African Journals - An Evaluation of the Use of African-published Journals in African Universities Evaluating Impact - Education Research Paper No. 36, 1999, 63 p.

[Previous Page] [Table of Contents] [Next Page]

CHAPTER FIVE : RECOMMENDATIONS

To African University Librarians
To African Library and Information Science Educators
To African Academics and Researchers
To African Journal Publishers
To ICT Providers in Africa (including donor agencies as well as university administrations, libraries, computer centres, etc.)
To African University Administrators

This study has shown that, although useful and wanted, African-published journals will not attain their full impact on teaching and research in African universities, unless they become more easily accessible and more readily available. African academics have to know what is being published in their subject areas. What is being published needs to be more regular and of better quality. There needs to be reliable and systematic channels for obtaining the required journals and journal articles. It is with these conclusions in mind that the following recommendations are made, all in the context of maximizing journal use in African universities and, in particular, the use of journals published in Africa.

To African University Librarians

· promote library holdings of African-published journals:

- take out subscriptions and ensure that there is a good balance between foreign and African titles and between those published locally and in other African countries;

- hold exhibitions of African-published journals;

- circulate tables of contents of new issues and offer selective dissemination of journal articles to academic staff;

- encourage the use of journal collections, by providing publicly-available holdings lists of journals by title, subject and country of publication and by ensuring ease of access through the immediate display of new issues and the regular and accurate shelving of previous issues.

· promote knowledge of African-published journals:

- train academic staff and students in the tools which identify titles of journals and articles within the journals;

- for students, include such training in orientation programmes;

- for academic staff, offer training on a one-to-one basis.

· advise and assist in the creation of tools for the indexing and abstracting of African-published journals and assist in pressing for their inclusion in international indexing and abstracting databases.

· monitor usage of journals in the library, so as to know which are used and which might be discontinued or withdrawn and in what areas further marketing is required.

· recognize that academic staff acquire journals and journal articles from many different sources, not just from the university library, and undertake co-ordination of these sources within the university so as to ensure maximum access and availability, e.g. by assisting in the organization of departmental libraries; by including the holdings of departmental libraries in journal holdings list.

To African Library and Information Science Educators

· include information on African-published journals and their bibliographical searching tools in all professional training courses.

· improve the teaching of journal collection management in academic libraries, with a view to maximising usage of journals by staff and students.

To African Academics and Researchers

· use African-published journals for the dissemination of research findings, especially those appropriate and valuable to African countries.

· recognize that many relevant journals are published in Africa, outside of the home country, and make an effort to find out, read and contribute to what is available.

· make more use of African-published journals in teaching, in order to introduce a knowledge of them to students from undergraduate level onwards.

To African Journal Publishers

· improve journal management and ensure that issues are produced regularly and on schedule, so as to engender and retain confidence in the journal.

· improve marketing and promotion by:

- targeting both institutional (libraries, faculties/schools, departments) and personal subscribers;

- pressing for inclusion in all relevant current contents, indexing and abstracting tools, local as well as international;

- following legal deposit regulations, so as to appear in national bibliographies;

- taking advantage of co-operative marketing ventures, e.g. APEX, book fairs, etc.

· improve production quality (paper, print, design and binding).

· improve content quality by:

- better editing and copy editing;

- using peer review;

- including only well-researched papers;

- commissioning articles;

- having an international circulation.

· recognize that journal publication worldwide is moving from print to online and that every journal should aim to have some presence on the Web, even if this is through the online services of a third party.

· recognize that journals which target a niche subject area, previously not covered, are the ones that are likely to succeed on an all-Africa basis.

To ICT Providers in Africa (including donor agencies as well as university administrations, libraries, computer centres, etc.)

· provide Internet access in all universities, as it is now an essential means of identifying and acquiring journal articles.

· recognize that if ICT is to be used effectively by academic staff, access must be spread throughout the university, preferably at departmental and office level.

· provide training to academic staff in the use of ICT on an ongoing and one-to-one basis, so as to overcome the prevailing lack of know-how.

· initially provide ICT services free of charge at the user level, to encourage take-up.

· ensure that there are sufficient funds available on an annual basis for the maintenance of hardware, networks, online subscriptions, CD-ROM renewals, etc. ICT is only useful if connectivity is always there.

To African University Administrators

· recognize the worth of African-published journals and their special role in creating and maintaining the African academic enterprise, by giving consideration to the inclusion of publication in local journals amongst the criteria for staff promotion.

· recognize that the publication in local journals of articles based on quality research depends on there being sufficient funding and adequate facilities within the university to enable academic staff to carry out the necessary research.

[Previous Page] [Top of Page] [Next Page]