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THE OPEN JOURNAL SYSTEMS: REVIVING

AFRICAN PUBLISHING CULTURE

Smith Esseh
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science &
Technology (KNUST) Ghana/
The Public Knowledge Project (PKP), Canada

Lucy Ry-Kottoh
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science &
Technology (KNUST) Ghana

Introduction
There is no culture without knowledge
production, and throughout history,
Africans
have
developed
strong
knowledge production base (Zegeye &
Vembe, 2006).

The Challenge however is


The avenue of disseminating knowledge production in Africa

Introduction
African scholarship and knowledge production have
experienced many challenging periods over many decades.

how university presses have declined and many renowned


periodicals and journals have reduced in size, frequency
or ceased to exist (Esseh, 2011)

Lack of accessibility, lack of visibility & inadequate


circulation (Teferra, 2004).

Poor editorial content and poor print quality etc


Rosenberg, 1998)

High production costof traditional print journals


(Olukoju, 2002).

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE CURRENT SYSTEM?


Reliance on Conventional Print Production 3 Divisions
Extremely expensive setup cost Every input is imported
Lack of service Expertise
Extremely high Prod. & distr. cost

$310,000.00

World Share of Publications


World Share of Publications

World Share of Publications

1990

2000

2002

2007

North America

41.6

36.7

34.2

31.1

Europe

34.0

40.2

45.5

42.5

Asia

14.5

21.1

24.2

30.7

LAC

1.7

3.2

3.8

4.9

Africa

1.4

1.4

1.6

2.0

Oceania

2.8

3.3

3.2

3.4

Source: Unesco Institute of Statistic report 2010

Level of Internet Connectivity


1995

Sources: shand M. (2005) Mapping & imaging Africa on the internet

2005

Internet usage growth from 2000-2007

Source: worldwide.http://www.weboma.com/internetic-world-in-the-year/

Background: The workshops


With funding from IDRC, Carnegie Corporation and George Soros
Foundation, in 2006/7 -2008 PKP begun a series of workshops in
Africa.
The purpose of these workshops was:
To introduce journal editors to recent development in the field of
online publishing and

how they could engage online journal management technologies


specifically the Open Journal Systems (OJS) to manage the
journals workflow, from manuscript submission through review
to editorial work and then publication

Study Objective
This study examines how changes in technical infrastructure, particularly
the adoption and use of OJS as a publishing platform over the last six years
have affected the management and publishing of scholarly journals in the
following ways:
Editorial
Peer reviewing
Production cost
Submission rate
Visibility and readership of journal
Quality of journal

Methodology

OJS usage
statistics

Methodology
Survey All
523 journals
Demonstration/non
functional Journals

Journals with African


identity but Published
outside Africa

Journals using OJS as


Publishing platform
Sample=163

Total No. of Respondents


(n=60)
A response rate of 36.8%

Jnl Index in AJOL but do


not publish with OJS

SOME PRELIMINARY FINDINGS


GENERAL DATA OF THE JOURNALS
SURVEYED

Academic discipline of journals


70%
60%

60%
50%
40%
30%
22%
20%

10%

8%

10%
0%
HUMANITIES

S. SCIENCES

SCIENCES

OTHERS

Publishing Model
70%
60%

58.3%

50%
38.3%

40%
30%
20%
10%

3.3%

0%

Open Access

Supscription Based

Delayed Open
Access

Peer Review vs. Non peer review


1.7%

98.3%

Peer reviewed

Not peer-reviewed

Where is the Journal hosted


60%
50%

55.0%
45.0%

40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Institution's Server

Externnal Server

Hosting Service
45% of the journal are hosted
on the institutions servers
and 55% are hosted outside
the
institutions
mostly
outside Africa

SOME PRELIMINARY FINDINGS


IMPACT OF OJS ON EDITORIAL BOARD
AND EDITORIAL PROCESS

The impact of the use of OJS on the journals


editorial board
90%
80%

85.0%

81.7%
75.0%

68.3%

70%
60%
50%

40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Geographical
Diverse

Highly qualified
Editorial Board

Editorial Board
covers thematic
reach of Journal

Improved Ed/Rev
and Ed/Au
relationship

Every Journal in the study has a functioning editorial board

The editorial review board of


journal confers authority
and legitimacy. (Linsey, D.
1997)

35

There is considerable reason to


believe that international
membership on a journals
editorial board indicate better
overall quality of that journal
(Katz, J. S., Hicks, D. 1997)

17.1%

25

20.3%

30

31.4%

31.2%

A measure of geographical composition of the


Editorial Board

20
15

4.2

2.3

4.1

2.7

10

Editors from Jnl's Editors from Jnl's


Institution
Country
Percentage

Editors from
Africa
Average/Jnl.

Editors from
Outside Africa

The diversity of the members


of the Editorial Board is one
of the criteria INDEXING
journals on the ISI Web of
Science data base

45.0

39.0%

50.0

46.2%

Academic qualification of Editorial Board

40.0
35.0
30.0
25.0

0.0
Professor

PhD. Only
Percentage

Masters

0.1

0.9%

0.3

5.0

2.0%

5.2

10.0

6.1

15.0

Ist Degree

Average/Jnl.

1.6

11.8%

20.0

Others

The editorial bodies of


international journals are
true 'gatekeepers' and their
professional status is
positively correlated with . . .
scientific quality. (S.,
Schubert & Braun, T. 1982)

SOME PRELIMINARY FINDINGS


IMPACT OF OJS ON PRODUCTION
PROCESS/COST

Has the use of OJS had any impact on the production


process and schedules of the journals
100%

98.3%

90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%

1.7%

0%
Yes

No

70%

88.3%

76.7%

80%

73.3%

90%

61.7%

100%

78.3%

The effect of the use of OJS on the Production


process

1.6%

21.7%

25.0%
1.7%

10%

6.6%

20%

1.7%

30%

20.0%

40%

31.7%

50%

8.3%
3.4%

60%

0%
Production Peer Review Au/Ed Com.
Times
Time
Significant Improvement

Pub
regularity

Moderate Improvement

Adm/Record
Keeping
No Change

A journals ability to meet its


declared schedule and
frequency is perhaps the
most basic indicators used by
Thompson Scientific for
selecting a new journal for
inclusion in ISI.

90.0%

The impact of OJS on Production Cost

40%

36.7%

50%

38.3%

60%

30.0%

70%

60.0%

63.3%

80%

0%

Start up Cost

Ed/Rv/Au com.
Cost

Significantly Reduced

1.7%

0.0%

10%

8.3%

20%

1.7%

30%

Clerical/Doc.
Process Cost

Moderately Reduced

0.0%

90%

One of the challenging


factors that has had the most
devastating impact on
knowledge production in
Africa is the cost of
production.

70.0%

100%

Overall
Production Cost
No Change

We asked responded if the


use of OJS in the publishing
of journal has any impact on
cost of production and if yes
they should indicate in what
ways.

Economic sustainability of Journals


100%
80.0%

80%
60%
40%
20%

20.0%

0%
Yes

No*

* It is not sustainable without institutional or external support

We asked respondents if
the use of OJS in the
publishing of journal has
had any impact on cost of
production and if yes they
should indicate in what
ways. The following charts
illustrate their responses

SOME PRELIMINARY FINDINGS


IMPACT OF OJS USE ON JOURNAL QUALITY

Impact of OJS on Quality of Journal


100%
90%

95.0%

91.7%

83.3%

81.7%

80%
70%

60%
50%

50.0%

40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Increase
Highly qualified Improved Peer
submission in EB who are now Review process
Journals
geographically
diverse

Editors have
more time to
improve the
quality of
authorship

Journal articles
are index

SOME PRELIMINARY FINDINGS


IMPACT OF OJS USE ON SUBMISSION RATE, REVIEWER
POOL, READERSHIP AND GLOBAL VISIBILITY

26.7%

40%

25.0%

50%

38.3%

60%

43.0%

56.7%

70%

51.0%

80%

68.0%

73.3%

Impact of OJS use on submission rate, reviewer


pool, readership and global visibility

30%

3.3%

1.7%

5.0%

10%

5.0%

20%

0%
Submission Rate

Rev pool

Significant Increase

Readership

Moderate Increase

Global Visibility

No Chanage

These are serious challenges


associated with African
journals for many years.
Because these journals have
languished in obscurity and
have not been visible,
authorship submission has
been very low to zero.
Articles sit in editorial office
for months because there are
no reviewers to review

Some Challenges
71%

80%

53%

60%

52%

61%

70%

40%

39%

40%

50%

30%
20%
10%
0%
High cost of
journal hosting

Expertise required
to set up and
operate system

Rare capacity
building
opportunities

Poor quality
Mastering OJS is a
hosting services
challenge

Bandwidth
capacity

What the future looks like


Impact =
Citation =
Visibility =
Submission

Better
quality =
more impact

Greater
Visibility means
more
submissions

The
Renaissance
Cycle
More
submissions =
bigger pool to
choose from=
better quality

Conclusion

The future looks


good

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