Academy of Science South Africa 2005/6 Annual Report

ASSAfExecutive summaryAn Academy of Science can serve as a unique andvaluable entity, in national systems of innovationand science based developmentThat all stakeholders in theSouth African research enterpriseshould each in their own waysupport local/national researchjournals that actively seek to beof international quality and areindexed in an internationallyrecognised, bibliometricallyaccessible database, throughfollowing best-practice ineditorial discernment and peerreview, including adaptations.best of their international counterparts, and helps to establish a country’s reputation to attract investmentand foreign support.Recommendation No 1That all stakeholders in the South African research enterprise should each in their own way supportlocal/national research journals that actively seek to be of international quality and are indexed in aninternationally recognised, bibliometrically accessible database, through following best-practice ineditorial discernment and peer review, including adaptationsthat address inherent problems and capitalise on technological innovations;that judiciously enrich content to promote coherence and value-adding functions;that provide the local scholarly community with opportunities for participating in the full range ofscholarship-enhancing activities associated with the process of publishing original research outputs;that vigorously seek financial sustainability from multiple income streams; and that accept systemicpeer review and periodic audit which has a marked developmental focus.(The rationale for this broad recommendation is fully laid out in the chapters of this Report. In respect of financialviability of South Africa research journals, the general acceptance, in the special South African context whereaccredited institutional publication outputs are subsidised, of a per-article institutional charge system (linked inthe case of higher education institutions to an agreed fraction of output publication subsidies, and in the case ofother research-producing institutions to adapted budgeting practice), would produce marked benefits at minimumcost, and naturally lead to a more rapid expansion of the Open Access mode of online publication, on the basis of“institution pays (a little), the whole nation/world benefits (a lot)”. Key actors in bringing about the necessary policyand organisational frameworks would be research funders and supporters, including the Departments of Educationand Science and Technology, the NRF and the MRC, all working with the Academy of Science of South Africa indownstream implementation mode following the release and general discussion of this Report. Data presented inthis Report show that a fixed per-article institutional charge of R 1000, by an accredited journal that should be able92 Promoting Excellence in Science for Society