Data from SAK were used as follows for the purposes of this report:
• The 20 most productive article authorsin each of the five broad fields were identified and the total number of articles per author calcu- lated by field. The author names were searched in both the mono- graphs and collected works databases, resulting in a new dataset where, for each author, the number of monographs and number of chapters in collected works were linked to the number of articles pro- duced. This was done in order to establish whether or not productive article authors had also produced monographs and chapters in col- lected works. Because SAK was being updated at the time of analy- sis comprehensively to cover all journal articles up to 2007, the article period covers only the years 2001 to 2004, but the period for mono- graphs and collected works was from 2001 to 2006.
• The most productive monograph authorswere identified (those with at least two monographs in the monograph database) and the names of the authors searched in SAK. For each author it was estab- lished whether he/she had produced any articles between 2001 and 2004. The resulting dataset contained both the numbers of articles and monographs per author, as well as the numbers of chapters in collected works produced by these particular monograph authors.
• The most productive authors of chapters in collected works were identified (those with at least three chapters in the collected works database) and the author names searched in SAK. This provided in a dataset where, for each productive chapter author, the number of articles published between 2001 and 2004 (obtained from SAK), the number of chapters (obtained from the collected works data- base) and the number of monographs (obtained from the mono- graph database), could all be determined.
Some background on ISI-indexed and other South African
• Articles published in a journal included in the International Bibliogra- phy of the Social Sciences (IBSS) published by the British Museum and the London School of Economics.
• Articles published in a journal included in the list of South African jour- nals accredited by the DoHET and reviewed on a regular basis.
There are currently at least 255 South African scientific or scholarly jour- nals recognised by the DoHET as meeting the minimum requirements for state subsidy under the policy of supply-side support for authors (through block grants to their institutions) who publish in these journals.9 Thirty-two of these journals currently appear in one of the ISI Citation In- dexes, 14 are indexed in the International Bibliography of the Social Sci- ences (two journals appearing in both), while the remaining 220 journals are ‘accredited’ separately by the Department (2003 list and 2004 sup- plementary lists).
The criteria that these non-indexed scholarly journals had to meet in order to be accredited by the DoHET were the following:
• The purpose of the journal had to be to disseminate research results, and the content had to support high-level learning, teaching and research in the subject area concerned;
• The journal had to have an ISSN (International Standard Serial Num- ber);
• The journal had to be published regularly (frequency of publication);
• The journal had to have an editorial board that was reflective of ex- pertise in the subject area covered;
• The members of the editorial board had to have standing in their re- spective subject areas in terms of their own peer-reviewed research, through publications and citations;
• Articles accepted for publication in the journal had to be peer-re- viewed;
• The journal had to be distributed beyond a single institution (holdings of South African and/or international Libraries were the standard against which this criterion was measured).
A comprehensive analysis and critique of South African journals in this non-indexed list was included in the 2006 ASSAf Report10, and published by Mouton, Boshoff and Tijssen.11The ASSAf Report also examined the DoHET research output policy in depth, and made ten recommendations for enhancing the quality and visibility of South African scholarly journals.
Recommendations arising from this Chapter
The Panel recommends that a national Scholarly Book Publishers’ Forum should be established under the auspices of the Academy as a ‘com- panion’ to the already existing National Scholarly Editors’ Forum relating to journals published in South Africa.
(The existence of a National Scholarly Book Publishers’ Forum run under the auspices of ASSAf would provide a useful tool cooperatively to ap- proach the systemic issues addressed in this Report. Terms of reference for such a Forum could be modelled on those already accepted for the Editors’ Forum, and aligned with existing organisations such as the Pub- lishers’ Association of South Africa, PASA. )
It is further recommended that some form of organised and sustainable national book publishing support system be established to create a cli- mate in which book-publishing decisions can be freed of purely com- mercial considerations. This could be linked to a system of regionalised and/or partially centralised consortial infrastructure to support the pub- lishing of scholarly books and journals, which could include compo- nents for distribution and logistical infrastructure, co-publishing or other platforms for international marketing and promotion, and a national in- ternet platform for open access publications. Alignment with library and repository functions at institutional and other levels could enhance the development of new kinds of organisations centrally focused on the core mission of scholarship.
(One useful, micro-level element of a new approach to book publishing could be an institutional system in which a given and generally agreed percentage of production expenditure is earmarked for the internal subsidisation of those publishing costs of scholarly books produced by scholars on the staff that are not legitimately coverable by commercial publishers. An additional or alternative systemic approach, based on the system in Canada, could be the setting up of a national fund to subvent the publishing of scholarly books. The recommended third ap- proach is to strengthen the existing scholarly presses by setting up con- sortia, well-developed forms of regional and national collaboration, as a highly appropriate response to meeting cost pressures and small mar- kets, creating economies of scale and making it easier to focus on the core role of scholarly publishing. Higher education institutions need to reflect deeply on the true role of university presses in disseminating dis- tinctive products of high-level scholarship.)
The Panel also recommends that the principle of maximising open ac- cess, already recommended by the Academy for scholarly journals, be extended as far as possible (and with careful attention to sustainable business models) to books published (or co-published) in South Africa, with the adoption of formats and technology platforms compatible with bibliometric requirements such as citation indexing and information- rich online features.
(Experience, for example, that of the HSRC Press in South Africa, has shown that online availability may significantly enhance the marketing and sales of print copies of scholarly materials. If business models demonstrably prevent moving in this direction, dual print-plus-electronic publishing is an option that enhances access on the part of (paying) users, associated with, or following, online browsing of sections of the rel- evant indexes and even text. Citation indexing is only compatible with print-only publishing of books if publishers provide electronic access to their materials to indexing operators. The growing importance of institu- tional repositories (in which only e-versions of books or book chapters can be deposited) and the increasingly common requirement of both public and private funders for placement by authors of publications in open access journals or repositories, point inexorably to a future model for the publishing of scholarly books where the dual mode of ‘pay-for- print’ and ‘see for free’ will be the standard. It appears that this is com- patible with enhanced, or at least viable, commercial publishing.)
References
1. Makotsi, R., Musonda, F., Keineetse, K. et al. (2000) Expanding the Book Trade across Africa: A study of current barriers and future potential. Expanded Edition of the ADEA/ APNET Study on the Intra-African Trade of Books. ADEA Working Group on Books and Learning Materials.
2. Darko-Ampem, K.O. (2000) Indigenous publishing in Africa: An overview of accelerated training and research and African self-help efforts. Mots Pluriels 2000, viewed ont13:April.2007 at http://www.arts.uwa.edu.au/MotsPluriels/MP1300koda.html.
3. Le Roux, E. (2007) Transforming a Publishing Division into a Scholarly Press: A Feasibility study of the Africa Institute of South Africa. Un- published thesis submitted in fulfilment of the degree MIS in Pub- lishing. Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology at the University of Pretoria.
4. Pouris, A. and Pouris, A. (2009) “The state of science and technol- ogy in Africa (2000-2004): A scientometric assessment”. Sciento- metrics, 79: 297-309.
5. Galloway, F. and Struik, W. (2009) Book publishing industry annual survey: broad trends over two years(2006-7). School of Informa- tion Technology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria.
6. Evans, N. and Seeber, M. (2000) The politics of publishing in South Africa. Holger Ehling Publishing Ltd, London UK.
7. South African National Library and information Consortium (SAN- LiC) at http://www.cosalc.ac.za (accessed on 8 June 2009).
8. Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), accessed on 8 June 2009 at http:// www.scielo.org.
9. Department of Education, Higher Education Branch: Policy and procedures for measurement of research output of public higher education institutions, viewed at www.education.gov.za/dy- namic/ dynamic.aspx?pageid=326&dirid=11.
10. Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf).(2006) Report on a Strategic Approach to Research Publishing in South Africa. Acad- emy of Science of South Africa, Pretoria.
11. Mouton, J., Boshoff, N. and Tijssen, R. (2006) “A comprehensive analysis of South African journals”, Report on a Strategic Ap- proach to Research Publishing in South Africa. ASSAf, Pretoria.
CHAPTER 3
The use of scholarly books in academe
In this Chapter, we examine a number of aspects of how academics see scholarly books. Why is peer review so important? How highly are books valued and how much are they cited? How are they rated in comparison with journal articles, and to whom are they addressed? How are scholarly books distinguished from other books?
The answers to these questions are pivotal to the development of a deep research culture, and to optimal policy formulation for the national system of innovation.