Koedoe, initially known as the research journal for South African National Parks, published its fiftieth issue in 2008. Published annually since 1958 by the then National Parks Board, and biannually since 1989, more than 845 articles have been published in the journal.
From 2008, we also added the sub-title African Protected Area Conservation and Science, to capture the new aims and aspirations for the journal. Our goal is to become sought-after, attracting quality papers concerned with all aspects of science, management and policy for all types of protected areas across the African continent.
This mission brings with it an extremely exciting opportunity and potential for future manuscript submissions from experts in the field, as well as a wider readership. One of the main opportunities for Koedoe lies in using the open access publication route, whereby all our articles are freely available via the World Wide Web.
Further, all back issues of the journal are available as PDF downloads from the Koedoe website at www.koedoe.co.za. As you may have noticed, Koedoe: African Protected Area Conservation and Science has a different format. The new look and format aims to revitalise the image of the journal, positioning it strategically to make use of modern publishing technologies.
Downloading articles is free and they can be conveniently and easily distributed by email as PDF files. This means that the potential readership of articles is increased substantially. In addition, articles can be published as soon as they have gone through the peer review and proof stages, thus hastening the process of availability.
Koedoe has covered a variety of fields, producing baseline information on which management plans and monitoring programmes rest today, and some of the older papers are still cited regularly. These include for example, Trollope, Potgieter and Zambatis 'Assessing Veld Condition in the Kruger National Park using Key Grass Species' (1989) and Gertenbach, 'Landscapes of the Kruger National Park' (1983). Moreover, articles in Koedoe have stimulated research and added immeasurably to our knowledge of South Africa's biodiversity and appropriate management.
In addition, articles in Koedoe have included a number of checklists and reports of species new to science, and scanning the output of the journal over the decades is clear evidence of how, from early and tentative scientific ventures in the national parks of South Africa, knowledge of species has grown.
In later years, there was a change of emphasis in science that found its place in Koedoe as more articles appeared on patterns of vegetation and habitats and species identification and collection gave way to ecosystems research.
Koedoe has spread its reach over the years too, and early concentration on scientific research in the Kruger, Kalahari Gemsbok and Addo Elephant National Parks has altered to include all South Africa's national parks as well as conservation areas under other structures and even protected elsewhere in Southern Africa.
By Llewellyn Foxcroft
