|
|
|
African Journals OnLine Publishing Project (AJOPP)
AFRICAN E-JOURNALS: ASSISTING AFRICAN JOURNALS TO PUBLISH ONLINE
Summary
If African journals are to compete successfully with journals published elsewhere, they need to offer access to full text online. There have been a number of requests from journal publishers in Africa for a pilot project to offer electronic delivery and to evaluate whether this method increases journal use and sustainability. Ten journals are being supported and the exercise will commence with a practical workshop where all the main options for electronic delivery will be presented in order that publishers may be assisted in their selection of the methodology most appropriate to their needs.
Aims and Objectives
- To acquaint 10 key African published journals with the processes and routes of going
online.
- To encourage each journal to determine its preferred methodology of going online.
- To provide each journal with advice and financial support in getting online.
- To provide models for other journals in Africa.
- To assess the effect of going online on journal usage and journal sustainability.
- To evaluate online as a future model for African journal publishing.
The journals
Ten journals will be supported in the pilot project. Those participating have been selected on the basis of quality of content, currency and regularity of publication, proven ability to provide AJOL with TOCs and abstracts in electronic format, and willingness to meet the conditions of the project. They are:
Agriculture
African Crop Science Journal (q.) (Uganda)
African Plant Protection Journal (South Africa)
Ghana Journal of Agricultural Sciences (Ghana)
Zimbabwe Veterinary Journal (4p.a.)
Health
African Journal of Reproductive Health (Nigeria)
Science and Technology
Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Ethiopia (2p.a.)
Insect Science and its Application (q.) (Kenya)
SINET: Ethiopian Journal of Science (2p.a.)
Social Sciences
Eastern Africa Social Science Research Review (2p.a.) (Ethiopia)
Journal of Social Development in Africa (2p.a.) (Zimbabwe)
Workshop
In October 2001 in Harare, Zimbabwe, representatives from each journal participated in an Online Journals Workshop, led by Dr John Haynes of the Institute of Physics Publishing and co-facilitated and organized by Roger Stringer, Director, TextPertise, Zimbabwe. Peter Lynch from ACIAR also assisted. The workshop covered all issues in e-journal publishing and provided the necessary knowledge to allow journal publishers to decide their best option in moving forward into electronic full text publication.
Day One focused on introducing the "Big Picture" and providing an overview of what is happening in the developed world. It introduced the current journal "system", the so-called journals pricing crisis, and emphasized the accelerating pace of change. Also covered were
e-journal developments, current trends, business models, costs and benefits, developments in and for the developing world.
During Day Two participants worked in small groups on specific activities, including developing a strategy checklist, online journal hosting services and the outline structure of an action plan.
Day Three was spent entirely in the computer laboratory, giving participants some practical training both in understanding the technical aspects required of them in going online and in actually undertaking some of these.
Day Four was devoted to preparing and discussing individual journal action plans.
By the end of the workshop, each journal produced a draft strategic and action plan of how it intended to mount full text on the Internet. It was agreed that these would be discussed and finalized in-country, before being officially submitted before the end of 2001.
Getting online
Each journal will be assisted to follow through its preferred method of going online, both with advice, liaison with digitizers, servers and gateways, etc. and with funding, over 2002 and 2003.
AJOL will provide links from TOCs and Abstracts to full text. INASP will ensure, that whatever server is used, the journal will also be available for access through major journal gateways (e.g. Ingenta, Catchword, Highwire) and major e-journal subscription agents (e.g. Ebsco, Swets-Blackwell). International indexing and abstracting services will also be encouraged to include the journals.
Monitoring and evaluation
In the two years after the journals have started online services, their use will be closely monitored, to find out:
- how many electronic subscriptions have been purchased;
- how many individual articles have been purchased;
- who has purchased online services;
- whether inclusion in mainstream journal delivery services has increased us
- whether the availability of electronic text has increased or decreased print subscriptions;
- whether the income from online services has increased journal sustainability;
- comparative costs of print and electronic publishing;
- how feasible an option it would be to move from print/ online to online only publishing.
At the end of the project, an evaluation report will be prepared.
|
