The School of Arts at the University of Pretoria in South Africa has initiated a project that aims to enhance and strengthen the reputation of Image & Text, its online journal, as a not-for-profit, scholarly open access publishing platform that does not charge fees to authors or readers.
Since its repositioning in 2011 as an inter- and multidisciplinary journal, Image & Text has become one of the leading South African journals in the field of visual culture, attracting local and global authors in the field. It is accredited by the South African Department of Higher Education and Training and publishes one issue each year on a continuous basis, i.e. articles are published online when ready for publication. The emphasis of the journal is on the Global South and also on encouraging emerging scholars and emerging fields.
The project will help develop strategies that will sustain the journal in the future and increase the journal’s visibility and discoverability by ensuring that Image & Text meets standards set by ASSAf (the Academy of Science of South Africa), SciELO (Scientific Electronic Library Online) SA and SCOPUS. It will improve the journal’s management by centralizing all editorial functions on an integrated platform, and streamlining submission and publication processes to reduce workload and improve workflows. An accessible archive of all documentation from the last five years will be created and there will be an updated user-friendly website. In addition, the journal’s style guide will be revised.
The ‘Optimizing Image & Text’ 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
- Training the new editor-in-chief and editorial assistant in best practice requirements for scholarly publishing;
- Developing a mentorship programme for an associate editorial mentee;
- Building a centralized platform to improve the journal's administrative operations, publication workflows and management system;
- Updating the journal's website to improve the functionality, accessibility and visibility of the journal;
- Reviewing and revising the journal style guide;
- Fundraising for future sustainability of the journal.
