universitas Terbuka during the 2024–2026 period by examining research productivity, publication characteristics, and scholarly impact beyond conventional usage statistics. Rather than assessing subscription value solely through download counts, this study adopts a value-based assessment approach that integrates research performance indicators. A quantitative descriptive design with a bibliometric approach was employed. The dataset comprised 31 Scopus-indexed publications affiliated with Universitas Terbuka published between 2024 and 2026. Data were analyzed using publication productivity, citation performance, publication outlets, publisher distribution, and collaboration patterns. The findings indicate relatively stable research productivity, with 12 publications in 2024, 10 in 2025, and 9 in 2026. Publications were disseminated across various international publishers, predominantly Emerald, Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, AIP Publishing, and Springer Nature, while no publication in the analyzed dataset appeared in Elsevier journals hosted on ScienceDirect. These findings suggest that the primary value of ScienceDirect lies not in serving as a publication destination but in functioning as a strategic knowledge infrastructure that supports literature discovery, research design, and scholarly writing. Consequently, evaluating subscription ROI should extend beyond COUNTER usage statistics and incorporate research productivity, citation impact, collaboration, and alternative metrics to capture broader institutional benefits. This study contributes a multidimensional framework for assessing electronic resource investments in academic libraries and provides empirical evidence to support evidence-based collection management and research policy in open and distance higher education institutions.
