The University of Pretoria and African Minds Trust in South Africa have initiated a project that aims to create a sustainable no-fee open access (OA) future for the Journal of Student Affairs in Africa (JSAA).
JSAA is an independent, peer-reviewed, multi-disciplinary journal that publishes scholarly research and reflective discussions about the theory and practice of student affairs in Africa. The journal is published twice a year by the JSAA Editors in collaboration with the University of Pretoria in South Africa and the OA, non-profit academic publisher, African Minds.
After over 10 years of successful operations, the JSAA needs to train and inaugurate a new editorial team and journal manager, to build skills of authors and reviewers, and to develop an operational plan that will ensure the sustainability and growth of the journal for the next 10 years. It also needs to operationalize the Community of Practice for the JSAA.
The ‘Journal of Student Affairs in Africa: Building Capacity and Community of Practice’ 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
- Creating a platform for renewal of the JSAA editorial team, inauguration and training of editors, sub-editors and a journal manager;
- Designing and introducing an operational / implementation plan for the Community of Practice in Student Affairs in Africa Research (COP-SAAR) (see the COP-SAAR https://upjournals.up.ac.za/index.php/jsaa/community-of-practice concept);
- Developing and workshopping a journal operational manual and guidelines for editors, sub-editors, journal managers, technical support, reviewers and authors;
- Building editorial capacity and skills of JSAA reviewers and authors;
- Developing a 10-year financial sustainability strategy for the JSAA;
- Creating guidelines for and operationalizing the JSAA Awards system for authors, editors and reviewers (see the awards system concept: https://upjournals.up.ac.za/index.php/jsaa/awards) .
Further information about the Journal of Student Affairs in Africa.
