African Zoology Celebrates Milestones

Posted 7 May 2015 by NISC under Announcements & Notices • Journal: African Zoology
African Zoology Celebrates Milestones

African Zoology hosts a dual celebration as the journal enters its 50th and has seen the move of the journal to NISC (Pty) Ltd, in partnership with Taylor & Francis.

 In celebration of the journal’s various milestones, including a new cover which will change annually,  the first issue of 2015 is now available for free for the remainder of 2015 and can be found here.  African Zoology is the official publication of the Zoological Society of Southern Africa and has been in existence since 1965.

The journal is listed on the Science Citation Index and has a 2013 two year Impact Factor of 0.848 with a five year Impact Factor of 0.929. It is also accredited with the South African DHET and included on Scopus.  African Zoology joined NISC from 2015 and accepts manuscripts through ScholarOne Manuscripts. ScholarOne Manuscripts, a Thomson Reuters owned product, is the industry leading manuscript submission and review system. 

While African Zoology has seen a number of changes it's objective remains unchanged. The journal aims to remain a general zoology/biology based journal and will accept papers globally that advance theoretical thinking and those that focus particularly on African Fauna.  
 
African Zoology focuses on research pertaining to African fauna in terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems, and publishes full-length papers, critical reviews, short communications, letters to the editors, as well as book reviews. Research from other regions that advances practical and theoretical aspects of zoology is also considered.

The journal’s Impact Factor has risen steadily in recent years, as a result the increasing quality of submissions and robust peer review, leading to a steady increase in citations. The journal is committed to continuing this trend.

In their editorial marking the journal’s 50th year Editors-in-Chief Carol Simon and Theresa Wossler said the following:

“Our endeavour thus as the incumbent Editors-in-Chief is to take African Zoology to new heights and improve the rankings of this journal and make it a sought-after journal in which to publish high-quality research."

As part of the NISC (Pty) Ltd – Taylor & Francis partnership African Zoology will have increased visibility globally bringing it in line with other modern journals and also allowing authors the option of publishing their article Open Access

See the latest issue here.

A very supportive, personal and committed editorial team, which takes quality of the work very seriously. I learned a lot through the experience of publishing with Anthropology Southern Africa, and felt supported throughout the process.
- Author - Anthropology Southern Africa
Perhaps the most important change, in terms of bringing the Journal to a wider audience, has been its publishing in collaboration with the NISC (Pty) Ltd.
- Stan Pillar, Editor of the African Journal of Marine Science (1996-2013)
The review process is quick and is being done within the reasonable time. After acceptance, NISC is also quick enough to send proofs and is very efficiently publishes the accepted paper online before its print version.

- Author - Southern Forests: A Journal of Forest Science
The proofs look great! Thank you so much. The efficiency of the journal now is really excellent. Easy to work with, and so thorough. I appreciate it.
- Regular SAJP Author on his first interaction with NISC
The editorial experience was excellent: the reviewers were timely and their feedback was generative. The co-editor of the special issue was proactive about communicating information to me. In latter stages, the staff that shepherded the essay through the copy-editing stages was also very helpful and in good contact.
- Author - Eastern African Literary and Cultural Studies