Periodic Peer Review of South African Scholarly Journals
Background
During the inaugural meeting of the ASSAf-led National Academic Editors' Forum (NSEF) held on 25 July 2007, 112 participants supported ASSAf and its CSPiSA in taking a lead role in implementing recommendation 5 of ASSAf's 2006 Strategic Approach report. for Research Publishing in South Africa. Recommendation no. 5: The Departments of Education, Science and Technology should jointly mandate ASSAf to undertake external peer review and associated quality audits of all South African research journals on five-year cycles, which is probably best done in conjunction with title-sharing groups. a particularly broad disciplinary orientation in order to give recommendations for better functioning of individual journals in the national and international system.
Peer Review Panels (PRPs)
It should be emphasized that the main objective of the ASSAf review process for journals is to improve the quality of scientific publishing in the country in a way that is consistent with traditional scientific practice – primarily voluntary peer review. ASSAf respects the independence and freedom of the researchers and the research process itself as important preconditions for critical and innovative production of new knowledge. At the same time, the work of South African researchers must be assessed, both qualitatively and quantitatively, as part of the global community of researchers and scientists, and in this regard ASSAf has an obligation to contribute to the improvement of the quality of such work. where possible.
Initial Criteria
- Editorial process-related criteria: Generally Based on the National Code of
- Business-related Criteria
- Bibliometric Assessments
If applicable, what are the impact factors of the WoS type (and various derivatives) over the past five years.
Process Guidelines for Setting up the Panels, Peer Reviewers,
- 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
- Panel Meetings and Procedures
- Post-meeting Procedures and Panel Reports
See: https://reference.sabinet.co.za/documents/journal_documents/. The journal is not indexed and has no impact factor. The journal is supported by the Commonwealth of Learning (CoL) and the National Association of Distance Education Organizations of South Africa (NADEOSA). The journal is very important for students, scholars and teachers involved in teaching languages and/. The journal has a strong national readership among academics and postgraduate students, but it is clear that articles by top academics in this journal are also read internationally.
Special Considerations Concerning South African Education Journals
Panel Members
Consensus Reviews of Journals in the Group
Education General
- Education as Change
- Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning
- Journal of Education
- Journal of Educational Studies
- Perspectives in Education
- South African Journal of Childhood Education
- South African Journal of Education
Consensus rating: The quality of the articles published in the journal ranges from good to excellent. The Journal of Education is the journal of the South African Education Research Association (SAERA). The executive committee (editor-in-chief and section editors) of the journal's board are its core members.
Education Review
- Africa Education Review
- Southern African Review of Education
The panel recommends that the journal pursue the suggested improvements to further improve the publication. More information about the credentials of the editorial board members should be provided on the journal's website. Additional features such as more book reviews may encourage emerging researchers to publish in the journal.
The panel believes that there is scope for the journal to attract more international contributions. Information and details about scientists and their affiliations must be published on the journal's website. When this initiative first started in the early 1990s, the magazine was called Education with Production.
The committee provides subject expertise and advice on the quality and content of the journal. - adding elements such as critical editorials and thematic reviews are not included in the journal. The journal is published under the auspices of the Southern African Comparative and History of Education Society (SACHES).
Production is handled by Word Publishers and the magazine is distributed by the SARE Treasurer. Copyright is vested in the journal and permission is granted to authors to reprint upon request. Information about board members should be provided on the journal's website.
The journal should develop editorial guidelines in accordance with best practice and publish them on the journal's website. The committee recommends that the journal return to a two-issue-per-year schedule.
Higher Education and Distance Learning
- Progressio: South African Journal for Open and Distance Learning Practice
- South African Journal of Higher Education
Contributions of peer reviewers to the journal are recognized, but they generally do not receive follow-up information. Regarding policies, the journal has editorial guidelines, a conflict of interest policy, and publishes errata. One reviewer suggested that the journal more actively seek to include private ODeL institutions to broaden the scope.
It was noted that leading ODeL scholars in South Africa do not appear to publish in this journal, and thus the journal does not contain examples of the best work in the country in the field of ODeL. The journal currently does not contain additional scholarly articles, such as editorials, current reviews, or book reviews. It was noted that the journal appears to be particularly useful for postgraduate students and emerging researchers as a publication channel.
The articles in the journal cannot be easily compared with those of leading international journals in this field, often due to the limited scope of the articles. The journal should establish relationships with some of the ODeL universities in other developing countries. It was also noted that the editor-in-chief publishes regularly in the journal, which is not best practice.
Reviewers raised concerns about the quality of the peer review process based on the number of articles reviewed per year and the number of peer reviewers the journal reported using. Some issues of the journal include additional scholarly features such as editorials or leading articles and occasionally a book review. As previously mentioned, the journal is fully online, but issues can be printed on request.
The leading articles are particularly interesting, and the journal should endeavor to increase the number of such articles. Publication in the journal should be marketed to prospective regional and international academic authors. The journal should be invited to join the SciELO SA platform once recommended improvements have been implemented.
Language Education
- Journal for Language Teaching
- Per Linguam: A Journal of Language Learning
- Reading & Writing
There is no formal conflict of interest policy, but the editors may not publish in the journal during their term. There is no deep understanding of how the contributions in the journal relate to fundamental issues facing language teaching. In the online version, all the pages in the magazine are devoted to scholarly articles.
The criteria for publication in the journal should be made available on the journal's website. The same authors should not appear in subsequent issues or twice in the same issue of the journal.
Mathematics and Natural Sciences
- African Journal of Health Professions Education
- African Journal of Research in Mathematics,
- Southern African Journal of Environmental Education (SAJEE)
The editor, who was not appointed competitively, has been at the helm of the magazine since 2009. Editorial guidelines are published in each issue of the magazine and are made available on the website. The journal reflects high international and national disciplinary reputation in the field of EE/ESD.
