Journal Publishing
NISC’s aim is to facilitate African knowledge production, disseminating local scholarly output to a global audience. To this end, we collaborate with learned societies, universities and research institutions on the publication of their academic journals. NISC has a proven track record of transforming local South African journals into important regional leaders with international significance. We want the journals we publish and the work of each author to be noticed and to be recognised as quality and achieve this by a combination of high production values, state of the art online publication and effective world-wide marketing – the NISC process.
Production – manuscript to published article
NISC publishes journals from natural and social sciences, arts and humanities and our titles are as diverse as Mathematics, Music and Marine Science. We use subject-specialist copy editors who work on each author’s manuscript. Our copy editors are not only good language editors but also have a background in the discipline and so can engage in a meaningful way with authors and editors-in-chief. Our graphics artists rework figures when necessary to ensure uniformity of style and quality of reproduction. Layout is done with meticulous care to highest standards. Such attention to detail and personal engagement is rare in the industry now, but one of NISC’s core values and much appreciated by our authors, editors and society and institutional partners whose journals we publish.
Publication online and in print
We strive to give articles published in each journal the best global discoverability, visibility and accessibility. To this end, we have entered into collaborations with a number of publishing partners. We work closely with Taylor & Francis (T&F), a major international journal publisher, who provide a world class online platform for our journal content, back to volume 1, issue 1. Furthermore, T&F’s commitment to invest in the technology ensures that the site keeps pace with changing trends and the evolving needs of users. We also work with African Journals OnLine (AJOL), the premier portal for journals published on the continent, provide full text downloads that are free or heavily subsidised to Africa and the developing world. Most of our titles are also accessible through EBSCOhost, the principal digital information platform for universities across the world.
We have not neglected the continued demand for print publication, especially from society members. We print our journals locally, using the latest digital print-on-demand technology. This allows cost-effective small print runs, even in colour, as well as reprinting of additional copies, all at unit prices unattainable a few years ago.
Marketing (and sales)
In order for scholarship to be recognised, read and cited, journal titles and individual articles need to get the attention of potential subscribers, authors and researchers. We actively market journal titles, as well as individual issues and even single articles using a variety of strategies. These include local and international targeted online campaigns as well as traditional print marketing. Taylor & Francis, who have offices around the world, play an important and highly effective role in bringing NISC journals to the attention of international audiences.
We recognise that local access to local content is important and therefore offer African discounted charges, in local currency, on ALL our rates. Our journals are also available free in many developing countries through various philanthropic initiatives in which we participate.
What we offer
When we take on the journal of a learned society, university or research institution, we shoulder the costly and time-consuming burden of production, publishing and marketing of a journal, freeing the editor-in-chief and associates to get on with their core business. We are flexible in our approach to these journal publishing partnerships, with a range of business models, licensing and financial arrangements. However, our shared aim is to build up the journal to make it an attractive publication vehicle, offering authors a first-class publishing experience.
Typically, the journals that we take on benefit from: top-flight online manuscript submission and review systems, such as ScholarOne Manuscripts™; quality assurance via iThenticate® plagiarism and originality checking; DOIs for every article, including all back issues, facilitating discoverability; excellent online hosting and access, at TandFOnline, that features live citation and other valuable metrics. We also offer a language editing service (link pending) to all prospective authors who wish to publish in our journals. This assists authors whose article is academically sound but in which the communication and/or structure of the scientific content requires improvement.
We recognise authors’ desire to publish their work in demonstrably impactful publications. We therefore work constantly on analysing citations and other performance metrics to develop improvement strategies for each title with the editors and their editorial boards. We pursue inclusion of each journal in prestigious, relevant indexes, such as Web of Science™, International Bibliography of Social Sciences (IBSS), MEDLINE®, etc. and ensure that they are accredited for the South African Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) publication subsidy.
In an arena where the author is often treated as a commodity by publishers, we have differentiated ourselves by having a close, caring relationship with our authors and with the societies and institutions whose journals we publish.