Public lecture on open access: Prof Tom Cochrane March 14, 2011
Posted by Louise in : Events, International Relations, Open Access Scholarly Publishing, Publications , 2comments
Prof Tinyiko Maluleke (Executive Director: Research, UNISA), Mrs Susan Veldsman (Director: Scholarly Publishing Programme, ASSAf) and Prof Cochrane (Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Queensland University of Technology)
ASSAf hosted Professor Tom Cochrane from the University of Queensland to speak on The development of the open access paradigm in scholarly publishing, on 25 February 2011. Prof Cochrane is Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Technology, Information and Learning Support) at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). (more…)
UNESCO OPEN ACCESS WORKSHOP HOSTED BY ASSAf March 10, 2011
Posted by Louise in : International Relations, Liaison, Open Access Scholarly Publishing , add a commentUnited Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), in collaboration with the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) and eIFL (Knowledge without Boundaries), presented a workshop on the benefits of open access for research dissemination, usage, visibility and impact.
Back row: Jaco du Toit (UNESCO), Linda Fick (ASSAf) Denise Nicholson (WITS), Paul Nampala (Uganda), Eve Gray (UCT), Charles Batambuze (Uganda), Khaled Fourati (IDRC), Vasco Lino (Mozambique), Enyinna Nwauche (Nigeria), Mogodisheng Sekhwela (Botswana)
Front row: Susan Veldsman (ASSAf), Elsabe Olivier (UP), Louise van Heerden (ASSAf), Luci Abrahams (WITS), Mapiti Matete (Lesotho) , Iryna Kuchma (EIFL), Marietta Dlamini (Swaziland), Tefetso Mothibe (Lesotho)
TWAS & OWSDW Thesis Repository February 9, 2011
Posted by Linda in : Open Access Scholarly Publishing, Uncategorized , add a comment
The Scholarly Publishing Unit of the Academy of Science in South Africa (ASSAf), has created an open accessible Institutional Repository(IR) for theses resulting from TWAS, the Academy of Sciences of the Developing World and OWSDW (Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World), particularly for those by African students or carried out in African institutions.
TWAS is an autonomous international organization, based in Trieste, Italy, that promotes scientific excellence for sustainable development in the South.
The repository was developed by using the DSpace software. Currently 22 theses have been loaded onto the repository covering the Heath, Medical, Natural and Agricultural Sciences, and more to be added on a monthly basis. Theses accessible on the database were produced from countries like Nigeria, Sudan, Brazil and South Africa.
The purpose of the IR is to:
a) showcase the TWAS funded research as a collection
b) make them easily accessible for the TWAS community
c) serve as a record what has been funded over the years by TWAS
d) ensure open accessibility of research to all users
To visit and search this site : http://twas.assaf.org.za:8080/jspui/
To learn more about TWAS: http://www.twas.org
Open Access Week: 18 – 24 October 2010 October 19, 2010
Posted by Andrea in : Open Access Scholarly Publishing , add a comment
The week of 18-24 October is global Open Access Week.
- What Open Access is: The Open Access research literature is composed of free, online copies of peer-reviewed scholarly journal articles and conference papers as well as technical reports, theses and working papers. In most cases there are no licensing restrictions on their use by readers. They can therefore be used freely for research, teaching and other purposes.
- What Open Access is not: It is not self-publishing, nor a way to bypass peer-review and publication, nor a kind of second-class, cut-price publishing route. It is simply a means to make research results freely available online to the whole research community.
- How is Open Access provided? A researcher can place a copy of each article in an Open Access archive or repository (known as the green route), or can publish articles in Open Access journals (known as the gold route). In addition, a researcher may place a copy of each article on a personal or departmental website. Whilst all three routes to Open Access ensure that far more users can access such articles than if they were hidden away in subscription-based journals, the first two constitute much more systematic and organised approaches than the third and maximise the chance of other researchers locating and reading articles.
2010 is the 4th time Open Access Week is being celebrated.
SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) invited Prof Robin Crewe, the President of the Academy of Science of South Africa, to create a video clip for their Open Access Week initiative.
Click here to open the Word transcript
The Academy of Science of South Africa, through its Scholarly Publishing Programme, has created the SciELO South Africa platform to promote open-access publishing of the best South African journals. This online platform is free-to-publish and free-to-access and will benefit both authors and readers by increasing the visibility and accessibility of research outcomes.
SciELO SA is growing! June 10, 2010
Posted by Louise in : Open Access Scholarly Publishing , add a comment
The Scholarly Publishing Unit of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) is happy to report that four more journal titles are in the process of being added to the SciELO SA Open Access platform! They are:
- Psychology in Society (PINS)
- South African Journal of Industrial Psychology (SAJIP)
- South African Journal of Animal Science (SAJAS)
- South African Journal of Agricultural Extension (SAJAE).
This will bring the total number of journals on the SciELO SA platform to eleven titles. ASSAf is continually negotiating with the editors of prestigious South African journals regarding placing their titles on this platform.
To date, 1064 articles have been added to the SciELO SA collection. According to Google Analytics, the SciELO SA site has been visited 14, 830 times by 163 countries and 2 112 cities between 10 May 2010 and 9 June 2010. At present, the countries accessing SciELO SA the most are South Africa, the United States, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Australia, India, Germany, Canada and China.
Role of libraries in research March 24, 2010
Posted by Zweli in : Events, Humanities and Education Studies, Open Access Scholarly Publishing , add a commentSouth African Library Week 2010 will be celebrated from 22 – 27 March 2010 with the theme: “Reading changes lives“. SALW2010 was launched on Saturday 20 March at the National Library of South Africa to coincide with the date of the declaration of the first public library in South Africa in 1818.
The Academy is made up of researchers wanting to benefit society through their research. Libraries play a crucial role in this endeavour.
During Library Week we acknowledge the role that libraries play in the production of research. Whereas the internet at large provides general information resources, libraries provide authoritative information resources such as books, journals and access to academic electronic resources. Click here to read more about SALW2010.
Possible online course system for scientific scholarly writing services August 19, 2009
Posted by Thabo in : Open Access Scholarly Publishing , add a commentThe Academy supports the idea of the proposed free-online scientific writing course system explored at an earlier Academy workshop. These online writing services would be a relevant intervention of the ASSAf Scholarly Publishing Programme on the capacity development side of the programme.
The issue of such online writing services was discussed during the National Scholarly Editors’ Forum meetings held in October 2008 and June 2009, where general support was expressed by the Forum members present. The project had, however, for a variety of regrettable reasons, not moved further than the previous stages of identifying a suitable four-tier model, namely: (more…)
Enhancement of the quality of journals through peer review August 13, 2009
Posted by Thabo in : Open Access Scholarly Publishing , 1 comment so farThe ASSAf process of discipline-grouped peer review of journals in the fields of agriculture and related basic life sciences, as well as in the social sciences and related fields, is being done according to criteria developed by the CSPiSA and approved by the ASSAf Council.
SciELO SA goes live! August 13, 2009
Posted by Susan in : Open Access Scholarly Publishing , add a commentASSAf’s Open Scholarly Publishing team has been involved in the launch of a pilot site for SciELO SA, initially on the ScieELO Brazil site, has been established using their existing hardware, software, and mark-up processes. (more…)
