The Quality of South Africa's Research Publications
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THE QUALITY OF SOUTH AFRICA’S RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS Final report to the DHET Submitted by Prof Johann Mouton and team (Herman Redelinghuys, Johann Spies, Jaco Blanckenberg, Lynn Lorenzen, Kyle Ford, Annemarie Visagie and Marthie van Niekerk) 2019 Contents Contents ............................................................................................................................... 2 List of tables ......................................................................................................................... 4 List of figures ........................................................................................................................ 6 List of abbreviations .............................................................................................................. 8 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 11 Background to the study .................................................................................................. 11 Terms of reference .......................................................................................................... 12 Layout of report ............................................................................................................... 12 Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................... 13 Executive summary ............................................................................................................ 14 Trends in publication output ............................................................................................ 14 Books and book chapters ................................................................................................ 15 General trends in book and book chapter submissions ................................................ 15 Conference proceedings ................................................................................................. 17 Questionable publication practices .................................................................................. 19 A framework of journal quality and integrity ..................................................................... 20 Implementation framework .............................................................................................. 22 Part 1: General trends in publication output ........................................................................ 26 1.1 General trends in publication output: 2005 to 2017 ............................................... 26 1.2 Publication output by scientific field or subject category ........................................ 29 1.3 Trends in output by journal list .............................................................................. 34 1.4 Should IBSS and NSD be retained as accredited lists by the DHET? ................... 37 1.5 Are there any other lists that should be considered for inclusion for subsidy purposes? ....................................................................................................................... 42 1.5.1 ERIH-Plus .................................................................................................... 42 1.5.2 DOAJ ........................................................................................................... 43 1.6 Concluding assessment and recommendations .................................................... 44 1.6.1 Assessment ................................................................................................. 44 1.6.2 Recommendations ....................................................................................... 45 Part 2: Analysis of book submissions .................................................................................. 46 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 46 2.2 Developing a list of accredited book publisher titles .............................................. 46 2.2.1 Cleaning and harmonisation of all book submissions ................................... 47 2.2.2 Trends in book and book chapter submissions ............................................ 48 2.2.3 Salient findings ............................................................................................ 54 2 2.3 Development of a ranking system for publishers ................................................... 54 2.3.1 Comparison of book submission data against existing rankings ................... 55 2.3.2 Panel decision on books and book chapters ................................................ 64 2.3.3 Correspondence between Sense/NSD rankings and DHET book decisions 65 2.4 Implementation of a proposed decision framework of book subsidies ................... 74 2.4.1 List A: Internationally recognised book publishers........................................ 74 2.4.2 List B of reputable international and local book publishers ........................... 75 2.5 Impact of implementing the decision framework ................................................... 76 2.6 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 78 Part 3: Analysis of conference proceeding submissions ...................................................... 80 3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 80 3.2 Cleaning and harmonisation of conference submissions....................................... 83 3.3 Towards a list of accredited conference titles: Ranking of conferences ................. 88 3.3.1 The Core ranking ......................................................................................... 88 3.3.2 The AMiner ranker ....................................................................................... 89 3.3.3 The GII-GRIN-SCIE ranking ........................................................................ 91 3.3.4 Qualis-Capes ranking .................................................................................. 93 3.3.5 DHET decisions on conference submissions ............................................... 94 3.3.5 Discussion ................................................................................................... 96 3.3.6 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 96 3.4 Recognising the WoS indexes of conference proceedings for subsidy purposes .. 96 3.4.1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 96 3.4.2 Discussion ................................................................................................. 101 3.5 Questionable practices in conference submissions ............................................. 103 3.6 Conclusions and recommendations .................................................................... 106 Part 4: Questionable publication practices ........................................................................ 107 4.1 Background ........................................................................................................ 107 4.2 Predatory publishing ........................................................................................... 107 4.2.1 Defining predatory publishing .................................................................... 107 4.2.2 The extent of predatory publishing in South Africa ..................................... 109 4.2.3 2017 university submissions to predatory journals published in 2016 ........ 110 4.2.4 Submissions to predatory journals in 2017................................................. 111 4.2.5 Concluding assessment and recommendation on predatory journals......... 113 4.3 Questionable editorial publication behaviour ....................................................... 114 4.4 Plagiarism in SA publishing ................................................................................ 114 4.5 Recommendations .............................................................................................. 115 Part 5: Indicators of journal quality and integrity ................................................................ 117 3 5.1 Assessing journal quality and integrity ................................................................ 117 5.2 In which journals do SA academics publish most frequently? ............................. 119 5.3 A framework of journal quality and integrity (JQI) ................................................ 124 5.3.1 Citation visibility and impact ....................................................................... 125 5.3.2 International footprint and reputation.......................................................... 140 5.3.3 Indicators of journal integrity ...................................................................... 143 5.4 Concluding assessment and recommendation .................................................... 149 References ....................................................................................................................... 150 Appendix 1: Errors that are due to the current implementation of the CESM classification framework ......................................................................................................................... 152 Appendix 2: Disaggregation of journal articles by Level 4 subject category......................