SciELO SA as an open access collection Louise van Heerden Gauteng IR Community of Practice 4 September 2014

WHY? WHO? WHAT? - Quality - Visibility - Why SciELO? - SciELO SA - Usage - Indexability - Developments ACTION?

HOW VISIBLE IS SOUTH AFRICA’S SCHOLARLY RESEARCH? The 2006 Academy of Science of South Africa Report on Scholarly Publishing revealed that: -Papers published in 60 SA journals received not even 1 citation in any of the WoS (TR) journals over a 15-year period -About 75% of SA scholarly research is not internationally visible or accessible

Of the 270+ South African scholarly journals accredited by DHET, only ±70 are indexed in the Web of Science (Thomson Reuter) (formerly known as ISI) academic citation index Journals from Africa & the Middle East comprise 1% of the Web of Science Furthermore, articles (journals) published by commercial publishers are not available to researchers who cannot pay for the subscription fees which renders them invisible to the majority of South Africans -Journals that are mainly print based are not accessible via the Web -Quality of the content was very low at the time – not adhering to international standards

SO ARE SOUTH AFRICAN RESEARCHERS WORKING IN VAIN?

RESPONSE FROM GOVERNMENT Department of Science & Technology (DST): The creation of an open access collection to promote South African scholarly research through enhanced visibility of and easier access to South African research, leading to higher citation rates and greater collaboration. Department of Higher Education & Training (DHET): The development of a National Digital Library including the SciELO SA Collection of SA OA journals DST & DHET approached the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) for help

THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE OF SOUTH AFRICA (ASSAf) The Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) receives funding from the Department of Science and Technology, along with the NRF, CSIR, HSRC and the SA National Space Agency. (Universities in turn receive funding from DHET) ASSAf’s Mission : Using science for the benefit of society

ASSAf EVIDENCE BASED REPORTS

Scholarly Publishing Programme (SPP) The dissemination of the results of scientific research has always been a crucial part of the production process of new knowledge and innovation. Within the countries’ National System of Innovation (NSI) ASSAf’s Scholarly Publishing Programme has been mandated to focus on the - Enhancement of original, peer-reviewed publications produced by researchers in the public sector, as well as improved: Quality Quantity Worldwide visibility Worldwide accessibility of South African publications

Review SPP (Scholarly Publishing Programme) REPORTS e.g. Report on Research Publishing in SA ASSAf EVIDENCE-BASED REPORTS f or decision making Peer Review Panels National Scholarly Editors’ Forum Book Study Online Scientific Writing SciELO SA

1 st – QUALITY Towards a new quality assurance system in SA In 2009 DHET approached ASSAf to undertake the quality evaluation of the content of South African journals ASSAf is facilitating the external peer reviewing of SA journals Aim: To establish their quality and their role in the nation’s knowledge capital and to provide journals with advice on how to improve their journals

Improving the quality of South African journals PEER-REVIEWING OF SA JOURNALS – +/- 270 SA journals divided into broad subject (discipline) groups – ASSAf has appointed panels and reviewers (from the ASSAf membership or other experts in the field) – Formulated process guidelines and editor questionnaires – Published 6 Reports: Social Sciences; Agriculture; Theology; Health; and Law – Rolling out the 8 groups as by end-2014

2 nd VISIBILITY Increasing visibility of SA scholarly research Based on the Recommendations of the ASSAf Report on a Strategic Approach to Research Publishing in South Africa DST decided on the creation of an open access collection to improve the visibility of SA publications both locally and internationally The collection would include SA journals recommended by the ASSAf Peer Review Panels for inclusion in the collection The creation of a an open access SA collection is a service to the South African research community towards the development of a knowledge economy and new innovation in South Africa

2 nd VISIBILITY Increasing visibility of SA scholarly research ASSAf selected the SciELO publishing model In 2009 the SciELO SA open access platform was established Currently: 45 titles in the collection The journals that are peer-reviewed by ASSAf and indicate proven quality (peer review, international indexing) are invited to join the SciELO SA collection Aim: to invite ± 180 titles out of 270 SA journal titles to join the collection

WHAT IS SciELO (Scientific Electronic Library Online) ? A digital library of open access journals Portal to all the SciELO articles A cooperative electronic publishing model aimed at developing countries Originally from Brazil, currently in 12 countries with 3 more in development

WHY SciELO (Scientific Electronic Library Online) ? Open access South African research becomes searchable through the SciELO network portal which feeds into the Web of Knowledge portal Exchange of metadata with other international databases Designed for the needs of developing countries The SciELO Network focuses on promoting the scientific publications from countries in the South, whereas the well-established ‘Web of Science’ has until recently been focused mainly on the scientific publications of developed countries in the North.

ORIGIN OF THE SciELO INDEX  Research from developing countries are being excluded from the WoS/TR (JCR) indexing and citation system  Few journals of developing countries are read in or outside their country Scientific American, v.237, p

Source: Folder of International Seminar on Open Acces for Developing Countries, by BIREME SciELO – in the Open Access Movement SciELO introduces Latin-American journals into the Open Access Movement

Most SciELO journals are predominately funded by public resources SciELO collections are managed, funded, promoted and operated by national councils of science and technology, ministries and academic organizations SciELO model is different from others like: PubMed Central, BioMED Central, High Wire Press, etc. because those are centralized collections SciELO – OPEN ACCESS MODE 90% of SciELO journals are published by universities, research centers, scientific societies, and other non-commercial associations 10% are published by profit corporations

So in line then with the mandate of the Academy of Science of South Africa to apply scientific thinking in the service of society one of these “Service to Society” projects is the creation of an open access full-text database of prestigious academic South African journals to improve access & visibility

Managed by the Academy of Science of SA Mainly funded by the Department of Science & Technology Partially funded and endorsed by the Department of Higher Education & Training Only high quality journal are included (ASSAf Peer Review Panels) Strengthens the scholarly journal evaluation and accreditation systems in South Africa

THE SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE (SAJS) – AS EXAMPLE

SAJS USAGE STATISTICS – AS EXAMPLE

3 rd ACCESS SciELO Growth SciELO SAAugust 2013August 2014 Visits Visits per day Usage increase Usage increase 26 % SciELO SAAugust 2014 Titles 41 titles Issues 539 issues Articles articles

INTERNATIONAL USAGE OF THE SCIELO SA RESEARCH

SITE VISITS According to Google Analytics, the SciELO SA site was visited: times during August 2014 (± 2206 x p/d) And ± times during the last year

MOST VISITED JOURNAL TITLES SAJS, SAMJ, SAJE & WSA

INCREASE IN VISIBILITY OF PRINT-ONLY JOURNALS Journal title Articles viewed From 2010 to date South African Orthopaedic Journal Kronos: Southern African Histories Psychology in Society (PINS)

4 th INDEXABILITY – MAXIMIZING LINKS The creation of optimal links from SciELO Journals to the main international databases increases the visibility and citations of these journals on national and international levels Article SciELO Google Scholar DOAJ Open DOAR AGRIS FAO World Cat SciELO LILACS PUBMED MEDLINE WoS SCOPUS CrossRef

SciELO IS WELL OPTIMISED FOR SEARCH ENGINES – AN EXAMPLE

IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS TO ENSURE CONTINUED QUALITY ASSURANCE, VISIBILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY FOR SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNALS SciELO SA collection certified in April 2013 Included on the Web of Knowledge platform Have a signed a Memorandum of Agreement with DHET to quality peer review ALL South African journals Proposed change in the DHET policy for the automatic accreditation of SciELO SA journals for subsidy purposes. Waiting for final notification from Parliament for 2015 publications

ACTION Encourage researchers to publish in open access journals Encourage editors to join ASSAf’s National Editor’s Forum

Louise van Heerden, Operations Manager: SciELO SA Susan Veldsman, Director: Scholarly Publishing (ASSAf) From 1 October: Ina Smith, Planning Manager: SciELO SA