Periodic Peer Review of South African Scholarly Journals: Approved Process Guidelines and
Background
During the inaugural meeting of the ASSAf-led National Science Editors' Forum (NSEF) held on 25 July 2007, 112 participants supported ASSAf and its CSPiSA in taking a lead role in the implementation of recommendation no. This recommendation specifically addressed the need for a quality assurance system for the more than 260 DHET-accredited journals in the country (http://research.assaf.org. za/handle.
ASSAf Peer-Review Panels
It should be emphasized that the main purpose of the ASSAf review process for journals is to improve the quality of scientific publication in the country in a manner consistent with traditional scholarly practices – mainly voluntary peer review. ASSAf respects the independence and freedom of researchers, and of the research process itself, as important conditions for the critical and innovative production of new knowledge. At the same time, the work of South African researchers, both qualitatively and quantitatively, must be assessed as part of the global community of scholars and scientists, and in this respect ASSAf has an obligation to contribute to improving the quality of such work where possible.
Initial criteria
- Editorial Process-Related Criteria: Generally Based on ASSAf’s Code of Best
- Business-related Criteria
- Bibliometric Assessments
Whether indexed in Web of Science (WoS), International Bibliography of Social Sciences (IBSS), or any other international database.
Process Guidelines for Setting up Panels, Peer Reviewers, Panel Meetings and Reports
- Background to ASSAf PRPs
- Role of the Scholarly Publishing Unit (SPU)
- Setting up Panels
- Selecting Panel Members
- Criteria for Membership
- Conflict of Interest
- Organising the Panels
- Selection of Peer Reviewers
- Panel Meetings and Procedures
- Post-meeting Procedures and Panel Reports
The process of appointing PRP members is led by the chair of CSPiSA until the panel and its chair are appointed. All persons provisionally listed must complete and submit conflict of interest forms before the Council reviews the list of names. The organization of the panel is led by its chairman and supported by the designated project officer.
The project manager must ensure that the peer reviewers have access to paper copies or e-copies of the examined journals. Each reviewer's response should be consolidated under the standard headings of the draft, with each input as a separate section. If peer reviews are not all available at that time, they should be made available before the meeting date for presentation on the day.
Consensus on each of the criteria should be agreed over time, according to a convenor's spoken summary, and recorded by the project officer present. The project officer and convener must reach agreement on the record of the meeting in respect of all outcomes within no more than two weeks.
Special Considerations Concerning South African Mathematics and Science Journals
The ASSAf review of national mathematics and science journals took place in the context of the rapidly evolving landscape of science publishing, particularly the dramatic rise over the past two decades of fully online publishing platforms. It was noted by the reviewers that the number of published articles in the various journals varied greatly, presumably due to field-specific factors and the size of the local research communities. Among the criticisms of some journals from the reviewers, three areas were highlighted in particular, which subsequently formed the basis of recommendations sent back to the editors of the journals in question.
These were (a) journal management and editorial board structures that do not appear to have changed for a long time, (b) journals that published infrequently or sporadically, and (c) special cases of journals where the senior editor or members of the editorial board seem to publish too often in their journal. In all these cases, the responses received from the senior editors after receiving the recommendations of the ASSAf review panel indicate that the journals have already made the appropriate changes or will act quickly. The Commission independently received a table indicating which of the reviewed journals are indexed on the main international reference platforms, namely Scopus and WoS.
Three of the journals were already listed on the SciELO SA platform, five have been recommended to participate, seven to participate conditionally (in case they become open-access journals), and seven have not been recommended. Note: Panel members who were directly involved in any of the journals reviewed did not contribute to the reporting or recommendations for those journals.
Panel Members
It was found that museum journals (Annals of the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, Durban Natural Science Museum Novitates and Indago) and relatively recently established interdisciplinary journals (Journal for New Generation Sciences and Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa) are not included in one of these indexing platforms. A consistent comment from the panel was that successful applications on these platforms, where possible, would have a large and positive impact on journals. After lengthy discussion and taking into account feedback from some editors, it was recommended that 19 of the 22 journals retain their accreditation status and two were conditionally recommended to the DHET accreditation list.
The work was undertaken by two ASSAf staff members, six expert panelists and 73 expert scholars. The two ASSAf staff members involved were Mrs Susan Veldsman (Director, Scholarly Publishing Unit) and Ms Mmaphuthi Mashiachidi (Project Officer, Scholarly Publishing Unit).
Consensus Reviews of Journals in the Group
Mathematics
- ORiON: Journal of the Operations Research Society of South Africa
- Pythagoras
- Quaestiones Mathematicae
- South African Journal of Geomatics
- South African Statistical Journal
The journal has three main sources of reading: (a) Pythagoras is an open access online journal published by AOSIS since 2011 and has a worldwide audience of mathematics education researchers and authors; (b) Pythagoras has been published as a hard copy publication by its owner, the Mathematical Education Association of South Africa (AMESA) since 1980, and is distributed free of charge to all individual and institutional members as a benefit of membership (AMESA currently has approximately 2,500 members); Although the main focus of the journal is national research, it attracts contributions from around the world. The journal is owned by the Mathematical Society of South Africa, which has a contractual agreement with NISC SA for publication.
The focus of the journal is on articles relevant to the South African and African context, but is not limited to these areas. The members of the Editorial Board have been in post since the journal's inception in 2012. The journal employs both local and international associate editors, who are approved by the Executive Committee of the South African Statistical Association.
The Associate Editor may choose to "blank" the name of the authors of the paper when sending it to the reviewers. Editorial guidelines are published on the front page of the journal and are available on the Statistical Association of South Africa website.
Natural Sciences and Agriculture
- African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics
- African Journal of Aquatic Science
- African Journal of Marine Science
- Ostrich: Journal of African Ornithology
- Water SA
The quality of the magazine is comparable to other regional and national magazines in agricultural economics. The co-publisher of the journal, NISC, makes a document entitled available on the journal website. The journal contains value-added features such as critical editorials (in the context of special issues), critical topical reviews and correspondence on published articles (comments on published articles are published together with a response from the authors of the article commented on) .
The magazine uses a manual system for loading articles onto the website as part of its editorial workflow. The magazine is in the process of transitioning to an online system based on OJS.
Science: Multidisciplinary
- African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development
- Journal for New Generation Sciences
- Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa
- South African Journal of Chemistry
- South African Journal of Science
- South African Journal for Science and Technology
- Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa
The journal is produced by NISC in collaboration with Taylor & Francis. The editor-in-chief has been attached to this position since the magazine's inception. Since a large part of the content of the journal is not science (social science at best), a change in the title of the journal is recommended (perhaps Journal of Next Generation Studies).
The magazine is produced by Unisa Press in collaboration with Taylor & Francis.
General Science
- Annals of the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History
- Durban Natural Science Museum Novitates
- Indago
- Palaeontologia Africana
- South African Archaeological Bulletin
The editors should consider expanding the journal's mandate to cover publications from around the world. The journal reflects a sufficient sample of the best work done in the country in the relevant fields. Consensus review: Reviewers had mixed opinions about the journal's value to young researchers.
The layout, design, technical editing and production of the magazine are provided by Isteg Scientific Publications. The Ditsong National Museum of Natural History owns the copyright to the magazine's contents. The publishing policy is printed on the inside back cover of each edition of the magazine.
In 2016, the editors changed the name of the journal to Indago (a Latin word meaning 'to investigate'). There are editorial guidelines which are published at the back of each issue of the journal. This issue may reflect the narrow self-defined scientific and regional scope of the journal (ie, the focus is national, with an emphasis on humanities articles from the local region).
Consensus: Reviewers had mixed opinions about the suitability of the journal for junior researchers. Consensus review: All reviewers found the quality of research published in the journal to be consistently high.
