Open Access Scholarly Publishing in South Africa:The AOSIS Perspective

Pierre JT de Villiers, MB, ChB, PhDManaging DirectorAfrican Online Scientific Information Systems (AOSIS)

Outline•Context: AOSIS•South African response to OA•Current issues

Scientific Papers Published - 2001

Est. 1999

AOSIS Openjournals - Est 2005•Scholarly Publication services - partnering•Open Access only (innovator) - CC-BY•CPD link• Innovations:

▫OJS▫DOI & Crosscheck▫ePUB▫XML▫QR codes

AOSIS: Journal growth (N=28)

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 20140

5

10

15

20

25

30

Journals Published per year

AOSIS: Journals per discipline (28) (n=28)

Social Sciences; 9

Health Sciences; 7

Theology; 4

Science; 6

Veterinary; 2

Total Journals in 2013

Journal ownership

13

8

2

4 SOC

UNIV

AOSIS

Other

AOSIS: Manuscript growth

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 20130

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

Submissions vs Published

Submissions per year Published manuscripts per year

Axis Title

Manusc

ripts

AOSIS OpenJournals -business models

Full APC26%

No APC39%

Subsidy& APC35%

N=28

South Africa – quick facts

•Population: 53m•Size: 2X France•GNI/C - $7,190•Unemployment = 25–36%•Public universities: 25•Students at universities = >1m•Research publications = 10,056 (2011),

33rd in world rank•Severe skills shortage, poor basic

education

RSA economic growth

Global internet penetration – RSA 49% (85th)

Government funding forresearch output - 2013

• Total govt university funding: $2 billion (GDP = $350,6): o,57%

• “Policy and Procedures for Measurement 0f Research Output of Public Higher Education Institutions” – 2003

• Block Subsidy: $85m, (Unit = $10,500)▫ Journal articles = 7403▫Books = 331▫Conference Proceedings = 351

“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)

Scholarly Journal Publishers Accredited RSA Journals (N = 262)

Universities

Independents

Societies

Museums

28%

42%27%

March 2006

“Report on a Strategic Approach to Research Publishing in South Africa”

GOAL: to help develop and maintain a robust national system of innovation that contributes materially to the sustainable prosperity of all South Africa’s people.

2008

ASSAf peer review panels (140)

Completed – since 2010•Agricultural & basic life sciences (19) •Social sciences (12)•Law (24) •Health and related medical sciences (35)•Religion, Theology and related fields (24)

In progress•Humanities (28)

Scielo.org.za Est. 2009

Open access, searchable, full-text repository (part of Brazilian system)

• RSA journals • Free to participate (tax payer

funded)• “High quality” journals = 46/180:

(25%) – peer review panels

Institutional support

•Berlin Declaration: RSA 14, ROF 22•Institutional repositories: RSA 24•Limited APC funds: Univ. Pretoria

DOAJ.org – RSA (n = 262) 2014

70 (27%)

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 20140

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Business model – SA Journals 2014Tipping the scale to OA!

152; 56%

120; 44%

OA Subs

OA - Late majority phase of innovation

Current issues

•Perception of poor quality of OA “Science” Sting! Journal high-jacking “Bothalia”

•Impact Factor “pressure” vs OA encouragement - Govt & Univ

•Public-funded institutions taking on publishing roles (universities, scielo?), against backdrop of higher demands on Fiscus (Govt debt of GDP= 46%) – sustainable?

Thank you!pierre@aosis.co.zawww.openjournals.net