Are there systematic trends (even biases) in publication patterns across institutions as far as journals used for publication of peer-reviewed articles are concerned? This question touches on a range of related issues referring to WHERE scholars publish. More specifi cally, two questions are addressed:
■ Where do scholars from the most research-active universities publish, in relation to the distinction between ISI/non-ISI and foreign/local journals?
■ Is there a clear pattern (correlation) between institutional affi liation and publication in certain South African journals? Stated differently, do academics from University X or Institution Y tend to publish more in journals that are produced and edited at their institutions?
As far as the fi rst question is concerned, nine universities were selected with the highest research output over the past 13 years. In each case, we looked at four indicators:
■ How many article equivalents did the institution produce over this period and what proportion appeared in local South African journals?
■ In how many journals in total did the institution publish its article output for the period 1990 – 2003?
■ What proportion of these articles appeared in the 50 journals in which the most articles were published?
■ What is the proportion of ISI-journals in these last-mentioned 50 journals?
■ What is the proportion of foreign journals in the same 50 journals?
The results of these analyses are summarized in Table 8.
The results in column 1 show a clear correlation – as one would expect – between the “size”
of an institution’s research activity, measured in terms of total article equivalents, and the number of journals in which staff at that university published their papers (column 4). The Universities of Cape Town, the Witwatersrand and Stellenbosch each published their articles in more than 2000
Journal title Index Nr of articles % Of total articles
Journal of Industrial Psychology Non-ISI & SA 221 1.46
Perspectives in Education Isi & Sa 217 1.43
Communicatio Non-ISI & SA 216 1.43
Journal for Studies in Economics and Econometrics Non-ISI & SA 215 1.42
Curationis: The South African Journal of Nursing Non-ISI & SA 208 1.37
South African Journal of Ethnology Non-ISI & SA 206 1.36
Total 51.30
Table 8: Institutional profi les by journal indicators University
Total sum of article equivalents
(1)
Total sum of article equivalents in SA
journals (2)
% of article equivalents in SA
journals (3 = 1/2)
Total Nr of Journals Published (4)
Ratio of articles to journals (5
= 1/3)
% of articles in Top 50 Journals
(6)
ISI-journals (Top 50) (7)
Foreign journals (Top 50)
(8)
Cape Town 9309 3399 36.5% 2438 3.82 23% 96% 74%
Witwatersrand 9179 3738 40.7% 2294 4.00 23% 72% 52%
Stellenbosch 8639 5199 60.2% 2096 4.12 24% 42% 30%
Pretoria 8314 4988 60.0% 1691 4.92 28% 60% 36%
Natal 5902 2691 45.6% 1610 3.67 26% 74% 54%
Free State 3532 2199 62.2% 798 4.43 33% 72% 56%
Rand Afrikaans 2791 1824 65.4% 544 5.13 34% 56% 42%
Potchefstroom 2664 1939 72.7% 712 3.74 33% 40% 32%
Rhodes 2153 978 45.4% 694 3.10 30% 80% 60%
journals. At the same time, it is interesting to look at the ratio of article equivalents to journals (Column 5). Here a smaller number (3.10 for Rhodes University) means that academics at this institution published about 3 articles per journal title. At the other extreme, academics at the Rand Afrikaans University published, on average, 5 articles per journal title. In the latter case, there is a suggestion of one of two forces at work: (a) either there exists a greater tendency at this institution always to select particular journals when submitting articles for publication; or (b) there was a greater concentration effect as far as scientifi c fi elds were concerned, which would translate into smaller number of academics publishing in the same cluster of journals all or most of the time.
Two other indicators in this column (Column 3 and Column 8) measure the degree of
“internationalisation” of academic output at each university. Indicator 3 refers to the proportion of total article output that appeared in South African journals. Indicator 8 refers to the number of foreign journals that appears in the list of the 50 most published in journals at that institution;
these two indicators are to some extent mirror images of each other. “Ranking” the institutions in terms of degree of internationalisation on these indicators, we get the following:
The historically English-medium universities (Cape Town, Rhodes, Witwatersrand and Natal) rank highest on Indicator 7 – the proportion of ISI-journals in the top 50. Conversely, the historically Afrikaans-medium universities ranked much lower on this indicator with the exception of the University of the Free State where 72% of the journals in the top 50 are ISI-journals.
The second main research question refers to institutional patterns of publication by Journal.
South African journals that have published 300 or more articles over the past 13 years were selected, in order to make the dataset manageable. This produced a list of 60 South African journals. In each case (Table 11), the top 3 – 5 South African institutions were then listed, each with the number of authorships in that journal. So, for example, in the fi rst row of Table 11, there is the journal, “In die Skrifl ig”, in which a total of 349 articles and 391 authorships appeared between 1990 and 2003; the fi ve institutions that contributed most to articles in this journal are listed in descending order of authorship. The proportion of authorships contributed by the highest institution as calculated – in this case, is Potchefstroom University. Over this period, academics from this institution generated 235 authorships out of the total of 391, which means that they produced 60% of the content of this journal. Journals are listed in Table 11 in descending order according to the proportion of the highest “contributing institution” in relation to the overall article content in that journal.
Table 9: Rankings of institutions i.r.o. degree of internationalisation University Ranking i.t.o. article equivalents in SA
journals (lowest to highest)
Ranking i.t.o. % foreign journals in top 50 journals (highest to lowest)
Cape Town 1 1
Witwatersrand 2 5
Rhodes 3 2
Natal 4 4
Pretoria 5 7
Stellenbosch 6 9
Free State 7 3
Rand Afrikaans 8 6
Potchefstroom 9 8
Table 11: SA Journals and institutional publication patterns
Journal (>300 articles) Place of publication/ Publisher Institutional affi liation Articles Authorships In die Skrifl ig Reformed Theological Society of South
Africa, Potchefstroom PU (235) 60% SU (45) UFS (19) UP (18) UNISA
(14) 349 391
Annual Survey of South African Law
Published for the School of Law of the
Univ of the Witwatersrand by Juta Law Wits (303 58% SU (58) UNISA
(35) UCT (33) 506 520
SA Mercantile Law Journal
/ SA Tydskrif vir Handelsreg Juta Law UNISA
(210) 53% UN (23) SU (20) RAU (17) PU (12) 366 399
CHAPTER 3: A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF SOUTH AFRICAN RESEARCH JOURNALS
Journal (>300 articles) Place of publication/ Publisher Institutional affi liation Articles Authorships
De Jure Butterworth Publishers UP (252) 49% UNISA
(57) PU (43) RAU (26) 475 513
Bothalia National Botanical Institute, Pretoria NBI (411) 47% UP (71) UFS (70) RAU (36) UN (31)/
SU (31) 495 880
Koers: Bulletin for Christian Scholarship / Bulletin vir Christelike Wetenskap
Bureau for Scholarly Publications,
Potchefstroom PU (185) 47% UFS (40) UNISA
(28) RAU (23) SU (21) 339 397
Hervormde Teologiese
Studies Faculty of Theology, UP UP (297) 45% UNISA
(66) UFS (26) SU (21) 646 663
Acta Criminologica Criminological Society of South Africa UNISA
(307) 44% UP (84) UNIN (29) TSA (21) 455 705
Comparative and International Law Journal of Southern Africa
Institute of Foreign and Comparative Law, UNISA
UNISA
(140) 43% UP (21) Vista (13) Wits (12) 306 329
Tydskrif vir die Suid-
Afrikaanse Reg Faculty of Law, RAU RAU (382) 43% UNISA
(70) SU (55) PU (50) UP (39) 821 887
Journal of the South African Veterinary Association / Tydskrif van die Suid- Afrikaanse Veterinêre Vereeniging
SA Veterinary Association, Pretoria UP (664) 41% Medunsa
(197) ARC (195) Foreign
(60) SU (54) 599 1632
Nederduitse Gereformeerde
Teologiese Tydskrif Faculty of Theology, SU SU (270) 41% UFS (89) UP (65) UWC (37) UNIN (27) 600 666
Scriptura Department of Religion, SU SU (151) 39% UWC (48) UNISA
(31) UN (18) 369 386
Journal of Contemporary Roman Dutch Law / Tydskrif vir Hedendaagse Romein- Hollandse Reg
Butterworths UNISA
(330) 34% UP (193) PU (113) SU (51) RAU (27) 870 978
South African Journal of
Criminal Justice Juta Law UN (168) 33% UNISA
(62)
Rhodes
(50) UP (31) UDW (25) 486 504
South African Journal of
Surgery SA Medical Association Wits
(396) 33% UCT (212) UN (206) UFS (95) SU (73) 422 1191 Acta Academica University of the Free State UFS (153) 32% SU (60) RAU (44) UNISA
(27) PU (23) 374 472
Geneeskunde Medharm Publications, Pretoria UP (244) 32% UFS (134) SU (51) Medunsa
(24) 518 762
Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research
Onderstepoort Veterinary Research,
ARC ARC (535) 32% UP (428) Foreign
(125)
Medunsa
(97) UFS (65) 581 1697
South African Journal of Marine Science
Marine & Coastal Management, Cape
Town SFRI (437) 31% UCT (330) Rhodes
(71)
Foreign
(48) UPE (48) 575 1417
South African Journal on
Human Rights Juta Law Wits
(129) 30% UCT (40) UWC (25) SU (21) 403 430
SA Publiekereg/ SA Public
Law UNISA PU (138) 29% UNISA
(53) UP (30) SU (28) 372 484
Agrekon UP (283) 27% SU(103) UN (96) UFS (55) Foreign
(33) 589 1061
South African Dental
Journal SADJ SU (177) 27% Wits
(108) UP (71) 365 648
South African Journal of
Plant and Soil ARC (308) 27% SU (150) UP (139) UFS (129) UN (48) 538 1152
South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences
UP (149) 26% PU (40 SU (37) UFS (22) UN (21) 376 568
South African Journal of
Philosophy SU (83 26% UNISA
(33) UN (29) UPE (24) RAU (23) 301 325
Literator PU (98) 25% RAU (31) SU (30) UFS (20) UNISA
(18) 357 395
Journal (>300 articles) Place of publication/ Publisher Institutional affi liation Articles Authorships
Ostrich UCT (236) 25% Foreign
(109) UN (66) Wits (45) Rhodes
(42) 506 956
South African Journal of African Languages
UNISA
(96) 24% SU (35) UP (30) RAU (22) 353 394
South African Medical Journal
UCT
(1646) 23% Wits
(1112) SU (1009) UN (616) MRC
(561) 2349 7218
Old Testament Essays UNISA
(82) 22% SU (76) UP (48) UFS (18) 379 380
Journal of the Dental
Association of South Africa SU (155) 21% Wits
(144) UP (106) Medunsa
(45) 414 747
South African Journal of
Wildlife Research UP (168) 21% UN (78) UCT (70) US (51) Foreign
(47) 329 786
South African Journal of
Animal Science ARC (260) 20% UP (190) UFS (163) SU (146) Elsenburg
(127) 442 1292
South African Journal of
Botany UN (406) 20% UP (396) SU (173) UFS (157) NBI (136) 880 2073
Southern African Journal of Epidemiology and Infection
Wits
(143) 20% SU (83) UN (48) SAIMR
(45) UP (44) 341 707
Tydskrif vir
Geesteswetenskappe SU (76) 20% UFS (68) UP (46) PU (30) RAU (19) 324 386
South African Historical Journal:SAHJ / Suid- Afrikaanse Historiese Joernaal
UCT (73) 18% UNISA
(65) Wits (50) UWC (34) UN (30) 359 400
African Entomology ARC (133) 17% UP (76) Rhodes
(64) UCT (61) SU (53) 393 782
Journal of Theology for
Southern Africa UN (54) 17% UNISA
(32) UCT (32) SU (30) UWC (22) 305 322 South African Journal of
Linguistics PU (72) 17% UNISA
(55) SU (49) UFS (38) Rhodes
(32) 355 432
South African Journal of
Zoology UCT (105) 17% UP (56) RAU (42) SU (42) Wits (37) 304 607
South African Journal of
Psychology UCT (130) 16% Wits
(111)
UNISA
(90) UN (88) UWC (44) 439 799
South African Law Journal Wits
(115) 16% UN (71) Rhodes
(61) UCT (48) UP (42) 670 717
Social work / Maatskaplike
Werk SU (113) 15% UN (88) UP (63) Wits (48) PU (44) 559 766
South African Family Practice
Medunsa
(79) 15% SU (61) UP (61) Wits (29) UCT (20) 368 517
South African Journal of Geology
Wits
(161) 15% Foreign
(119) UCT (101) UP (84) CGS (84) 490 1091 South African Journal of
Education
UNISA
(157) 14% PU (137) SU (129) UP (118) RAU (112) 736 1153 South African Journal of
Science UCT (621) 14% Wits
(609)
Foreign
(326) UN (299) UP (262) 1910 4460 Journal of the South African
Institute for Mining and Metallurgy
Wits
(144) 12% CSIR
(131)
Mintek
(91) UP (90) UCT (47) 604 1179
Water SA UCT (245) 12% UP (191) RAU (137) UFS (128) UN (112) 765 1963
Africa Insight WITS (57) 11% SU (42) AISA (39) Foreign
(31)
VISTA
(26) 458 533
South African Journal of
Economics UP (67) 11% UCT (60) Wits (57) UN (43) SA (41) 442 601
Development Southern
Africa UN (96) 10% Wits (71) SU (69) UP (64) UCT (45) 631 954
CHAPTER 3: A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF SOUTH AFRICAN RESEARCH JOURNALS
The results of this analysis of institutional contributions to particular South African journals reveal some disturbing trends. In the sample of 60 journals, a SINGLE institution contributed 30% or more of the article content to 21 of these journals; of these journals, a SINGLE institution contributed 40% or more of the article contents in 12 of these journals. It is also pertinent to point out that of the 10 journals with the highest single institutional contribution, nine are in the arts and humanities (only Bothalia excluded) and 4 are in the fi eld of Law. In fact, it is fair to say that journals in the fi elds of Law and Theology are particularly prominent in this listing. If one looks at the 20 journals with the highest contribution by one institution (all above 30%), it is hardly coincidence that in 11 of these cases, the journal is published by the same institution/unit that produces the majority of articles. Further research should be undertaken into this issue, and specifi cally relating the number of outputs to the size of the specifi c scientifi c or scholarly community. There are strong indications that some South African journals currently may be published for the benefi t of certain institutions only, rather than for that of a research fi eld or a national scholarly association.
Incidentally, it is also useful to look closely at this table where there are signifi cant proportions of contributions from foreign authors as an indication of an inverse pattern. In this respect, the following journals stand out:
■ Ostrich (11.4% foreign)
■ SA Journal of Geology (10.9% foreign)
■ Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research (7.4% foreign)
■ SA Journal of Science (7.3% foreign)
■ SA Journal of Wildlife Research (6% foreign)