The panel believes that recruiting more black members to the editorial board could raise the journal's profile. SciELO SA Yes Already on SciELO SA. The editors should consider broadening the focus and scope of the journal to attract more contributions from senior and international scholars. SciELO SA Yes Already on SciELO SA. The editors should consider strategies to expand the significant appeal of the journal to scholars in other African countries.
The Editorial Board should also consider broadening the predominantly South African focus of the magazine by inviting contributions from regional and international experts. SciELO SA Yes Already on SciELO SA The Editor should seriously consider the name of the magazine to make it more focused. The Panel believes that the quality of the journal and the website can be improved.
The impact and visibility of the journal should be improved by getting the journal more widely indexed. The name of the journal may need to be changed to indicate a focus on 'Criminal Justice'.
Periodic Peer Review of South African Scholarly Journals: Approved Process Guidelines
- Background
- ASSAf Peer Review Panels
- Initial Criteria
- Editorial Process-related Criteria: Generally Based on the Code of Best
- Business-Related Criteria
- Bibliometric Assessments
- Process Guidelines for Setting up the Panels, Peer Reviewers, Panel Meetings and
- Background to ASSAf PRPs
- Role of the Scholarly Publishing Unit
- Set-up of Panels
- Selection of Panel Members
- Criteria for Membership
- Conflicts of Interest
- Organisation of the Panels
- Panel Meetings and Procedures
- Post-meeting Procedures and Panel Reports
A number of criteria were examined in part of the ASSAf report http://research.assaf.org.za/. The appointment process of PRP members is managed by the chairperson of the CSPiSA until the Panel and its chairperson are appointed. The organization of the Panel is led by its chairman and supported by the designated Project Officer.
Members of the CSPiSA and ASSAf members in general will have the opportunity to volunteer through a specific written call. The Project Officer must arrange access for peer reviewers to paper or electronic copies of the journals being reviewed. If not all peer reviews are currently available, they should be made available no later than the date of the meeting so that they can be submitted on the day.
Consensus on each of the criteria should be reached on an ongoing basis according to a spoken summary by the convener and noted by the Project Officer present. The project officer and convenor must agree on the minutes of the meeting regarding all deliverables within no more than two weeks.
Special Considerations Concerning South African History, Philosophy and Politics Journals
Thus, creating authentic representativeness is still a challenge faced by many South African magazines. In addition to the issue of the structure of editorial boards, reviewers often commented on the need to make greater efforts to attract contributions from a wider range of institutions to avoid being characterized as in-house journals that rely on a narrow group of contributors from a limited range of universities. Some reviews have raised questions about the dangers of journals attempting to occupy the same or similar scholarly space and recommended consideration of journal mergers.
In some cases, the council also received recommendations on the need to fine-tune or even reconstruct the identity of journals whose scope and focus had become blurred or even outdated. The panel also noted the frequently made recommendation that the publication of special issues should be considered as an appropriate strategy to sharpen the focus of journals and attract more readers. In this context, topics related to historical and current aspects of the environment were noted to be under-represented in South African journals.
Furthermore, while reviewers appreciated the logistical and structural challenges faced by journal editors, many of them commented on long processing times and delays in publishing articles. However, it is the panel's view that the reviews are undertaken in a spirit of academic collegiality to support journal editors in meeting the challenges posed by a changing publishing environment.
Panel Members
Consensus Reviews of Journals in the Group
History
- African Historical Review
- Historia: Journal of the Historical Association of South Africa
- Journal for Contemporary History - journal title since 2019 is Southern Journal
- Journal of Natal and Zulu History
- Kronos: Southern African Histories
- New Contree
- South African Historical Journal
- Yesterday and Today
The title owner and publisher of the journal is the Faculty of Humanities of the University of the Free State. The magazine receives annual financial sponsorship from JSTOR, which covers the majority of the magazine's costs. As a journal of the Southern African Historical Society, it has provided a high-quality medium for original thinking on South African history, shaping – and continuing to help define – the historiography of the region.
The quality of the journal is very impressive and it is considered the leading history journal in this field. The owner of the magazine is the Southern African Historical Society and the publisher is Unisa Press and Routledge. In most cases, the submitted manuscripts were presented according to the journal guidelines.
International Studies & Multidisciplinary
- African Studies
- International Journal of African Renaissance Studies: Multi-, Inter- and
- Journal of African Elections
- South African Journal of International Affairs
- Transformation: Critical Perspectives on Southern Africa
Production of the magazine is managed by the publisher, Taylor & Francis, in Great Britain. The editor was approached by Unisa's founder and then dean to 'save' the magazine. The magazine's production and distribution is managed by Unisa Press and Taylor & Francis.
Although continental in scope, it contains articles on country-specific events and from time to time has special issues that are country-specific (eg the Nigerian elections, South African elections, Ghanaian elections), or topic-specific (such as electoral conflict). The magazine is owned by the South African Institute for International Affairs (SAIIA) and published by Taylor & Francis. Transformation was established to provide an outlet for discussion and debate about forces shaping South African and Southern African societies, and the meanings of debating. transformation' to understand the potential for and obstacles in the way of transformation, especially taking into account - historically and currently - the class nature of these societies, and political, cultural and ideological dynamics; and to provide a platform for serious and critical debate, from a range of perspectives and disciplines.
Philosophy
- Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology
- Philosophical Papers
- Phronimon
- South African Journal of Philosophy
The Editorial Board should consider ways to profile the distinct southern hemisphere Indo-Pacific intent of the magazine. The Panel believes that the Editor should seriously reflect on the name of the magazine to make it more focused. Consensus review: The journal's Editorial Board members and Editor-in-Chief have national and international standing in the discipline of philosophy.
The goal of the journal is to publish original scientific contributions in all areas of philosophy to an international standard. The journal is available to about 988 institutions in Africa and the rest of the world. In addition, the journal is available to 2,440 institutions and libraries as part of Taylor & Francis sales/subscription agreements.
A Canadian citizen, the first black editor-in-chief in the history of a journal representing the philosophical academy in South Africa. The copyright to the typographic arrangement of the magazine and each of its issues and volumes belongs to the publisher. The panel recommends that the journal take the issue of editorial board diversity seriously.
Politics
- Politeia: South African Journal for Political Science and Public Administration 78
- Theoria: A Journal of Social and Political Theory
In this regard, given the focus of the journal's issues in the years under review, the authorship for the articles published were exclusively South African and Nigerian. There is no advertising in the journal and Unisa bears most of the costs, especially overheads. Consensus review: There is a need to facilitate online journal access to certain non-content information.
An interactive website facilitating access to all back copies of the journal would also be useful. The geographical coverage aspect must be improved in accordance with the journal's set goals. Given the journal's mandate, some consistency in the number of publications per year would also be helpful.
It is also recommended to ensure that young researchers can publish in the journal via a postgraduate forum. The journal particularly welcomes submissions on current socio-political and political economic issues in the Global South. The journal also uses national and international peer reviewers to ensure a rigorous peer-review process.
Consensus review: The journal serves as a credible stimulus for researchers and students in political science and international relations. SAAPS retains ownership of the journal and has full copyright to Politikon, and Taylor & Francis publishes the journal. In addition to social and political theory, the journal also publishes articles in philosophy, history and literature.
Reviewer feedback is central to the journal's editorial process, and the reviewers are very carefully selected. There is appropriate publication of errata and a consistent citation practice in the journal that conforms to international standards. The journal is published by Berghahn Journals (part of Berghahn Books) in New York City.
Security and Policing
- African Journal on Conflict Resolution
- African Security Review
- Scientia Militaria: South African Journal of Military Studies
- Strategic Review for Southern Africa
- South African Crime Quarterly
The articles are some of the best work done in the field/discipline and the journal consistently maintains an emphasis on conflict resolution. In addition, the panel is of the opinion that the quality of the magazine and the website can be improved. A number of national and international institutions receive paper copies of the journal for their libraries (often in exchange for their publications).
Consensus review: The overall academic quality of the articles is high, with a good balance between research areas and regions in southern Africa (the focus of this journal) and also from abroad, e.g. USA and UK. Consensus assessment: The overall professional presentation and accessibility of the journal are comparable to leading international journals in the field. Inconsistencies should be avoided in the editorial processes and the offered publication frequency of the magazine (four times a year) (see the 2019 publication frequency, where not all issues appeared, as seen in the online archive).
