ACADEMIC AND NON-FICTION AUTHORS' ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH AFRICA (ANFASA)
CALL FOR PAPERS: "DISCRIMINATION IN SOUTH AFRICAN SCHORLARLY PUBLISHING"
Profiles of the South African publishing industry reveal that these do not reflect the demographics of the
country, whether in terms of authors, publishing staff, or readers.
Is this the result of discriminatory practices, or are other factors involved?
The sub-sector of academic and scholarly publishing reveals an even more skewed profile. There are
imbalances in our higher education systems, as well as the problem of an ageing and shrinking active
research group. One reason advanced for poor publishing records among younger, emerging and women
scholars includes a perception of discrimination against scholars on the basis of a number of factors,
including race, age and gender. This results in a disproportionate number of publications among a certain
cohort of our research population, and a distinct group that is under-represented and arginalised. Studies
conducted internationally, including in the USA, UK and Sweden, indicate that discrimination does take
place against women and ethnic groups in scholarly publishing. Discriminatory practices may include unfair
reviewing practices, unethical behaviour, exclusion from the 'old boys' network', and other constraints on
time and research. The values that underlie the scholarly communication system – such as the
maintenance of 'high standards' – may also function to exclude.
These papers will result in a publication, a collection of essays by South African scholars, that aims to
examine the perceptions and realities of discriminatory practices in academic and scholarly publishing. The
publication will be fully peer reviewed in order to comply with accreditation requirements, and it is expected
that it will be published by a local university press.
VENUE: ANFASA Annual General Meeting, Cape Town
DATE: 23-24 MARCH 2012
MORE INFORMATION: Email Beth le Roux, Department of Information Science, University of Pretoria beth.leroux@up.ac.za
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