CODATA International Council for Science Data Committee CPUT Cape Peninsula University of Technology. UCT University of Cape Town UFS University of the Free State UJ University of Johannesburg.
Research publishing in early 2000s
When studying humans or experimental animals, ethical issues related to the reported research must be addressed; this usually takes the form of prior approval of the research proposal by an independent and reputable committee. Acknowledgments of funding sources and potential conflicts of interest should be complete, and author affiliations should be provided that reflect the period of study and current status.
Original brief for the first consensus study
Detection of errors and falsifications after publication should always be retracted in the same journal. Finally, there is a strong best practice rule that studies addressing a particular question should not be split into a series of scattered short publications, but should preferably be presented once as a full description of the work and its results.
Two key points of departure
The contract required ASSAf to recommend and support a new strategic framework for SA research journals based on evidence and comparative information. The importance of the second starting point was that, in principle, it establishes the preconditions for the validity of the first; this cannot be overemphasized because all or most of the arguments for publishing research in the country become counter-arguments for not investing resources of time, effort and money in the field if the journals published in the country are poor. quality within the above mentioned criteria.
Some relevant and significant findings of 2006 Report
In terms of the number of journals indexed as originating from individual countries, South Africa shared position 26 with Sweden with 20 journals, far behind the United States of America (USA) with 2 288 journals indexed; Egypt and Kenya of the African continent each had one magazine. The second bibliometric chapter of the 2006 report was essentially the precursor or baseline to the new 2017 Center for Research on Evaluation of Science and Technology (CREST) study.
Editors’ opinions and related information
In summary, the bibliometric analysis of South African publications in the ISI system pointed to a clear need for support of selected local journals to improve and consolidate their position in the ISI system and the existence of potential opportunities for journals published in place in a number of new areas, which needed, however, to be carefully contextualised in terms of their potential appeal to international authors as well as to South African scholars willing to transfer their 'international'. The broad-based bibliometric analysis presented an overall picture of South African journals as differentiated into several categories: a small group of South African journals (both ISI and non-ISI, mainly in the natural and health sciences, but also in some of the social sciences and humanities) that had 'acceptable' impact factors, recorded moderate to high citations from non-South African authors and generally presented an 'international' profile.
Global e-publishing trends and their implications for South African research publishing – as perceived in 2006
Alleviating the budget problems of libraries around the world, especially in developing countries. Conclusions and recommendations of the 2006 study for a strategically expanded role of research publishing in SA.
Conclusions and recommendations of the 2006 study for a strategi- cally enhanced role of research publishing in SA
What the local research community strategically demanded from the national publishers of research journals was that they should strive for the same quality as theirs. The 2006 inquiry concluded that the issue of the then DoE's accreditation system should be addressed within the system.
Selected recommendations of the 2006 ASSAf Report
The fact that a developing country had examined its research-publishing activity in detail, and in particular that this had happened partly through committed or advisory research, partly through consultation of stakeholders, and partly through internal debates in a committed team brought together by ASSAf, can be significant in a global context. It could be an example of a country 'pulling itself up by its bootstraps' and contributing significantly to the global debate on critical issues in science in the modern era – the widening North-South divide, the problems of brain drain and the crucial the question of whether developing countries (especially those located in Africa) can be more than passengers on the train of the 21st century.
Background
Main findings and recommendations
The CREST survey of top scientists in the country has again confirmed regional differences in personal assessment of the relative value of monographs and journal articles. The panel recommended that a national forum of scientific book publishers be established under the auspices of the Academy as a "companion".
ROLL-OUT OF SCHOLARLY PUBLiSHiNG PROGRAMME
Introduction
Review of the SPP project areas National Scholarly Editors’ Forum
A Code of Best Practice in Journal Publishing, Editing and Reviewing was drafted and adopted. Code of Best Practice in Scholarly Journal Publishing, Editing and Review (https://www.assaf.org.za/index.php/ . programs/scholarly-publishing-programme/national-scholarly-book-publishers-forum - nsbpf) has been updated after consultation with a group of editors from NSEF.
Peer review of discipline-grouped scholarly journals, and SA database of accredited scholarly journals
Forum members receive regular notifications updating them on SPP's work in the academy. Of the 320 journals in the database, 115 journals charge APCs, 145 do not, and there is no information on fees for 60 journals.
National Scholarly Book Publishers’ Forum
One well-established way to ensure high-quality research and its results is to conduct regular and ongoing evaluations of research dissemination platforms, especially scientific journals, using objective criteria. University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) University Press book titles have been accepted for consortium participation in Knowledge Unlatched.
SciELO SA
Founded in 2009, SciELO SA established the first open access platform (free to publish and free to read) on the continent, culminating in the platform's certification as a fully operational collection indexed in the SciELO Network Global Portal in April 2013. Ninety-five percent of SciELO SA journals have been approved for inclusion in the prestigious DOAJ.
The research outputs-based institutional subsidisation scheme of the DHET
The international exposure of being part of the SciELO platform also increased the number of submissions received. The development of this policy was driven by the imperatives for transformation of the higher education system contained in White Paper 3, A Program for the Transformation of Higher Education (1997), the National Plan for Higher Education (2001) and the White Paper for Post-School Education and training (2013).
Open Journal Systems Pilot Project
ASSAf's role as publisher of SAJS is crucial to the strategic direction and successful implementation of its scientific publishing and open access activities. The magazine's growth and development has unfortunately not been accompanied by comparable growth in the budget.
ASSAf Research Repository
Over the past decade, Quest has strived to showcase local science and scientists, show students the importance of science in our society, and stimulate interest in a career in S&T. ASSAf has used Quest for science outreach and engagement, using the magazine in lectures, presentations, exhibitions and career guidance activities.
African Open Science Platform (AOSP)
By the end of 2017, RR had 69 publications, including Quest, and the publications had been viewed more than 13,000 via RR, and the pdfs had been downloaded more than 7,500 times.
RESEARCHERS TO GLOBAL COMMERCiAL SCHOLARLY
In SA, institutional inequalities can seriously affect the ongoing development of research capacity in the system. The problem of access to global commercial literature – the instructive example of Reed-Elsevier.
The problem of access to global commercial scholarly literature – the instructive example of Reed-Elsevier
Social science disciplines have the highest levels of concentration (70% of articles from the top five publishers), while the humanities have remained relatively independent (20% of the top five publishers). In 2016, a preliminary study was conducted at one of South Africa's leading research universities over that period.
National site licence: Improved access to global commercial electronic resources for SA researchers
When conducting the research, the current use of databases by universities and science councils was analyzed, as well as taking note of the five major publishers with the most expensive licensing fees. Conceptualization by the DHET of the NSLS database management strategy and of a mechanism for financing the expected NSLS fees.
Open science
The DHET would also require the DST to authorize a senior management officer to participate in the negotiations. DHET formal consultation with the university sector and academic council to secure their support for the NSLS concept and the proposed operational and financial model.
RESEARCH LIFECYCLE
OPEN RESEARCH
CO-CREATION
Open science in the South African context is intended to embrace the natural sciences as well as the humanities and social sciences. Although this view of open science appears to be highly egalitarian, we note that it has the potential for external pressure groups to attempt to exert undue influence on free inquiry by individuals or research groups.
Scoping SA in terms of ‘open’ collaboration in research and scholarly output
Currently, almost all South African research-intensive universities and research councils have institutional repositories, but only four institutions have an open access policy. As previously indicated, only four South African research institutions currently have an open access policy.
Overview
Journal articles
Consistent and stable publication output High-volume journals: More than 80 articles per year
Ten 'high-volume journals' or 'mega-journals' (more than 80 articles published on average per year) top the list of journals in which SA academics have published (Table 5.1). The other journals on this list can be seen as the 'mega-SA journals': SAMJ, Teologiske Studies/Theological Studies SA, Journal of Higher Education, Journal of Psychology in Africa and SAJS.
Summary
Field classification Number of
In coding the collaboration categories for this subset of data, a distinction was made between "single-author papers" and. Given the predominance of the social sciences, humanities and arts disciplines in local SA journals, the results were not entirely unexpected.
The citation impact of South African-authored papers during the period 2005 – 2014
2 Citations in WoS journals in SA are not indexed in WoS (citations to non-source articles). Citations: Citations in papers in the publication window (citations sourced from all journals in WoS).
Questionable publication practices*
Journal A
The breakdown by institutional affiliation provided a first indication of some questionable publishing practices, with 64% of all authors produced by members of the journal's editorial board (shown in green in the figure). However, what stands out the most is the publication profile of Prof. ******, who is also a member of the editorial board (Fig. 5.18).
Journal B*
It is already worrying that the previous editor-in-chief, ****** published 58 articles in the journal (the same goes for the current editor. It is not only the sheer volume of output in one journal that is striking, but even in the same edition.
Book publishing
This group of addresses (n=4,244) was further broken down into the top four SENSE categories (A, B, C and D) in Figure 5.26. The last column in Table 5.15 lists the percentage of YES recommendations (ie, the ASSAf panel recommends subsidizing a particular title) for that particular publisher.
Conference proceedings
IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society International Conference/Japan Society for Medical and Biological Engineering Conference. International Conference on Recent Trends in Engineering and Technology/International Conference on Economics, Humanities, Bio-Technology and Environmental Engineering.
Conclusion
The review undertaken by CREST (See summary in Chapter 5) highlighted some of the emerging issues in scholarly publishing that are unique to the South African environment, but which are not radically different from what has been experienced internationally. However, we believe that, within the South African context, addressing the shortcomings identified in our system of scholarly publishing can ensure the integrity of our scholarly publishing.
Predatory Publishing
Of these papers, 85% were from the disciplines of social sciences and humanities (53%) and economic and managerial sciences (32%). In this respect, it will be necessary to draw the attention of these institutions to the questionable publication practices of their staff and students, in order to ensure that the integrity of the research system is not eroded.
Questionable publication practices Introduction
This emphasizes the need for the behavior of actors (both institutional and individual) in this system to be held to the highest ethical and quality standards to ensure its integrity. This practice is neither supported nor encouraged by the NRF, as it challenges the integrity of the NRF's scientific peer-review process.
The Green Route to open access
We will return to these issues at the end of this chapter and in the concluding chapter 8. Some of the above remaining systemic deficiencies will be identified in this chapter and some reasons for their problematic status will be discussed.
Gold Route to open access
Many of the review panels have recommended mergers between journals covering the same ground – none have happened. It remains to be seen to what extent the actual reform of the journal system can be catalyzed by this body.
Enhancing the local publication, quality and relevance of scholarly books and conference proceedings
The example of the Publishing Group for Health and Medicine shows that initiatives from the private sector can also be very successful in this way. Of the 156 titles of conference names in this table, ASSAf indicated that the submissions for 53 (or one third) should receive grants.
Residual deficiencies in the DHET research outputs subsidy policy
We believe that it is possible to develop a more rigorous and transparent process for reviewing conference papers and that it is essential that reviews and subsequent recommendations from ASSAf panels remain part of the quality assurance process. The same control would have to be exercised at the level of book editors and editors of conference proceedings, in the event that the attempted reproduction was post hoc to the published journal article in question.
Overcoming the legacy of the JIF in research quality assessments
A third problem in the subsidy system is fraud, which is difficult to detect, either by 'salami-slicing' the results of a research project or by 'double-dipping' by publishing the same data or other forms of evidence in a book. chapters and conference proceedings, and more fully and comprehensively (e.g. with an appropriate description of methodologies) also in journals. Journal editors may also ask authors to confirm that the work submitted to them has not been published in other versions or, if it has, to submit copies for review by referees and editors.
Expansion of the SciELO model, both in SA and in other African countries
The goal of scholarly publishing should be to maximize the net benefit of technological change in the industry by taking advantage of the efficiencies offered by open access publishing while preventing market failures that occur when moving away from the traditional publishing model. The intense scrutiny of the scientific journals by ASSAf peer review and CREST bibliometrics prevents misuse from spreading and provides quick solutions.
Internationalisation of South African journals
The SciELO project in Africa must also become part of the thinking of the African Union and its many structures dealing with continental development, as well as bodies such as the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) and the International Science Council (ISC) in their regional offices, national scientific academies organized under the Network of African Science Academies (NASAC) and the African Academy of Sciences. See Chapter 8 for a recommendation for this purpose).
Fragility of the proposed national licensing system for access to commercial journals
Success in setting up and running a national negotiating team to enforce 'hard bargains' with large commercial publishers will not be achieved easily. Price negotiations should include both the subscription aspect and that of APCs, and the issue of 'double charging' publishers in the current transition from subscriptions to APCs should be carefully addressed – the country should not have to pay twice for access to articles in ' hybrid titles that publish both APC-purchased articles with global open access, and paywalled articles for which APCs have not been paid.
The role of scholarly journals in science engagement
An alarming finding of the 2009 ASSAf report on scholarly books was that few book reviews were published in locally published cognate journals of locally published books – more reviews of such books appeared in journals published outside the country. 3 The enormous effort to transform the research audience in terms of representation of the population has brought a large number of talented researchers into the research-active community of the country and significantly increased its productivity.
Recommendations Systemic
Funding for this expansion will need to be considered in the context of changes in the business models of scholarly publishing. The partnership must consultatively manage integrity and deal with abuse of the subsidy system.
Second ASSAf Report on Research
