SciELO SA as an open access collection

Louise van HeerdenGauteng IR Community of Practice

4 September 2014

WHY?

WHO?

WHAT?- Quality- Visibility- Why SciELO?- SciELO SA - Usage - Indexability - Developments

ACTION?

HOW VISIBLE IS SOUTH AFRICA’S SCHOLARLY RESEARCH?

The 2006 Academy of Science of South Africa Report on Scholarly

Publishing revealed that:

- Papers published in 60 SA journals received not even 1 citation in

any of the 9 000 WoS (TR) journals over a 15-year period

- About 75% of SA scholarly research is not internationally visible or

accessible

• Of the 270+ South African scholarly journals accredited by DHET, only

±70 are indexed in the Web of Science (Thomson Reuter) (formerly

known as ISI) academic citation index

• Journals from Africa & the Middle East comprise 1% of the Web of

Science

• Furthermore, articles (journals) published by commercial publishers are

not available to researchers who cannot pay for the subscription fees

which renders them invisible to the majority of South Africans

- Journals that are mainly print based are not accessible via the Web

- Quality of the content was very low at the time – not adhering to

international standards

SO ARE SOUTH AFRICAN RESEARCHERS WORKING IN VAIN?

RESPONSE FROM GOVERNMENT

• Department of Science & Technology (DST): The creation of an

open access collection to promote South African scholarly research

through enhanced visibility of and easier access to South African

research, leading to higher citation rates and greater collaboration.

• Department of Higher Education & Training (DHET): The

development of a National Digital Library including the SciELO SA

Collection of SA OA journals

DST & DHET approached the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) for

help

THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE OF SOUTH AFRICA (ASSAf)

The Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) receives funding from

the Department of Science and Technology, along with the NRF, CSIR,

HSRC and the SA National Space Agency.

(Universities in turn receive funding from DHET)

ASSAf’s Mission:

Using science for the benefit of society

ASSAf EVIDENCE BASED REPORTS

Scholarly Publishing Programme (SPP)

The dissemination of the results of scientific research has always been a

crucial part of the production process of new knowledge and innovation.

Within the countries’ National System of Innovation (NSI) ASSAf’s

Scholarly Publishing Programme has been mandated to focus on the

- Enhancement of original, peer-reviewed publications produced by

researchers in the public sector, as well as improved:

• Quality

Quantity

Worldwide visibility

Worldwide accessibility of South African publications

Review

SPP(Scholarly Publishing

Programme)

REPORTS

e.g.Report on Research

Publishing in SA

ASSAf EVIDENCE-BASED

REPORTS for decision making

Peer Review Panels

National Scholarly Editors’ ForumBook Study

Online Scientific Writing

SciELO SA

1st – QUALITYTowards a new quality assurance system in SA

• In 2009 DHET approached ASSAf to undertake the quality evaluation of

the content of South African journals

• ASSAf is facilitating the external peer reviewing of SA journals

• Aim: To establish their quality and their role in the nation’s knowledge

capital and to provide journals with advice on how to improve their

journals

Improving the quality of South African journalsPEER-REVIEWING OF SA JOURNALS

– +/- 270 SA journals divided into broad subject (discipline) groups

– ASSAf has appointed panels and reviewers (from the ASSAf

membership or other experts in the field)

– Formulated process guidelines and editor questionnaires

– Published 6 Reports: Social Sciences; Agriculture; Theology; Health;

and Law

– Rolling out the 8 groups as by end-2014

2nd VISIBILITYIncreasing visibility of SA scholarly research

• Based on the Recommendations of the ASSAf Report on a

Strategic Approach to Research Publishing in South Africa

DST decided on the creation of an open access collection to

improve the visibility of SA publications both locally and

internationally

• The collection would include SA journals recommended by the

ASSAf Peer Review Panels for inclusion in the collection

• The creation of a an open access SA collection is a service to the

South African research community towards the development of a

knowledge economy and new innovation in South Africa

2nd VISIBILITYIncreasing visibility of SA scholarly research

• ASSAf selected the SciELO publishing model

• In 2009 the SciELO SA open access platform was established

• Currently: 45 titles in the collection

• The journals that are peer-reviewed by ASSAf and indicate

proven quality (peer review, international indexing) are

invited to join the SciELO SA collection

• Aim: to invite ± 180 titles out of 270 SA journal titles to join

the collection

WHAT IS SciELO (Scientific Electronic Library Online) ?

• A digital library of open access journals

• Portal to all the SciELO articles

• A cooperative electronic publishing model aimed at developing countries

• Originally from Brazil, currently in 12 countries with 3 more in development

WHY SciELO (Scientific Electronic Library Online) ?

Open access

South African research becomes searchable through the SciELO network portal which feeds into the Web of Knowledge portal

Exchange of metadata with other international databases

Designed for the needs of developing countries

The SciELO Network focuses on promoting the scientific publications from countries in the South, whereas the well-established ‘Web of Science’ has until recently been focused mainly on the scientific publications of developed countries in the North.

ORIGIN OF THE SciELO INDEX

Research from developing countries are being excluded from the

WoS/TR (JCR) indexing and citation system

Few journals of developing countries are read in or outside their

country

Scientific American, v.237, p.76-83. 1995

Source: Folder of International Seminar on Open Acces for Developing Countries, by BIREME

SciELO – in the Open Access Movement

SciELO introduces Latin-American journals into the Open Access Movement

Most SciELO journals are predominately funded by public resources

SciELO collections are managed, funded, promoted and operated by national

councils of science and technology, ministries and academic organizations

SciELO model is different from others like: PubMed Central, BioMED Central,

High Wire Press, etc. because those are centralized collections

SciELO – OPEN ACCESS MODE

90% of SciELO journals are published by universities, research centers, scientific societies, and other non-commercial associations

10% are published by profit corporations

So in line then with the mandate of the

Academy of Science of South Africa

to apply scientific thinking

in the service of society

one of these “Service to Society” projects is the creation of an

open access full-text database

of prestigious academic South African journals to improve access &

visibility

• Managed by the Academy of Science of SA

• Mainly funded by the Department of Science & Technology

• Partially funded and endorsed by the Department of Higher

Education & Training

• Only high quality journal are included (ASSAf Peer Review Panels)

• Strengthens the scholarly journal evaluation and accreditation

systems in South Africa

www.scielo.org.za

THE SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE (SAJS) – AS EXAMPLE

SAJS USAGE STATISTICS – AS EXAMPLE

3rd ACCESS 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

INTERNATIONAL USAGE OF

THE SCIELO SA RESEARCH

Africa Europe Americas Asia Oceania Other0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

24,485

12,65111,519 12,126

1,687740

CONTINENTS VISITING THESCIELO SA SITE (AUGUST

2014)

Continents

SITE VISITS

According to Google Analytics, the SciELO SA site was visited:

68 388 times during August 2014

(± 2206 x p/d)

And ± 640 000 times during the last year

MOST VISITED JOURNAL TITLESSAJS, SAMJ, SAJE & WSA

INCREASE IN VISIBILITY OF PRINT-ONLY JOURNALS

Journal title Articles viewed

From 2010 to date

South African Orthopaedic Journal 136 951

Kronos: Southern African Histories 60 254

Psychology in Society (PINS) 32 678

4th INDEXABILITY – MAXIMIZING LINKS

The creation of optimal links from SciELO Journals to the main international databases increases the visibility and citations of these journals on national and international levels

ArticleSciELO

GoogleScholar

DOAJOpen DOAR

AGRISFAO

WorldCat

SciELO

LILACS

PUBMEDMEDLINE

WoSSCOPUS

CrossRef

SciELO IS WELL OPTIMISED FOR

SEARCH ENGINES – AN EXAMPLE

IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS TO ENSURE CONTINUED QUALITY ASSURANCE, VISIBILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY FOR SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNALS

• SciELO SA collection certified in April 2013

• Included on the Web of Knowledge platform

• Have a signed a Memorandum of Agreement with DHET to quality peer

review ALL South African journals

• Proposed change in the DHET policy for the automatic accreditation of

SciELO SA journals for subsidy purposes. Waiting for final notification from

Parliament for 2015 publications

ACTION

• Encourage researchers to publish in open access journals

• Encourage editors to join ASSAf’s National Editor’s Forum

Louise van Heerden, Operations Manager: SciELO SA

Susan Veldsman, Director: Scholarly Publishing (ASSAf)

From 1 October: Ina Smith, Planning Manager: SciELO SA

www.assaf.org.za