[Irtalk] South African Journal of Science takes another step forward

[Smith, Ina <ismith@sun.ac.za>]

South African Journal of Science takes another step forward

The South African Journal of Science, which has been fully open access since last year, has taken its next major step – moving to an online publishing platform.

The South African Journal of Science title, in its 106th year of existence, is now owned by the Academy of Science of South Africa and hosted by AOSIS, OpenJournals Publishing.

OpenJournals Publishing, an independent publisher of scholarly journals, provides an open source publishing system and support, as well as manuscript management. The platform provides for online manuscript submissions and tracking, promising faster turnaround times and streamlined processes. Journal archives will also be available online.

The South African Journal of Science website, with a completely transformed look, will be re-released to incorporate the new functionality on Friday 19 March 2010.  Published articles will be openly accessible online in PDF, HTML and XML formats at www.sajs.co.za<http://www.sajs.co.za>.

According to publisher Prof Pierre de Villiers from AOSIS, the journal will also be making South African history insofar as he knows, being the first South African scholarly journal to be published in all three formats at the same time. ” In particular the XML publishing will push the South African Journal of Science content to the forefront of accessibility through internet searches, which holds positive implications for its future impact measurements” he says.

After a manuscript is submitted via the online interface of the new website, it follows the normal editorial route of all peer-reviewed journals, through editors and peer reviewers.

After copy-editing, each article is sent to design for layout. However, whereas in the past, this finished article would have been published only as a part of a complete collection in a specific issue of the journal, the article will now be available online immediately after it has gone through the process. As articles become available online, they will be collated and await print in the next hard copy edition of the South African Journal of Science. This eliminates any delays between the article as a finished product and its accessibility to interested readers.



Issued by:

Patricia Scholtz
Communication Manager
Academy of Science of South Africa
Tel +27 12 349 6618
Cell + 27 82 550 0757
E-mail: patsy at assaf.org.za<mailto:patsy at assaf.org.za>
www.assaf.org.za<http://www.assaf.org.za/>

About the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf)
The Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) is the official national academy of science and represents the country in the international community of science academies. As collective resource, the Academy enables the generation of evidence-based solutions to national problems.
The strategic priorities of the Academy are closely matched to those of the nation, focusing particularly on the need for the greatly enhanced availability of high-level human capital and an increased use of the country’s best intellectual expertise in generating evidence-based policy advice that is practical and feasible.





Andrea Meyer
Communication Officer
Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf)

Switchboard: +27 12 349 6600
Tel: +27 12 349 6617
Cell: +27 83 754 7215
Fax: +27 (0) 86 576 9512
Email: andrea at assaf.org.za<mailto:andrea at assaf.org.za>

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1st Floor Block A, The Woods, 41 De Havilland Crescent, Persequor Park
Meiring Naudé Road, Lynnwood 0020, Pretoria, South Africa.

PO Box 72135, Lynnwood Ridge 0040, Pretoria, South Africa.

Website: www.assaf.org.za<http://www.assaf.org.za>


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