
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Report on Peer Review of Scholarly Journals in Education Peer Review Released
Scholarly Publishing Programme Third Quarterly Report 2019
1 OCTOBER 2019 – 31 DECEMBER 2019
Please click on the link below to read ASSAf’s Scholarly Publishing Programme (SPP) quarterly report.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1d2NCUtITKMbO4kaR8ltCmyhV1JS9-9jq
ASSAf Open Access Week 2019 Diary – “Open for Whom? Equity in Open Knowledge” 21 – 25 October 2019

The following selected activities will run throughout the week:
- Follow the Twitter stream #didyouknow
- Quest – Science for South Africa blog post on the rationale behind Open Access for the youth
- Profiling of ASSAf Open Access champion members through the South African Journal of Science (SAJS) facebook page – using #OAWeek #OpenForWhom #SAJSOAWeek #ASSAfOAWeek
- Blog article on the current status of Open Science on the continent, published on the Directory of Open Access Journals blog
Webinar for Scholarly Journal Editors:
An SA Journal’s Move to Open Access
In 2018 the South African Journal of Business Management, an ISI listed journal, moved to an Open Access environment. The managing editor will describe the motivation behind it, the process they followed and the responses they’ve had during this journey.
Presenter: Dr Lara Skelly, Research Manager and Head: PhD Business Management and Administration, University of Stellenbosch Business School
Link: http://bit.ly/2Nv7Q3F
Presentation: http://bit.ly/348wOfO
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Webinar for Scholarly Book Publishers:
The Future of Open Access Books and Springer Open Access Portfolio
In this webinar, you will be introduced to the open access books programme and portfolio at Springer Nature. Findings from the recent global survey of more than 2,500 academic book authors on attitudes towards, and awareness of, open access will also be presented (see ‘The Future of Open Access Books’ white paper).
Presenter: Ms Christina Emery, Marketing Manager: Palgrave Macmillan / Springer Open Access Books programmes at Springer Nature, London
Link: http://bit.ly/2pmSUMP
Presentation: http://bit.ly/2PlZsG5
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24 October 2019
ASSAf Presidential Roundtable: Science, Scholarship and Society on:
‘Is Scholarly Publishing becoming Unaffordable?’ An Evidence-based Dialogue on the Implications of a European Plan S on South African Research
Launched in 2018, Plan S is an initiative by Science Europe for Open Access publishing. The initiative that promotes making full and immediate Open Access a reality, has received much criticism of its implementation guidelines. There is concern about the transition to this model amongst both commercial publishers and a range of learned society journal publishers. How should South African institutions address the implications of Plan S? What exactly will the potential impact be on researchers and institutional budgets? Will Plan S not just be replacing the barrier to read with a barrier to authorship? Through its panellists, the Roundtable will be one of many efforts to understand this contentious subject and the related issues.
Moderator: Prof Jonathan Jansen, Distinguished Professor of Education, Stellenbosch University & President of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf)
Enquiries: renate@assaf.org.za
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Webinar for Scholarly Book Publishers:
Getting the Best out of Data for Open Access Monograph Presses
This webinar will discuss the importance of ensuring that open access scholarly books are visible and easily discoverable on the net and outline steps that can be taken by publishers to maximise visibility. The presenter will also briefly explore the challenges of collecting data about how, where and why open access books are used and provide examples of community-led efforts to support publishers in making the most of data associated with digital books.
Presenter: Mr Alkim Ozaygen, Research Associate: School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry, Faculty of Humanities, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia
Link: http://bit.ly/2PoidIU
Presentation: http://bit.ly/349zPMR
INDEPENDENT JOURNAL PEER REVIEWERS
ASSAf acknowledges the important contribution of the independent peer reviewers who reviewed scholarly South African journals over the period from 2017 to 2018.
Title | Surname | Name |
Prof | Aina | Lenrie Olatokunbo |
Prof | Bank | Lawrence |
Prof | Beukes | Nic |
Dr | Bitso | Connie |
Dr | Breed | Christina (Ida) |
Prof | Britz | Johannes |
Prof | Broady-Preston | Judith |
Ms | Burger | Marlene |
Prof | Caldwell | Marc |
Dr | Cockrell | Dale |
Prof | Coetzee | Marie-Helene |
Prof | Cowling | Lesley |
Dr | Dalamba | Lindelwa |
Prof | De Vaal | Philip |
Dr | Diener | Johann |
Prof | Du Plessis | Chrisna |
Dr | Du Plooy | Raelize |
Prof | Dundu | Morgan |
Dr | Eato | Jonathan |
Prof | Eloff | Jan |
Prof | Emuze | Fidelis |
Dr | Friedman | Avi |
Prof | Gbadamosi | Raimi |
Prof | Gizejowski | Marian |
Prof | Goulding | Anne |
Prof | Hamam | Yskandar |
Mr | Harris | Verne |
Dr | Harrop-Allen | Susan |
Prof | Hooper | Tony |
Prof | Jeppie | Shamil |
Dr | Jones | Jaime |
Dr | Jongbloed | Enrique Uribe |
Ms | Karuri-Sebina | Geci |
Dr | Kekwaletswe | Raymond |
Dr | Kendall | Stephen |
Mr | King | George |
Prof | Klopper | Sandra |
Prof | Knott | Cheryl |
Prof | Kok | Schalk |
Dr | Koutas | Lampros |
Prof | Kriel | Lize |
Ms | Kruger | Cecilia |
Prof | Laubscher | Jacques |
Dr | Lawrence | Frank |
Prof | Le Roux | Hannah |
Prof | Le Roux | Annette |
Prof | Lloyd | Philip |
Prof | Lüdeman | Winfried |
Prof | Lutters | Eric |
Dr | Lynsdale | Cyril |
Prof | Maina | James |
Prof | Mainza | Aubrey |
Prof | Makasa | Paul |
Dr | Makhubu | Nomusa |
Prof | Mbohwa | Charles |
Prof | Meintjies | Corne |
Dr | Mulwo | Abram |
Prof | Munro | Allan |
Dr | Myburgh | Sue |
Dr | Narunsky-Laden | Sonja |
Prof | Nasson | Bill |
Mr | Naude | Mauritz |
Dr | Nel | Hannelie |
Prof | Niemann-Struweg | Ilza |
Dr | Nkosi-Ndlela | Martin |
Dr | Nyamupangedengu | Cuthbert |
Prof | O’ Connor | Cyril |
Prof | Oguamanam | Chidi |
Dr | Ojebode | Ayobami |
Prof | Olorunnisola | Anthony |
Dr | Olsen | Kathryn |
Dr | Opondo | Patricia |
Prof | Overton de Klerk | Nina |
Dr | Panebianco-Warrens | Clorinda |
Prof | Perold | WJ |
Prof | Phillips | Huw |
Mr | Pissarra | Mario |
Dr | Pooley | Thomas |
Prof | Pretorius | Deirdre |
Prof | Puth | Gustav |
Prof | Rawatlal | Randhir |
Prof | Rivera | Milagros |
Dr | Saidi | Finzi |
Prof | Sandenbergh | Roelf |
Dr | Sanya | Tom |
Prof | Sesanti | Simphiwe |
Ms | Silverman | Melinda |
Prof | Simbao | Ruth |
Dr | Snedden | Glen |
Dr | Somma | Donato |
Prof | Steyn | Gerald |
Prof | Taigbenu | Akpofure |
Prof | Taylor | Jane |
Dr | Thom-Wium | Matildie |
Dr | Tonsing | Gertrud |
Prof | Town | Stephen |
Dr | Tuksar | Stanislav |
Prof | Van Belle | Jean-paul |
Prof | Van der Waldt | De la Rey |
Dr | Van der Walt | Martin |
Prof | Van Graan | Andre |
Prof | Van Robbroeck | Lize |
Dr | Van Schoor | Chris |
Prof | Van Wyk | Ben |
Mr | Verhaeghe | Benoit |
Prof | Von Solms | Basie |
Prof | Wagner | Nikki |
Prof | Watson | Bruce |
Dr | Windapo | Abimbola Olukemi |
Statement on Ethical Research and Scholarly Publishing Practices
Jointly issued by ASSAf, CHE, DHET, DST, NRF and USAf
Signed on 31 July 2019

Scholarly Publishing Programme First Quarterly Report 2019 (Summary)
1 APRIL 2019 – 30 JUNE 2019
Please click on the link below to read ASSAf’s Scholarly Publishing Programme (SPP) quarterly report.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1wbVeuAsuTp2nrRVYVyyhB-SXImj_YMBL
Open Access Week 2019

Scholarly Publishing Programme Fourth Quarterly Report (Summary)
SciELO SA: Collection and Usage Growth
Over the past quarter no scholarly journal titles were added to the collection. There are currently 1 739 South African open access journal issues on the Scientific Electronic Library Online – South Africa (SciELO SA platform), 27 619 articles and 76 journal titles. http://www.scielo.org.za/ scielo. php? script=sci_alphabetic&lng=en&nrm=iso
The usage of the articles in the platform attests to the value the platform offers. The total number of views of South African open access research via SciELO SA since 2009 totals more than 16,5 million to date:
3-month period comparison | Comparison of views |
Jan 2018 to March 2018 | 860 107 |
Jan 2019 to March 2019 | 1 504 893 (43% increase) |
Planning is underway to assist SciELO SA journal editors to incorporate the new SciELO Network best-practice criteria in the journals.At the end of March 2019, a bi-annual assessment of the SciELO SA platform took place.
Institutional Repository
The following collections are included in the IR:
- ASSAf Consensus Study Reports
- ASSAf Workshop Proceedings and Other Reports
- ASSAf Policymakers’ Booklets
- Quest: Science for South Africa
The overall repository usage for the last three months was as follows:
Jan 2019 | Feb 2019 | Mch 2019 | % Increase | |
Views | 32 014 | 34 206 | 36 664 | 14.52 |
Downloads | 21 544 | 23 025 | 24 555 | 13.98 |
African Open Science Platform (AOSP)
The AOSP is currently in its third year, documenting findings in a landscape report and developing supporting material (frameworks) to guide African countries towards the implementation of Open Science Policy, ICT Infrastructure, skills development/ capacity building and incentives for sharing data and research. During the past months, the draft documentation was compiled and submitted for review to the members of the AOSP Advisory Council and the AOSP Technical Advisory Board. A second survey was developed and launched to further inform the development of the frameworks.
AOSP further had two opportunities to test the findings from the landscape report. A presentation was made during a meeting of the Network of Data and Information Curation Communities (NeDICC) on 14 March 2019, as well as during the University Pretoria and Carnegie Corporation of New York Capstone Conference on 26 March 2019
Report on Grouped Peer Review of Journals
The Report on Grouped Peer Review of Scholarly Journals in Communication and Information Sciences was published and is available: http://hdl.handle.net/ 20.500.11911/111
The peer review of journals in the Communication and Information Sciences disciplinary group included 14 journals, each represented by three volumes covering the period from 2013 to 2015. A total of 42 senior researchers from across the country conducted the reviews.
The review process showed that the quality of articles was overall good to excellent, also reflecting effective peer evaluation systems. In a few instances, the need for more articles from African countries was raised. The inclusion of additional scholarly features like critical and thematic editorials, topical reviews and book reviews were recommended. It was recommended that all 14 journals maintain their DHET accreditation status.
ASSAF-hosted OJS Journals
ASSAf Council approved the continuation of the ASSAf OJS Journals platform beyond the pilot stage in February 2019. Subject to capacity, the hosting service can now be extended to other qualifying journals at an annual cost. Finalisation of the formal launch is underway. Dimensions – a digital tool that gathers citation data from various platforms, indexers and harvesters – has been added to the platform for all journals. Dimensions calculates and displays the citation count on the landing page of each article.
Quest: Science for South Africa
ASSAf attended the SciFest in Grahamstown which took place from 6 –12 March 2019. This year differs from the previous years. For the first time the Quest outreach joined the SciFest outreach in iRhini and Uitenhage. Both venues attracted learners from grade 10 –12. Mr Tsepo Majake, Education Project Officer, gave a physical science presentation on Falling Bodies.
ASSAf Report on Research Publishing in and from South Africa Launched
The Second ASSAf Report on Research Publishing in and from South Africa which was launched on 29 April 2019 is now available online and can be accessed via this link: http://research.assaf.org.za/handle/20.500.11911/114
The article How to approach the revolution in scholarly publishing has been published in The Conversation. Access the article via this link.