I acknowledge the important role played by Academy staff in supporting the process. Finally, I acknowledge the contribution of the many individual reviewers who have each contributed to strengthening the quality of South African scientific journals.
Periodic Peer Review of South African Scholarly Journals: Approved Process
- Background
- ASSAf Peer Review Panels
- Initial Criteria
- Editorial Process-related Criteria: Generally based on the Code of Best Practice in
- Business-related criteria
- Bibliometric assessments
- Process Guidelines for setting up the Panels, Peer Reviewers, Panel Meetings and Reports
- Setting up Panels
- Setting up and Organising the Panels
- Panel Meetings and Procedures
- Post-meeting Procedures and Panel Reports
Committee expertise, balance and conflicts of interest are discussed at the first meeting (and may be discussed again at any subsequent meeting) of the PRP, and recommendations to address problematic issues are forwarded to the ASSAf Council for possible changes through the SPU (Secretariat). composition of PRP. The organization of the panel is led by its chairman, who is assisted by an assigned project officer.
Special Considerations Concerning South African Law and Related Legal Fields
Considerations Relating to Legal Scholarship in General
Specifi c Comments
There is some uncertainty about the role and function of an editor in the peer-review process. The panel is of the opinion that all submissions must be submitted to anonymous ('blind') peer review by expert assessors, i.e.
Panel Members
Consensus Reviews of Journals in the Group
Multi-disciplinary A
- South African Law Journal
- De Jure
- Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal
In the past, the (then) editorial board invited them to the advisory board. Note: LexisNexis ceased publication of De Jure in 2011 and is now an "open access online law journal" published by the University of Pretoria and accessible at http://www.dejure.up.ac.za/). version is available at the same time as the hard copy, so delivery times are the same for both magazine formats.
Multi-disciplinary B
- Speculum Juris
- Journal of South African Law
- Journal of Contemporary Roman Dutch Law
The journal is already included in the SciELO-South Africa database; see http://www.scielo.org. Speculum Juris 2010 No. 1 and No. 2 contain a mix of contributions from both senior and junior academics – the contributions appear solid and well argued. The journal is not indexed in IBSS or the Thomson Reuters Web of Science (WoS).
The two law schools would certainly be interested in the journal's inclusion in the SciELO-South Africa Platform. Accepted papers represent a good example of the best work done in the country in this field – the focus is primarily on South Africa. Authors from all over the country, but also some international authors, publish in the magazine.
The magazine is published online as part of a commercial (pay-to-view and/or pay-to-subscribe) e-publishing service.
Multi-disciplinary C
- Journal for Juridical Science
- Obiter
- Stellenbosch Law Review
The journal was not published by any of the previously established English-language universities and initially most articles were published in Afrikaans. The journal will be published online for free after three years (open access); it is also part of Sabinet's commercial (pay-to-view and/or pay-to-subscribe) e-publishing service. In addition, the panel believes that the journal makes a valuable contribution to legal research in South Africa.
The journal's editorial/policy guidelines are aligned with the ASSAf National Code of Best Practice in Editorial Discretion and Peer Review. Consensus Review: The magazine contains value-added articles such as editorials and occasionally book reviews. The editor would in principle be interested in adding the journal to ASSAf's SciELO-South Africa open access platform.
The editor would be interested in the journal being added to ASSAf's SciELO-South Africa open access platform, subject to proper consultation with Juta.
Human Rights A
- African Human Rights Law Journal
- South African Journal on Human Rights
- SA Public Law
As indicated above – and as the name suggests – the magazine has an African, as opposed to a purely South African, focus. The editorial work of the magazine's editors has always been of the highest standard. Although ideally (and in accordance with the ASSAf 'rules' the number of peer reviewers should be two) in reality and as a result of increased administrative pressure on universities, which puts potential reviewers under time pressure, they are currently - and that has been that way in the past – for years or two – with only one reviewer per article, note, etc.
Also, as is the case with international law – the pool of experts with public law experience in the country is somewhat limited. The period between receipt of a manuscript and its publication varies - articles for the current year (eg 2009) are received throughout the year (and sometimes articles are 'rolled over' from the previous year for a certain part to the next year). Note: The journal is a publication of the VerLoren van Themaat Center for Public Law Studies (Unisa).
However, the journal occasionally contains examples of the best work carried out in the field at national level.
Human Rights B
- Law, Democracy and Development
- Child Abuse Research in South Africa
The journal's editorial and policy guidelines are aligned with best practice guidelines developed by the National Forum of Law Journal Editors, based on the ASSAf code. The magazine contains value-adding features such as editorials, occasional current affairs reviews and book reviews. Without French abstracts, it is highly unlikely that the francophone readership will be expanded by offering some limited elements of the journal in French.
The journal seems to use a combination of styles, using both footnotes and a full bibliography. The publication frequency of the magazine is biannual and is released in April and October each year. The journal focuses particularly on child abuse and the contributions are in a particularly South African context.
Efforts should be made to counter the impression that the journal is dominated by a few individuals.
Specialised A
- Annual Survey of South African Law
- Acta Juridica
Many of the contributions reflect examples of the very good work being done in the country. The proceedings of the conference will be published in the next part of the journal. The status of the editorial staff of the parts published during the reporting period varies.
Consensus review: The quality of the contributions during the review period varies considerably between volumes. Overall and considered on average, the standard of the contributions published in the three volumes is good. The contributions in the first volume represent a sampling of the best work done nationally and, in some cases, internationally.
Each annual issue deals with a specific theme, and this is a recognized strength of the journal.
Specialised B
- Fundamina: a Journal of Legal History
- The South African Journal of Environmental Law and Law Policy
Being the only South African legal journal specializing in publishing research in the field of legal history, it attracts the crème de la crème of local (but also, to a limited extent, international) research in the field of legal history. One caveat concerns the apparent misuse of the journal to publish conference proceedings in 2006 (Conference on the Law in a Transforming Society). The quality of the research in the journal, as well as its presentation, is of international standard.
Due to the strong international character of the field of environmental law, the journal also publishes contributions on international aspects of environmental law. There is thus a strong relevance to South African law in many, if not most, of the contributions. It is therefore doubtful whether examples of the best work done in the country in this field are published in the journal.
The SAJELP corporate identity is the same as that of the South African Law Journal.
Criminal
- Acta Criminologica
- South African Journal of Criminal Justice
Since 2008, a number of publishers – Routledge, Taylor & Francis and Elsevier – have approached CRIMSA to take over the publication of the journal on contract – the most recent approach in May 2013. The journal is indexed and listed on IBSS (and has been as of many years as an accredited journal), but not on the Thompson Web of Science (WoS) list. The editors are not interested in the journal being considered for inclusion in ASSAf's SciELO-South Africa open access platform.
The focus of the journal is on criminal law, criminal procedure, evidence, international criminal law and criminology. However, despite the international representation on the editorial board, only one of the authors who have published in the journal in the past three years is not employed by a South African institution. During the same period, 121 manuscripts were received (all manuscripts relating to criminal law are sent for review), five manuscripts are rejected without review because they are outside the scope of the journal.
The editor-in-chief and the publisher are not interested in the journal being added to the ASSAf's SciELO-South Africa open access platform.
Comparative and International Law
- Comparative and International Law Journal of Southern Africa
- South African Yearbook of International Law
The journal is edited in-house by the editor and the two assistant editors. This may indicate that the journal is conservatively run and does not follow developments in the field of international law. Normally one peer reviewer is used per manuscript – the pool of international law experts in the country is limited.
The editor has some records (especially newer ones), but due to Unisa changing computer programs, various computer crashes, etc., the editor has no records from the older editions. The average period between the receipt of a manuscript and its publication depends on when they are received – the articles for the year (eg 2009) were received during the year. The journal has always followed the spirit of the ASSAf guidelines within the limits permitted by the nature of the journal and the pool of available expertise – the board diverges in that only one peer reviewer is approached for each article, except in special cases as indicated above, and for articles which the editors believe may be problematic.
The presentation of the magazine is consistent and the manuscripts are formatted identically.
Mercantilel/Labour Law
- Industrial Law Journal including Industrial Law Reports
- South African Mercantile Law Journal
The journal's board members are all senior experts in labor law in South Africa, which is the subject of the journal. ILJ is in the process of expanding its editorial board to include judges from the Constitutional Court. Consensus review: The quality of the articles represents some of the best academic writing in the field of employment law.
Because the journal is the only specialist labor law journal in the country, most leading academics and practitioners in labor law would seek to publish in it. Editorial board members are generally considered to be of good national and international standing in the discipline. Editorial panel members are appointed from within the country to provide specific thematic expertise.
The alignment of the journal's editorial policy guidelines with the ASSAf National Code of Best Practice in Editorial Discretion and Peer Review is a work in progress.
