30 May 2019
The Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) has released a major report on scholarly publishing in South Africa, based on a study CREST performed on behalf of the Academy.
The study that CREST was commissioned to conduct covered the period 2005 – 2014 and considered all forms of peer-reviewed scholarly publications, including journals, books and conference proceedings. The study examined citations, authorship trends and research collaborations. Furthermore, it explored how new technologies and open access trends are influencing the dissemination of research. A concerning finding of the resulting report is ongoing indications of predatory publishing and questionable editorial practices in the South African research context.
The report includes a reflection on two earlier Consensus Reports which looked at research publishing (2006) and scholarly books (2009).
The full report, “Twelve Years Later: Second ASSAf Report on Research Publishing In and From South Africa (2018)”, is available at the ASSAf Research Repository.
