ICTP is sponsoring and hosting the African Physical Review, a free, on-line, peer-reviewed, international journal that will publish reviews, research articles, and brief communications in all branches of experimental and theoretical physics and related interdisciplinary fields. One of the objectives of the journal is to bridge the knowledge gap resulting from the inability of a large number of academic institutions in African countries to subscribe to leading physics periodicals.
Two major reasons motivated the Abdus Salam ICTP to organize and host this journal. First, low-cost, fast and easily accessible electronic publishing is rapidly replacing the traditional high-cost hard copy journal publishing. This trend is changing the entire field of peer-reviewed scientific publishing. Second, the economics of traditional mode of knowledge dissemination is not favorable to institutions in Africa. It is simply too expensive for these institutions to publish or purchase technical journals.
There is a critical mass of African scientists who produce good quality publications, but they publish their work abroad because so few quality journals in Africa meet international standards. There are some electronic journals but their quality suffers due to lack of experienced and highly qualified scientists managing their editorial functions.
The quality of the scientific material being published by APR will be overseen by an international advisory board of editors consisting of eminent scientists, including Sir Anthony Leggett, a Nobel laureate in physics (2003). ICTP will provide the editorial management and technical support team, whereas the editor, associate editors, and members of the international board of editors will operate from their home institutions worldwide.
For further information, contact K. Tahir Shah, Managing Editor, shah@ictp.it.