The University of Johannesburg in South Africa has initiated a project to address challenges to the growth and impact of the Journal of Construction Project Management and Innovation (JCPMI) within academic and professional communities in the construction and built environment sectors across Africa.

The JCPMI is a bi-annual no-fee open access scholarly journal published by the University of Johannesburg to disseminate research in the field of construction project management and innovation. The goal of the JCPMI is to broaden the knowledge of construction professionals and academicians by promoting free access and providing valuable insight into construction-related information, research and ideas.

Through a series of workshops, webinars and forums, the project will strengthen engagement with the relevant communities of practice, particularly in South Africa, Ghana, Rwanda and Nigeria. It will also raise the overall standard of submissions to the journal and sustain high-quality editorial standards by training researchers in peer review and scholarly writing. 

The ‘Strengthening research capacities and community engagement in construction management and innovation across Africa’ project is one of 17 projects that have received grant support through a three-year project to strengthen no-fee open access publishing in Africa, implemented by EIFL, AJOL (African Journals Online) and WACREN (the West and Central African Research and Education Network), with funding from Wellcome. 

Timeline

October 2024 - September 2025

Activities

• Enhancing engagement with the construction project management and innovation community by hosting webinars, workshops, and collaborative forums across South African, Ghanaian, Rwandan, and Nigerian universities;
• Training emerging researchers in peer review and scholarly writing;
• Supporting operational needs such as copy editing and language editing;
• Hiring temporary editorial assistants;
• Organizing workshops and webinars for academics at partner universities to train future and existing journal reviewers and editorial board members, and to mainstream quality and ethical publishing standards;
• Facilitating discussion and implementation of a strategic plan to enhance the quality and efficiency of the journal publishing processes.

More about the Journal of Construction Project Management and Innovation.