Leslie Chan on the Impact of Open Access | Open Science

"The Hindu newspaper recently published a highly revealing interview with Leslie Chan, champion of the Open Access Initiative, about the impact of Open Access on scientific development.  A few extracts from the interview in particular deserve some additional comments. While Leslie Chan mainly discusses the benefits of Open Access for science and the impact of OA on social and national development, he also refers to the advantages it can bring to students and professors. Yet his most interesting remarks focus on the impact factor and the introduction of structural changes to the university system. When asked whether OA can be an alternative to traditional publishing, where peer-reviewed journals are the norm, Leslie Chan responds:  'The days of traditional journals are numbered, along with the impact factor.'Chan notes that in reality, the impact factor only reflects the prestige of the journal title, not the actual impact of a particular article. 'Today, technology is changing how readers discover relevant research materials, and article-by-article use, Regardless of journal title, is fast becoming the norm.'  While I tend to agree with Chan that the importance of the impact factor is slowly going to diminish, at least when it comes to measuring an article’s impact on scientific development, I am not convinced about his claim that the days of the impact factor are numbered..."