It is currently one of the top-ranked science journals published on the African continent, and compares favourably with prestigious and influential international journals of similar disciplines worldwide. It is one of the most targeted journals by South African marine scientists, but there is a growing number of manuscripts submitted by researchers from elsewhere on the African continent.
Recognizing the need for an African-based journal, its 20th year of publication and 25th issue was marked by renaming it the African Journal of Marine Science. By broadening the geographical scope of the journal, it now provides an opportunity for marine scientists from other African countries to publish their findings, as well as to promote marine research around the continent. The journal serves as a forum for all aspects of marine science, from estuarine and coastal waters to the open ocean, and from physical and chemical to biological oceanography. More recently, the journal has broadened its subject scope to include socio-economics and co-management studies. The journal publishes proceedings of symposia in special issues, several of which have marked various phases of the Benguela Ecology Programme, and a more recent volume was dedicated to ecosystem approaches to fisheries in the southern Benguela. Also, guest-edited suites on thematic topics, such as marine protected areas, harmful algal blooms, subsistence fisheries, and seabirds and seal at the Prince Edward Islands, have been included in more recent regular issues of the journal.
Until recently, the African Journal of Marine Science was produced in-house by MCM. It is now produced in collaboration with National Inquiry Service Centre (NISC), a leading South African publisher of academic journals and bibliographic databases. The journal, however, has retained its existing identity and the editorial function is firmly based within MCM. One of the objectives of this collaboration is to enable the production of more than one issue annually, which was the practise in the past, thereby providing a more rapid turnover time of manuscripts from submission to publication. Three issues of the journal are now published annually.
The association with NISC provides the journal with greater visibility and international penetration arising from both online publishing and effective marketing. The journal is published online as well as in hard copy, and journal abstracts can be viewed free of charge on the internet. The electronic version of full articles is accessible for perusal and printing upon payment of a subscription. Although page charges are levied for all papers submitted after June 2004, authors who do not receive publication subsidies from their institutes may apply to have their page charges waived. Similar concessions are available to various marine research institutes and governmental organizations throughout Africa, as well as existing library exchange partners worldwide
The journal has come a long way in the past two decades and has established itself as the flagship journal for African marine science. With its international status it has become the vehicle for important research finding of South Africa’s top marine scientists, and more recently from scientists elsewhere in Africa, and has made important contributions towards promoting local and international awareness of marine science in Africa.
The cover of the journal depicts a diagrammatical
representation of a 2000-year old Later Stone Age painted stone lying on a
beach. The stone was excavated in a cave near Humansdorp on South Africa’s
south coast. It depicts a human figure apparently swimming with four
dolphins. Rock art symbolizes the interaction between people, their
environment and the spirit world. This piece is believed to be the oldest
dated image in southern Africa that shows interactions between people and
marine life. The painting symbolizes the long history of human involvement
with the marine environment and its resources on the African continent and
is thus an appropriate emblem for the new journal. The Iziko Museums of
Cape Town is gratefully acknowledged for giving permission to use the
image, and for providing advice and relevant literature.
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