LINK Centre, at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, has initiated a project to strengthen the African Journal of Information and Communication (AJIC).
The ‘Strengthening The African Journal of Information and Communication’ project has three objectives: to increase discoverability and visibility of AJIC articles and authors; to deepen expertise on the Editorial Advisory Board, and to enhance recognition of peer reviewers.
AJIC is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed, no-fee open access journal published by the LINK Centre. Content focuses on dimensions of digital, electronic and physical ecosystems that facilitate information, communication, innovation and transformation in Africa and in the broader Global South.
The project is one of 17 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
To increase discoverability and visibility of AJIC articles and authors -
- Complete the AJIC archival record by migrating content and metadata of past journals (2000 - 2008 when the journal title was The Southern African Journal of Information and Communication - SAJIC) to the AJIC archive;
- Complete AJIC reference metadata on the journal’s Open Journal Systems (OJS) website;
- Complete ORCID metadata by adding missing author ORCID metadata to article DOI registrations with Crossref, and publish articles on the journal’s OJS site and collections in the Wits University WIReDSpace institutional repository;
- Translate article titles and abstracts into French and Portuguese, and publish translated article titles and abstracts on AJIC’s OJS site on the ASSAf (Academy of Science of South Africa) Khulisa Journals platform.
To deepen subject matter expertise on the Editorial Advisory Board -
- Audit subject matter published in AJIC to identify prominent subject areas and expected prominent subject matter areas for the next five years;
- Audit Board subject matter expertise to identify existing expertise and gaps;
- Identify potential new Board members.
Enhance recognition of peer reviewers
- Implement a ReviewerCredits system (free version).
- Facilitate reviewer adoption of ReviewerCredits system by integrating it with their ORCID profiles.
More about the African Journal of Information and Communication.
