Editorial

From the editor-in-chief’s desk

Elize S. van Eeden

Copyright: © 2024. The Author(s). Licensee: AOSIS.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

A year and a bit have now passed since the New Contree (NC) journal has entered into a formal arrangement with AOSIS as publisher. As the New Contree Editorial Board, we are excited to inform our readers and authors of articles that New Contree is now steadily progressing towards some exciting growth and a more oiled publishing rhythm. Because of so many changes and transformations in 2023, our scholarly throughput had been a low six articles for the year. However, for 2024 so far the approvals of articles to be published are substantially higher, and equally so, the cross-reference citations have grown with a 100% since 2023. Our book reviews section, which had been slightly dormant in 2023 because of all the administrative changes that mostly required adaptation from the side of all the New Contree editors, will display some normality again soon as will be observed in the 2024 output. With more gatekeepers such as AOSIS and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), well-positioned to reflect on the New Contree’s annual performance, it is also now possible for the New Contree Board to take further action in shortcomings and challenges such as a still too limited network footprint for this journal. For this reason, among others, AOSIS and the New Contree Board have reached out a hand of partnership with the Regional History Society of Southern Africa (RHSSA). This possibility was well received on all sides, and the officiality of this partnership will soon be a formality. With this initiative, New Contree will, for the very first time in its history, also be associated with an academic society. All are positive that this step can further broaden the NC trajectory. This will also mean that the New Contree Editorial Board might further extend to ensure a balanced representativity.

For 2024, so far our readers have access to seven published articles that represent an interesting scholarly variety and historical scope: They are: ‘Two hundred years of indigenous literature in South Africa’ (A Odendaal); ‘Memories and testimonies of passbooks, permits and platkeps in apartheid-era Batho, Mangaung’ (D du Bruyn); ‘Rock engravings marking the Redan landscape in Gauteng, South Africa’ (C Gouws); ‘The colonial state, land-use policy and local responses in Seke Reserve, Rhodesia: 1935 to 1958’ (E K Makombe & C Masakure); ‘A tale of two towns: Water provision and management in the towns of Beaufort West and Vanrhynsdorp, c. 1900–1970’ (WP Visser & DR Rademan); ‘The role of ideology in the experience, perception and memory of the Italian prisoners of war, in George, SA’ (L Maritz); ‘South Africa’s journey to full status on the International Rugby Football Board, 1906–1958’ (WJ de Wet). The contribution by Andre Odendaal is an opinion article. We are also excited to share with our readers five book reviews, while possibilities of getting three more articles finalised for open access view before the year end, are not excluded.

As a digitalised Department of Higher Education and Training-accredited journal, and also well-positioned in the DOAJ, the New Contree Editorial team and its Board remain committed not only to the publishing of academic work of high standing but also to serve fellow scholars in personalised ways. We are looking forward to hear from prospective authors of articles and to receive articles for review.