The NSBPF focuses on scholarly book publishing in South Africa and was inaugurated in 2011. The Academy released its second Report on Scholarly Books: their Production, Use and Evaluation in South Africa Today in September 2009. The Report made a recommendation that a National Scholarly Book Publishers’ Forum should be established under the auspices of the Academy as a “companion” to the already existing National Scholarly Editors’ Forum relating to journals published in South Africa.
The broad mandate of the NSBPF:
- The Forum should concentrate on matters common to the objectives of the scholarly publishers and the Academy,maximising the facilitatory capacity of the latter in achieving changes in public policy and its mission to improve the quality, quantity and impact of scholarly book publishing in and from South Africa.
- The Forum articulates proposals and recommendations with the assistance of the Academy, which will take them forward to relevant stakeholders.
- The Forum should cooperate closely with the Publishers’ Association of South Africa (PASA) and its relevant section(s).
- The Forum should promote the adoption of a set of guidelines for best practice in editing and peer reviewing for monographs and collected works.
- The Forum should foster the integration of policy and practice in all forms of academic publishing.
Terms of Reference
Best Practice for Peer Review of Scholarly Books
ASSAf National Scholarly Book Publishers’ Forum (NSBPF) Conference, hosted on 25 July 2022.
The recordings and presentations of the conference can be accessed through the links below:
Session 1: The value of local scholarly book publishing in South Africa
Presentation by Prof Ahmed Bawa https://research.assaf.org.za/bitstream/handle/20.500.11911/246/Presentation%20-%20Ahmed%20Bawa.pdf?sequence=4&isAllowed=y
Presentation by Mr Mahlubi Mabizela https://research.assaf.org.za/bitstream/handle/20.500.11911/246/Presentation%20-%20MahlubiMabizela.pdf?sequence=11&isAllowed=y
Session 2: What counts? Assessing the quality and impact of scholarly books
Presentation by Ms Dalene Pieterse https://research.assaf.org.za/bitstream/handle/20.500.11911/246/Presentation%20-%20Dalene%20Pieterse.pdf?sequence=8&isAllowed=y
Session 3: Open Access and the costs of publishing
Presentation by Dr Frances Pinter https://research.assaf.org.za/bitstream/handle/20.500.11911/246/Presentation%20-%20Frances%20Pinter.pdf?sequence=9&isAllowed=y
Session 4: Metadata and Persistent Identifier into the Future
Presentation by Ms Alice Meadows https://research.assaf.org.za/bitstream/handle/20.500.11911/246/Presentation%20-%20Alice%20Meadows.pdf?sequence=5&isAllowed=y
Presentation by Mr Brian O’Leary https://research.assaf.org.za/bitstream/handle/20.500.11911/246/Presentation%20-%20Brian%20O%27Leary.pdf?sequence=6&isAllowed=y
Presentation by Mr Graham Bell https://research.assaf.org.za/bitstream/handle/20.500.11911/246/Presentation%20-%20Graham%20Bell.pdf?sequence=10&isAllowed=y
Session 5: Ensuring Diversity in Scholarly Publishing
Presentation by Prof Crain Soudien https://research.assaf.org.za/bitstream/handle/20.500.11911/246/Presentation%20-%20Crain%20Sudien.pdf?sequence=7&isAllowed=y
Presentation by Ms Ujala Satgoor https://research.assaf.org.za/bitstream/handle/20.500.11911/246/Presentation%20-%20Ujala%20Satgoor.pdf?sequence=12&isAllowed=y
Closing remarks by Prof Keyan Tomaselli