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).
Introduction
African scholarship and knowledge production have
experienced many challenging periods over many decades.
$310,000.00
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
2005
Source: worldwide.http://www.weboma.com/internetic-world-in-the-year/
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
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
98.3%
Peer reviewed
Not peer-reviewed
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
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
35
17.1%
25
20.3%
30
31.4%
31.2%
20
15
4.2
2.3
4.1
2.7
10
Editors from
Africa
Average/Jnl.
Editors from
Outside Africa
45.0
39.0%
50.0
46.2%
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
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%
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
90.0%
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%
70.0%
100%
Overall
Production Cost
No Change
80%
60%
40%
20%
20.0%
0%
Yes
No*
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
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
26.7%
40%
25.0%
50%
38.3%
60%
43.0%
56.7%
70%
51.0%
80%
68.0%
73.3%
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
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
Better
quality =
more impact
Greater
Visibility means
more
submissions
The
Renaissance
Cycle
More
submissions =
bigger pool to
choose from=
better quality
Conclusion