Academy seeks to make voice of science heard on key SA challenges

“The Academy of Science South Africa (ASSAf) is the only national science academy to be officially recognised by national government through the passage of the ASSAf Act 67 of 2001, as amended, which came into operation in May 2002.  ASSAf is the driving force behind government in implementing new or amended policies to deal with some of the country’s major challenges. The academy is also an important leader in the promotion of science education and development in South Africa.  ‘The mandate of the academy is to promote and inspire outstanding achievements in all fields of scientific enquiry and to grant recognition for excellence, as well as proactively, or upon request, undertake studies on matters of public interest with a view to providing evidence-based scientific advice to government and other stakeholders,’ explains ASSAf executive officer Prof Roseanne Diab.  ASSAf president Professor Robin Crewe says the recommendations are a key area of future development for South Africa in its endeavours to improve health and education as well as the security of energy, food and water resources. ‘Policies and guidelines for academy projects and activities are carefully developed, published and followed up by the council in ensuring transparency and accountability. Recommendations are followed up to ensure that government implements them,’ says Diab.  The academy is governed by a council of 13 members, one of whom one is appointed by the minister of Science and Technology from the members of the National Advisory Council on Innovation.  President Jacob Zuma signed the Amendment to the ASSAf Act No 67 of 2001...  One important report for government was the Review of HIV and Aids in 2007, which was a broad study covering social science, clinical research and nutritional studies. The report, with a full set of recommendations on how to combat and manage the HIV and AIDS pandemic more successfully, was handed over to the Department of Health...  An important function of the academy is the Scholarly Publishing Programme. The proposal for the programme was submitted to the DST in November 2008 and funding was requested for the implementation of the ten recommendations developed in the Academy Report of 2006 on ‘A Strategic Approach to Research Publishing in South Africa’. The department accepted the recommendations and the academy obtained the support of the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), as well as that of other stakeholders.The programme is in line with the ten-year innovation plan for the DST, which had been adopted by Cabinet. It is conceptualised as an intervention in the country’s national system of innovation, which focuses on enhancing quality, quantity and worldwide visibility of original publications produced by researchers in the public sector. It also encourages a generation of highly competent and productive scientists and scholars. DHET commissioned the academy to conduct a second study on a strategic approach to scholarly publishing for books...  Further, the academy hosts an open access platform known as Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), which is modelled on a similar system developed in Brazil. It has two main aims: indexing high-quality journals based on transparent assessment and performance monitoring and providing free worldwide electronic access to the content of the journals.  Diab explains that SciELO allows research literature published in South African scholarly journals to be placed online, where it can be downloaded for use. The journals that are approved for publication on the platform are subjected to rigorous assessment to ensure quality material. Currently there are 23 journals available on the platform.  The ASSAf scholarly publishing programme also comprises peer review panels..."