The South African Geographical Journal was founded in 1917 and is the flagship journal of the Society of South African Geographers. The journal aims at using southern Africa as a region from, and through, which to communicate geographic knowledge and to engage with issues and themes relevant to the discipline. The journal is a forum for papers of a high academic quality and welcomes papers dealing with philosophical and methodological issues and topics of an international scope that are significant for the region and the African continent, including:
Climate change
Environmental studies
Development
Governance and policy
Physical and urban Geography
Human Geography
Sustainability
Tourism
GIS and remote sensing
The journal welcomes manuscripts in the following formats:
Research papers
Review articles on current debates and issues
Book reviews
Peer Review Statement All submitted manuscripts are subject to initial appraisal by the Editors, and if found suitable for further consideration, to peer review by independent, anonymous expert referees. Peer review is double anonymized and submissions should be made online via ScholarOne Manuscripts.
Journal metrics
Usage
39K annual downloads/views
Citation metrics
1.1 (2023) Impact Factor
1.8 (2023) 5 year IF
3.4 (2023) CiteScore (Scopus)
Q2 CiteScore Best Quartile
0.648 (2023) SNIP
0.404 (2023) SJR
Speed/acceptance
50 days avg. from submission to first
decision
95 days avg. from submission to first
post-review decision
10 days avg. from acceptance to online
publication
28% acceptance rate
Understanding and using journal metrics
Journal metrics can be a useful tool for readers, as well as for authors
who are deciding where to submit their next manuscript for publication.
However, any one metric only tells a part of the story of a journal’s
quality and impact. Each metric has its limitations which means that it
should never be considered in isolation, and metrics should be used to
support and not replace qualitative review.
We strongly recommend that you always use a number of metrics, alongside
other qualitative factors such as a journal’s aims & scope, its
readership, and a review of past content published in the journal. In
addition, a single article should always be assessed on its own merits and
never based on the metrics of the journal it was published in.
Usage and acceptance rate data above are for the last full calendar year
and are updated annually in February. Speed data is updated every six
months, based on the prior six months. Citation metrics are updated
annually mid-year. Please note that some journals do not display all of
the following metrics
(find out why).
Usage:
the total number of times articles in the journal were viewed by users
of Taylor & Francis Online in the previous calendar year, rounded to the
nearest thousand.
Citation Metrics
Impact Factor*:
the average number of citations received by articles published in the
journal within a two-year window. Only journals in the Clarivate Science
Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI),
Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI) and the Emerging Sources
Citation Index (ESCI) have an Impact Factor.
Impact Factor Best Quartile*:
the journal’s highest subject category ranking in the Journal Citation
Reports. Q1 = 25% of journals with the highest Impact Factors.
5 Year Impact Factor*:
the average number of citations received by articles in the journal
within a five-year window.
CiteScore (Scopus)†:
the average number of citations received by articles in the journal over
a four-year period.
CiteScore Best Quartile†:
the journal’s highest CiteScore ranking in a Scopus subject category. Q1
= 25% of journals with the highest CiteScores.
SNIP
(Source Normalized Impact per Paper):
the number of citations per paper in the journal, divided by citation
potential in the field.
SJR
(Scimago Journal Rank):
Average number of (weighted) citations in one year, divided by the
number of articles published in the journal in the previous three years.
Speed/acceptance
From submission to first decision:
the average (median) number of days for a manuscript submitted to the
journal to receive a first decision. Based on manuscripts receiving a
first decision in the last six months.
From submission to first post-review decision:
the average (median) number of days for a manuscript submitted to the
journal to receive a first decision if it is sent out for peer review.
Based on manuscripts receiving a post-review first decision in the last
six months.
From acceptance to online publication:
the average (median) number of days from acceptance of a manuscript to
online publication of the Version of Record. Based on articles published
in the last six months.
Acceptance rate:
articles accepted for publication by the journal in the previous
calendar year as percentage of all papers receiving a final decision.
Ashley Gunter, University of South Africa, South Africa David Hedding, University of South Africa, South Africa
Editorial Advisory Board
B. Dodson, University of Western Ontario, Canada L. Fombe, University of Bamenda, Cameroon L. Leonard, University of South Africa, South Africa A. Lester University of Sussex, United Kingdom K. Lynch, University of Gloucestershire, United Kingdom A. Mackay, University College London, United Kingdom M. E. Meadows, University of Cape Town, South Africa O. Mutanga, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa G. Myers, Trinity College, Connecticut, USA D. Nash, University of Brighton, United Kingdom E. Nel, Otago University, New Zealand M. R. Ndebele-Murisa, Chinhoyi University of Technology, Zimbabwe H. Rautenbach, Akademie, South Africa L. Sandham, University of North-West, South Africa G. Visser, Stellenbosch University, South Africa G. Ziervogel, University of Cape Town, South Africa. S. Adelabu, University of the Free State, South Africa R Ballard, GCRO, South Africa I. Sinthumule, University of Johannesburg, South Africa T Ndarana, of University of Pretoria, South Africa D Nerhene, University of Pretoria, South Africa
Abstracting and indexing
South African Geographical Journal is currently abstracted and indexed in: CAB International; EBSCO Databases; GEOBASE; National Hierarchical Network (NHN); ProQuest; SCOPUS and University of Bremen.
Open access
South African Geographical Journal is a hybrid open access journal that is part of our Open Select publishing program, giving you the option to publish open access. Publishing open access means that your article will be free to access online immediately on publication, increasing the visibility, readership, and impact of your research.
Why choose open access?
Increase the discoverability and readership of your article
Make an impact and reach new readers, not just those with easy access to a research library
Freely share your work with anyone, anywhere
Comply with funding mandates and meet the requirements of your institution, employer or funder
Rigorous peer review for every open access article
Article Publishing Charges (APC)
If you choose to publish open access in this journal you may be asked to pay an Article Publishing Charge (APC). You may be able to publish your article at no cost to yourself or with a reduced APC if your institution or research funder has an open access agreement or membership with Taylor & Francis.
South African Geographical Journal is the official journal of the Society of South African Geographers.
The Society of South African Geographers' main objective is to advance the research and educational activities of all South African geographers by:
collectively representing the interests of South African geographers regionally, nationally and internationally
encouraging and supporting high quality research and teaching in Geography
providing a national geographic information resource for geographers and interested groups
stimulating awareness of geographic and environmental matters through academic collaboration with other intellectual communities and accountable interaction with the public at large.
The society achieves these objectives by publishing and effectively disseminating scholarly research results in The South African Geographical Journal and other occasional publications, through the organization of prestige lectures, by encouraging regional and special interest group activities, through its organizing a biennial scientific meeting and by performing sundry other services such as representing geographers on various official Department of Education subject groups. Membership of the society is open to all who share its objectives.
The Society of South African Geographers and our publisher Taylor & Francis make every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the "Content") contained in our publications. However, The Society of South African Geographers and our publisher Taylor & Francis, our agents (including the editor, any member of the editorial team or editorial board, and any guest editors), and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by The Society of South African Geographers and our publisher Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. The Society of South African Geographers and our publisher Taylor & Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to, or arising out of the use of the Content. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions .
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