This chapter focuses on one major scientific journal from Ethiopia. Ethiopia has a small but quite active community of scholars that communicates its research findings in about ten reputed journals. Almost all of these journals emanate from Addis Ababa University which is the oldest and the largest university in the country. SINET: An Ethiopian Journal of Science is one of these reputed journals and was launched in the Faculty of Science to accommodate the broad disciplines of science. There are, however, a number of other scientific publications also issued from within the Faculty. These are published by the Ethiopian Flora Project (Biology Department), the Chemical Society of Ethiopia, the Natural Products Research Network for Eastern and Central Africa, the Biological Society of Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Geosciences and Mineral Engineering Association, the Mathematical Association of Ethiopia, and the Statistical Association of Ethiopia. Not surprisingly, the major motivating force for the establishment of almost all the current scientific societies of Ethiopia originate from within the Faculty of Science.

Background

SINET: An Ethiopian Journal of Science was founded in 1978 within the Faculty of Science, Addis Ababa University. It was founded by nine members of the university community to serve as a publication of the Faculty of Science.¹ The publication covers the disciplines of Biology, Chemistry, Geology and Geophysics, Mathematics, Physics, and Statistics. The journal also publishes articles from applied sciences, including agricultural, environmental and medical sciences. It has four major sections—namely, research articles, reviews, features, and short notes.

SINET is devoted to communicating findings of scientific research that are currently carried out in Ethiopia, in particular, and the world, in general. The journal also aims at encouraging Ethiopian scientists to align their investigations in the direction of solving current problems facing the country. SINET is complemented by a newsletter, the SINET Newsletter, which publishes on various scientific activities, as well as news related to the Faculty of Science and its staff. The newsletter also serves as a forum for debate on a wide range of issues facing the world. It also features biographies and topics of scientific eminence.

The editorial office of SINET has been recognized as one of the units of the Faculty of Science. The editor-in-chief has equal status as an academic department head, although no corresponding remuneration or benefits are in place for the former. Moreover, the magnitude of work and responsibility shouldered by the editor-in-chief is often not well appreciated by the university community. The editor-in-chief, however, is relieved from a workload equivalent to teaching a three-credit-hour course.

SINET was launched with three major objectives: to serve as a communication and information medium among professionals in science and related fields; to serve as a communication medium for research findings and to disseminate new ideas and inventions in science; and to promote the effective teaching of science in schools by publishing newer, better, and more efficient ways of carrying out experiments.

Organization and Management

The professional management of SINET is conducted by an editorial board. The editorial board is composed of associate editors. Associate editors are elected representatives of the various academic departments of the Faculty of Science—Biology, Chemistry, Geology and Geophysics, Mathematics, Statistics, and Physics. An associate editor is responsible only for manuscripts in his field of specialization. He selects appropriate reviewers, compiles comments of the reviewers, and presents a summary of the reviews to the board. All decisions pertaining to the acceptance or rejection of a manuscript are made by the editorial board which, under normal circumstances, meets at least once a month. Decisions on the fate of manuscripts are made based on the recommendations of the referees and the concerned associate editor. Qualifications of a board member include that he or she shall be at least an assistant professor and when possible, active in research and teaching, and should have a good capacity for writing in English. The editor-in-chief, the editor, and the managing editor of the journal are elected by the editorial board from among its members.

Upon joining the editorial office, most of the associate editors are novice in editorial and related expertise, and then learn these skills while on the job. There is, however, reluctance among some associate editors to perfect themselves in editorial skills as there is no mechanism in place for rewarding excellence in editing. SINET is also professionally supported by its international advisory board members from institutions in Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Nigeria, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Office Management

Until recently, the day-to-day activities of the editorial office used to be managed by an executive secretary assigned by the university. The executive secretary was helped by an office assistant assigned by the administrative wing of the faculty. However, much of the shortcomings of the editorial office is believed to be largely due to very poor secretarial support. Some of these shortcomings include poor correspondence with authors, reviewers, advisory board members, subscribers, subscription agencies, and abstracting and indexing agencies; lack of necessary skills in handling computer and computer software; low level of scientific and technical knowledge; and poor working discipline. The university has now approved the assignment of a senior editorial assistant who has the necessary qualifications in handling computers and computer software, and scanners, as well as skills in desktop publishing techniques.

Source of Manuscripts, Editorial Procedures, and Reviewing

A large proportion of manuscripts comes from universities and colleges from the country. The few manuscripts that come from other parts of Africa are also, almost exclusively, from universities. Manuscripts also arrive from India and, rarely, from Latin American countries. SINET also solicits manuscripts—especially reviews and features—from senior academicians and/or researchers.

A manuscript arriving at the editorial office is first registered and is then passed on to the editor-in-chief. At the same time, receipt of the manuscript is acknowledged by the editorial assistant. The editor-in-chief assigns an appropriate associate editor for the manuscript. The associate editor then makes a preliminary scrutiny of the manuscript to make a legibility test before forwarding it to three referees of international repute.

Many referees review papers for SINET free of charge, and they do this with pleasure—partly because of their interest to help the young journal, and partly because of the way SINET approaches them, e.g. through special contacts and acquaintances. However, SINET does sometimes stumble onto reviewers who are either not interested in assessing the paper or are too busy to do the reviewing. In few instances reviewers have denied receipt of a manuscript outright—partly because the manuscript has stayed with them for such a long time (in some cases for over a year) that they might lose their reputation, and partly because they want SINET to stop nagging them with its regular reminders. Some other reviewers, albeit rare, love to recommend a manuscript to be published as a full paper, although the author(s) submitted it for a short notes column. Such careless reviewers never find the time and/or the interest to read the manuscripts critically and send their comments to SINET; they simply fill out the review forms and return them to the editorial office.

There are a variety of authors. Basically they fall into two categories: young, naive authors and experienced ones. Many young authors often end up having their manuscripts either rejected or recommended for the short notes column. In such cases, SINET tries to keep up the spirit of these new enthusiasts by providing them guidance through lengthy letters.

On the other hand, some of the more experienced authors generally tend to be either adamant against the idea of accommodating reviewers’ comments, or become involved in a lengthy argument with these reviewers. In such cases—and when the situation seems to be in a deadlock because either the author or the reviewer seems to be misunderstood—SINET seeks the assistance of other reviewers for resolving the argument. There are also authors who seem to be offended when they are asked to re-write their manuscript and, instead, choose to waste their time writing a lengthy and pungent letter to the editor-in-chief; they often end up withdrawing their manuscript.

SINET keeps the names of referees confidential. The anonymity of authors is also ensured during the whole process of manuscript assessment and publication. This is especially important in Ethiopia where the social bondage is so strong and powerful to bias truth and objectivity. Many times authors, instead of accepting the judgment and accommodating reviewers’ comments, tend to nurse long-lasting animosity against reviewers when they discover their identity. On the other hand, it is possible that reviewers might also be biased and thus lose impartiality if they discover the author’s identity.

The rejection rate varies but, on the whole, it is between 20 and 30 percent per issue. After the manuscript is pronounced as publishable, authors are requested to submit their manuscripts on diskettes. Black and white drawings and graphs are scanned into the text in the editorial office. Because most authors are not familiar with table layout and formatting, these are often redone in the office. Most of the manuscripts require a substantial amount of copyediting. This is because many authors have communication difficulties owing to their poor language skills in English which is the medium of the journal; or do not strictly follow the rules stipulated in the guidelines.

Frequency and Regularity of the Publication

SINET is a bi-annual publication. Since its inception in 1978, forty-two issues have been published. In these issues a total of 156 research articles, 37 features/reviews, and 40 short notes were published in a total of 3,198 pages.

The timely delivery of issues, as well as the quality and quantity of articles published in SINET, were seriously diminished in 1978 (the take-off phase), 1984, 1986, and 1988. For example, in volume one, number one (1978), not a single research article was published; all the published papers were features/reviews and short notes. Also, half of the papers in the two issues of volume seven (1984) were short notes; and the total number of pages was only seventy-seven. Similarly, in 1986, issue numbers one and two of volume nine were combined and published together. It had only five sixty-five-page articles for the whole year. Again, in 1988, the two issues of volume ten were published together; they contained only four papers, two of which were short notes. The total number of pages for the whole volume was seventy-seven.

A number of problems account for those difficult times of SINET. Some of these included:

• lack of funding for the purchase of the necessary facilities to produce and print good quality issues;

• absence of qualified and dedicated secretarial support;

• periodic change of editors, and university’s lack of appreciation for the huge and involving task accomplished by these editors;

• lack of visibility of the journal due to poor circulation, resulting in chronic shortage of articles; and

• troubled academic atmosphere in the university due to political instability of the country.

During recent years, however, the status of SINET as a reputed journal has greatly improved. The issues have started to appear regularly, the number of articles per issue has increased considerably and likewise the quality of the journal has improved significantly. These improvements are mainly due to the employment of a full-time qualified editorial assistant, as well as the dedication of the editorial board members. However, there is still a lot more to be desired regarding to the physical appearance of the journal—i.e. printing quality—although this has been something beyond the direct control of the editorial office.

Subscriptions, Exchanges, and Gratis

The current subscription rates of the journal are 50 Birr (US$7) and 20 Birr (US$3) for local institutions and individuals respectively. Subscription rates for foreign institutions and individuals are US$50 and US$20, respectively. SINET is cited in major bibliographical indexes such as BIOSIS (Biological Abstracts, USA and UK), Environment Abstracts (UK), Mathematical Reviews (USA), Current Mathematical Publications (USA), Zoological Record (UK), CAB International (UK), Ulrich’s International Periodicals Directory (USA), Chemical Abstracts EX Libris (Germany), Swets & Zeitlinger BV (Holland).

Thirty-two institutions from Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, Holland, Japan, Kenya, South Africa, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States subscribed for 1996 and 1997—34 percent of which were from Ethiopia. One hundred and thirty-seven individuals from Ethiopia, Germany, Ireland, Sweden, and the United States subscribed for 1996 and 1997. Of these, 86 percent were from Ethiopia. Currently, there are no individual subscribers from Africa, Asia, Australia, or Latin America.

Quite a significant proportion of the journal is distributed in a form of exchange or gratis. For example, in 1996, 658 copies of volume nineteen and in 1997, 450 copies of volume twenty, number one were distributed. Of these, about 57 percent were used as exchange and gratis copies. If the current subsidy of providing facilities, or fund allocation for printing purposes, is withdrawn, SINET may not be able to sustain itself.

The following discusses the general problems of the editorial office. The problems are divided into four subgroups: Manpower, computer and other facilities, subscriptions and circulations, and financial status.

Manpower

Many of the editorial activities—including copy-editing and decision making—is carried out by the editor-in-chief. Arguably, this work requires a lot of experience, time, and dedication. On the other hand, the editors-in-chief are drawn from among people who are still struggling to reach the relative pinnacle of academic excellence. In other words, they have to share their time and energy among teaching, research, SINET, and other committee works. Worse still, no editor-in-chief wants to serve beyond his three-year term in office in which case the knowledge and experience gained through these years of service are regrettably wasted for SINET. It is the opinion of the present writer that these and related problems be solved immediately, not only for effectively running and maintaining the journal, but also for creatively transforming it into an efficient means of communicating scientific results among scholars and development workers. Furthermore, the office urgently needs a qualified secretary and a trainable office person. As the journal enters into a phase of rapid reactivation, the amount of work—correspondence, keying in of texts, mailing, follow-up and promotional activities—is growing steadily.

There are currently no opportunities for on-the-job training for personnel in the editorial office. Needless to say, with the advent of faster computers, high performance scanners, and software, techniques for desktop publishing are growing at an unprecedented pace. Moreover, the currently developing promotional work through the Internet requires not only full access to the Internet, but also the technical skill to create and maintain a home page for SINET. At present, all of these technical developments are lacking in the SINET editorial office.

Computer and Other Facilities

Up until the middle of 1996, the editorial office was running its day-to-day activities with an outdated 286-based PC. In fact, much of the computer work was done using computers that belong to various projects of the Department of Biology. Although the editorial office has now acquired a 486-based PC, it still has a number of problems. The copy machine and the printer are deteriorating. SINET needs a high quality printer to be able to make good quality print out of scanned images. Furthermore, there are no facilities like modems and direct telephone lines to facilitate communications. Unless urgent actions are taken to improve this situation, the fate of SINET will be questionable.

Subscriptions and Circulation

Although subscriptions and circulation of the journal during recent years have improved substantially, they are still far from satisfactory. SINET has to be able to sell itself aggressively by reaching out to a potentially large number of subscribers either directly, or indirectly through subscription agents. There are currently no subscription agents who have made agreements with SINET. A huge amount of promotional work is needed not only to improve subscription and circulation but also to promote visibility of the journal.

Financial Status

There is an urgent need for strengthening the financial base of SINET. As regular production of the journal depends largely on earmarked funds, SINET should not be left to the vagaries of the financial state of the Research and Publications Office (RPO) of the university which is its major underwriter of printing costs. Grants obtained from RPO are often too small to pay for good quality printing costs. Resorting to cheaper printing enterprises, dictated by financial shortfalls, has seriously diminished the physical appearance, as well as the print quality of the journal.

Furthermore, SINET is not yet financially empowered for purchasing accessories for its desktop publishing facilities which were acquired through funds obtained from SAREC (The Swedish Agency for Research Cooperation with Developing Countries) through the Ethiopian Science and Technology Commission. There is currently no mechanism for ensuring a faster and better procedure for the maintenance of office facilities, as well as sustained provision of office supplies.

Unless the current situation is radically changed in favor of financial input and independence, it will be very difficult to visualize the sustainability of the journal once subsidies are removed. Financial empowerment will enable the journal to devise ways and means of offering incentives to its editorial board members and reviewers. This will make the editors and the associate editors as well as the reviewers more efficient, more productive, and more thorough.

Once these requisites are fulfilled, SINET will serve not only as a national, regional, and international forum for scientific communication, but will also be able to render editorial as well as technical services to the broader community of the faculty. It is hoped that in the light of emerging and important research projects, as well as the establishment of a number of professional societies, the status and position of SINET will be further strengthened if the problems mentioned are carefully and urgently attended to.

Conclusion

It is a well documented fact that very many journals have not been lucky to celebrate their first birthday—victims of volume one–number one syndrome. SINET is one of the few African journals that has made it through two decades. Its journey, like most of its compatriots, has not, however, been without difficulties.

SINET has over the years improved its content, volume, and quality; the momentum which has brought about these changes will hopefully continue at full steam. Among other things, it has remarkably made possible publishing numerous young local scholars who otherwise would not and could not have the opportunity and the forum to do so. The unstinted contributions of the editorial board members—especially the editors-in-chief—have played a major role in the recent favorable story of the journal.

Despite the good record of achievements, SINET still faces a number of problems. A noncommittal university administration, a lack of training opportunities for the technical staff, and a scarcity of reliable and appropriate financial input are some of the major ones.

Almost none of the African journals are self-sufficient. Many could not even manage to break even. This is mainly attributed to poor marketing and publicity. SINET is not an exception yet. It has to do a lot more in this respect, not only to deal with its poor financial status but also to recruit more subscribers, potential authors, editors, and reviewers—especially from the often neglected local society of scholars outside the university community.

With strong commitment, interest, and devotion of editors-in-chief, appropriate concern by the university administration, and consistent support by national and international agencies—in that order of importance—SINET will be in a position to witness more decades of existence in the more uncertain world of scholarly journals in this wildly burgeoning information age.

Notes

The founding members were: Ermias Dagne (editor), Kesete Belay, Adhana Mengste-ab (associate editor), Asmerom Kidane (associate editor), Besrat Dilnesahu (dean, Science Faculty), Demissu Gemeda (associate editor), Laike Mariam Asfaw (associate editor), Mesfin Tadesse (associate editor), and Aberra Mogessie (managing editor). The successive editors-in-chief of SINET between 1978 and 1996 were Ermias Dagne, Tewolde Berhan G. Egziabiher, Ayenew Ejigou, Amha Belay, Berhanu A. Gashe, Mesfin Tadesse , Ghebrebirhan Oqubazghi (only for a short period of time) and Legesse Negash. The current editor-in-chief of SINET is Masresha Fetene.

*Acknowledgements

This chapter was first published in 1998 by The Research and Information Center of the Bellagio Publishing Network in association with The Center for International Higher Education, Boston College on a book entitled "Knowledge Dissemination in Africa: The Role of Scholarly Journals." The book was co-edited by Philip G. Altbach and Damtew Teferra. Ethioworld.com appreciates the institutions and the editors for availing this chapter to readers virtually and widely."

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