The document discusses the strategic approach to scholarly research and open access in South Africa, highlighting challenges and developments in quality assurance and accessibility of research outputs. It details initiatives like the establishment of the SciELO SA platform, aimed at increasing the visibility of local journals and enhancing the quality and quantity of research. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of equitable access to knowledge resources for national development and the need for improved accreditation and support for scholarly publications.

1. A strategic approach to scholarly research in South
Africa
Applying scientific thinking
in the service of society
S Veldsman
Director: SPU
Rhodes University
21 Sept 2014

2. Open Access in South Africa: in a nutshell
• Berlin Declaration:
RSA 14, ROF 22
• Institutional repositories: SA 24
• Limited APC funds: Univ. Pretoria, Cape Town and
Stellenbosch

3. Open Access in South Africa: in a nutshell
• Berlin Declaration:
RSA 14, ROF 22
• Institutional repositories: SA 24
• Limited APC funds: Univ. Pretoria, Cape Town and
Stellenbosch

4. JOURNALS @ RU
7 editors of journals published through
societies or commercial publishers

5. DOAJ.org – RSA (n = 284) 2014
70 (27%)
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

6. Towards a new quality assurance system in South
Africa
• In 2003, the Policy and Procedures for the Measurement
of Research Output of Public Higher Education Institutions.
• The purpose of the policy is to “encourage research
productivity by rewarding quality research output at
public higher education institutions.
• The policy assumed that recognised research outputs are
of high (assured) quality,
• that they are widely accessible across the globe,
• and that they provide a sound basis for grant-making
involving public funds,
• Applications for both new and current journals in the
system
• Check on technical compliance and not check in quality
• DHET approached ASSAf 2009-only new applications
• 2013??

7. Government funding for research output
• Units as per policy:
Books = 331
Conference Proceedings = 351
Journal articles = 7403
Unit: n= R117 000
• Funds generated:
Approx. R 945 million to H. E. institutions as block subsidy
Approx. R 38 million for books
Approx. R866 million for journals

8. Improving quality and quantity of research
Systematic external peer reviewing of SA journals
• Aim: To establish their quality and their role in the nation’s
knowledge capital
– Divided +/- 284 journals into broad subject (discipline) groups
– Appointed panels and reviewers
– Formulated process guidelines and editor questionnaires
– Published 5 reports: Social Sciences; Agriculture; Theology;
Health; Law (150 journals)
– Finalising: Humanities – Classics, Literature & Language
– Rolling out next 8 groups
• Review of new applications, books and conference proceedings for
accreditation for DHET

9. “Accredited” journals (262)
• 2003 - 2014
– RSA DOE list – application process (202)
– ISI (Thompson Reuters WoS)/IBSS (60)
• 2015 (?)
– SciELO SA
– Scopus
– Norwegian Register for Scientific Journals
– RSA list = “developmental” (5 years)

10. Scholarly Journal Publishers
Accredited RSA Journals (N = 284)
Universities
Independents
Societies
Museums
28%
42%
27%

11. Scholarly Books: production, use and
evaluation in SA:2009

12. Findings in book report:
• Analysis of monograph data: 60 p.a; static; 80% in
Hum/SocSci; 50% local publisher
• Analysis of collected works: increasing; 80% Hum/SocSci;
only 20% local; 50% commercial
• Books highly rated by Hum/SocSci scholars = effort on
one monograph much more than 5 articles
• Books small % of accredited outputs (e.g. 331 ex 8062)

13. Book accreditation
Purpose of book: disseminate original research and
developments within specific disciplines, sub disciplines or
field of study
Chapter= 1 unit
60 pages= 2 units
120 pages=4 units
180 pages = 6 units
240 pages= 8 units
300 pages plus= 10 units
Peer review evidence must be clear and unambiguous

14. Conference Proceedings accreditation
Approved conference proceedings: those which appear in
approved journals lists/indexes
Articles in approved conference proceedings = 0.5 units
Complete articles (not abstracts) must be peer reviewed and
evidence must be provided

15. Increasing visibility of SA scholarly research
• Large proportion of SA research published in local journals,
many of which are non-WoS – journals from Africa & Middle
East comprise <1% of WoS journals
• ASSAf 2006 report on Scholarly Publishing revealed that
papers published in 60 SA journals did not receive a single
citation in any of 9 000 WoS journals over a 15-yr period
• Local, high-quality journals not necessarily available to the rest
of the world – well known that WoS biased in favour of
developed and English language countries
• Global recognition—research must be accessible to global
world. SA has only 67 journals on WoS system
• Promotion of local knowledge very important

16. Increasing visibility of SA scholarly research
• Establishment of SciELO SA open access
platform
• Modeled on a similar approach in Brazil and
other South American countries
• 46 titles—aim to have approx. 180 titles out of
284 journal titles
• Only journals of proven quality (peer review,
international indexing) are added

18. SciELO Growth
SciELO SA August 2013 August 2014
Visits 50 358 68 388
Visits per day 1 624 2 206
Usage increase Usage increase 26 %
SciELO SA August 2014
Titles 41 titles
Issues 539 issues
Articles 9 009 articles

19. INTERNATIONAL USAGE OF
THE SCIELO SA RESEARCH

20. INCREASE IN VISIBILITY OF PRINT-ONLY JOURNALS
Journal title
Articles viewed
From 2010 to date
South African Orthopaedic Journal 136 951
Journal of the South African Institute
of Civil Engineering
92 469
Kronos: Southern African Histories 60 254
Psychology in Society (PINS) 32 678

22. Important developments to ensure continued
quality assurance, visibility and accessibility for
South African journals
•Certification of the SciELO SA collection
•Inclusion on the Web of Knowledge platform
•Signing a Memorandum of Agreement with DHET to do quality
peer review of ALL South African journals
•Change in the DHET policy for the automatic accreditation of
SA journals
•Improved accreditation policy towards the publishing of books
and conference proceedings

23. OA Publications produced by SA

24. OA Publications produced by SA in
collaboration with international authors

25. Access to knowledge resources
• South Africa's higher education system is confronted with
three major priorities:
– (1) to produce a highly qualified human resource base which is
needed for national development,
– (2) to develop the next generation of academics to sustain and
transform the system; and
– (3) to produce high-quality research and innovation outputs that
can enhance the country’s global competitiveness.
• All three priorities are absolutely dependent on access to
papers published by other scholars, local and international,
in leading journals.
• Many of these journals are high-cost, commercial titles
published by large multi-national corporations.

26. Access to knowledge resources
• The equitable model will be a more cost-effective
and sustainable route for facilitating
access to the intellectual resources required
for achieving our higher education priorities.
• Without this, or the investment of billions of
additional Rands in higher education, we are
unlikely to succeed in developing an
equitable, diverse human resource base on
which to build the knowledge economy.

27. The road ahead……
• Open Access Policy
• Article Processing Charges
• Perception of poor quality of OA
 “Science” Sting!
 Journal high-jacking “Bothalia”
• Impact Factor “pressure” vs OA encouragement - Govt &
Univ
• Data management
• New trends (video journals, crowd-sourced
peer-review, early cite, publish
article immediately following peer-review)

28. Thank you
Website: www.assaf.org.za
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