Trends in electronic journal publishing in Africa: an analysis of African Journal Online (AJOL)
Journal Title: Webology - Year 2010, Vol 7, Issue 1
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to review the trends in electronic journal publication in Africa in relation to geographical representation, subject spread and language of publication and number of open access journals. The approach adopted for this study was to download the list of journals from the African Journal Online (AJOL) database. These journals were analyzed using tables and charts in relationship to the objectives of the study. This study shows that medical journals are more represented in the database than any other discipline and equally have more open access journals. More than ninety percent of the journals are published in English language while very few journals are published in African languages. Findings from the study reveal that there are very few African countries represented in the AJOL database. Only twenty-six African countries have their journals in the database with so many of them having not more than two journals. Nigeria and South Africa dominate the list of journals in the database. When African sub-region is considered West Africa contributes slightly more than half of all the other regions put together. Medical journals are more represented. In the present electronic environment, it is critical that African journal publishers respond to the need of publishing their scholarly outputs electronically to improve access and impact of their authors. The paper recommends that in order to enhance the visibility of African research outputs more journals publishers should be encouraged to join AJOL.
Authors and Affiliations
Ifeanyi J. Ezema
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP687644
- DOI -
- Views 169
- Downloads 0
Web citation behaviour in scholarly electronic journals in the field of library and information science
The modern era is facing a radical change in the way people find and use information resources. Although the information gathering and use pattern in the traditional print environment have been studied for many years, th...
Feeling alone among friends: Adolescence, social networks and loneliness
Adolescents are particularly susceptible to feelings of loneliness and social relationships are therefore an important part of their development. The aim of the present study is to explore the patterns of adolescents' us...
Perceptions, awareness and acceptance of library 2.0 applications among librarians at the International Islamic University Malaysia
The paper has investigated the perceptions, level of awareness, and acceptance of Library 2.0 applications among librarians at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). The paper also identified perceived fac...
Highly-alted articles in Library and Information Science
The current research examines the extent to which articles published in Scopus-indexed Library and Information Science (LIS) journals are mentioned in social media platforms. It also tries to identify the highly mentione...
Social Media Application in Indonesian Academic Libraries
Nowadays, many libraries have taken advantages of social media to promote their collection as well as to enhance services and interact with their users. In this research, the use of social media by academic libraries in...