South African Journal of Science

South African Journal of Science is a bimonthly open access journal issued by the Academy of Science of South Africa, founded in 1903 and given over to research done in Africa or to questions that bear on the continent.《南非科学杂志》是南非科学院（Academy of Science of South Africa）出版的双月刊开放获取期刊，1903 年创刊，选题落在非洲本土的研究，或与非洲大陆相关的议题。

Its remit runs across the natural sciences, engineering, the health sciences and the humanities, and every paper is written for readers who work outside the author's own field.收稿范围横跨自然科学与工程，健康科学和人文也在其中，行文要求做到本行以外的人也读得懂。

The 2025 Journal Citation Reports put it at an impact factor of 1.9 and a five-year value of 2.5, 64th of 140 titles in multidisciplinary sciences, with a CiteScore of 3.2.2025 年期刊引证报告给出影响因子 1.9 与五年值 2.5，多学科综合类 140 种刊物里排第 64 位，CiteScore 为 3.2。

Six double issues appear each year, numbered 1/2 through 11/12, and volume 122 covers 2026. Articles are published in English and reach readers without a subscription.每年出六期合刊，编号自 1/2 排到 11/12，2026 年走到第 122 卷，文章以英文发表，读者无需订阅即可取阅。

Scope

• The stated aim is to publish and promote the widest diversity of excellent South African research, for the academic community at home and abroad and for policymakers and the general public.官网写下的宗旨是刊发并推广南非最广泛意义上的优秀研究，服务本国与国际学术界，也服务政策制定者与普通读者。
• Ten subject desks divide the ground, and the list doubles as the journal's statement of what it covers, since each desk is held by a named associate editor.十个学科栏把地盘切开，这份分栏本身也说明了刊物收什么，每一栏都对应一位具名的副编辑。
• Agriculture and forestry take one desk, archaeology, anthropology and palaeontology another, and chemistry a third, so the older descriptive sciences keep a standing place.农业与林业占一栏，考古学、人类学与古生物学合占一栏，化学自成一栏，几门描述性的老学科因此保留了固定位置。
• Cell, molecular and health sciences carry the biomedical load, while earth and environmental sciences and organismal biology hold the field and museum side of the remit.细胞、分子与健康科学承担生物医学的分量，地球与环境科学以及生物有机体学守住野外与博物馆那一侧。
• Engineering and technology gather applied work, physics, mathematics and astronomy the exact sciences, and humanities, social sciences and education the interpretive end of the range.工程与技术收应用研究，物理、数学和天文学归精确科学，人文、社会科学与教育学落在阐释那一端。
• Social and economic sciences make the tenth desk, and they keep the work that speaks directly to policy in one recognisable place.社会与经济科学是第十栏，直接对着政策的稿件集中在这一栏，读者找起来方便。
• Papers from other African countries are welcome only where they show relevance beyond an immediate local setting, a condition the journal states without softening it.南非以外非洲国家的稿件须证明意义超出本地情境，刊物把这条条件写得很直接，没有留余地。
• Multidisciplinarity imposes a writing rule. Authors must make the argument legible to specialists and non-specialists alike, which rules out unexplained shorthand.跨学科带来一条写作规矩，作者须把论证写到专家与外行都读得通，未经解释的缩写与行话因此得让路。
• Three kinds of research contribution are taken, Review Articles, Research Articles and Research Letters, and all three pass through peer review.研究类稿件分三种，综述、研究论文与研究快报，三者一律经同行评审。
• The front section is different in kind. It carries news, news features, book reviews, obituaries, commentaries and news and views, all of it edited rather than refereed.前置栏目性质不同，登新闻与专题报道，书评和讣告也在其中，评论与观点文章另占一块，这一部分只经编辑处理，不走外审。
• Anyone wanting to write for that front section is asked to speak to the Editor-in-Chief before submitting, because the pieces are commissioned.想为前置栏目写稿的人要先与主编沟通，这类稿件由编辑部约组。
• A discussion series stretches the remit past the research paper, giving room for exchange between findings and policy and for replies to work already published.讨论系列把范围伸到研究论文之外，让结论与政策相互对照，也让针对已刊文章的回应有地方发表。
• The breadth shows in a single issue, where a cheetah census, a commentary on researcher rating and a study of water supply stand side by side.这种跨度在同一期里就看得见，猎豹普查、研究人员评级制度的评论与供水研究并排出现。

History

• The title began in 1903 as the Proceedings of the Annual Meetings of the South African Association for the Advancement of Science, an annual record rather than a journal in the modern sense.1903 年它以《南非科学促进会年会记录》起步，起初是一年一册的会议记录，还不是现代意义上的期刊。
• The annual volume turned into a monthly in August 1947, the change that gave the title issue numbers and a standing editorial office.1947 年 8 月，年册改为月刊，期号与常设编辑部都从这一步开始。
• From 1973 the journal worked through a succession of publishing partners, beginning with Macmillan Journals in London, then the publisher of Nature.1973 年起，刊物依次与几家出版伙伴合作，第一家是伦敦的 Macmillan Journals，也就是当时《自然》的出版方。
• The Associated Scientific and Technical Societies of South Africa came next, then the Foundation for Education, Science and Technology, then the National Research Foundation.接着是南非科学技术学会联合会，随后是教育科学与技术基金会，再往后是国家研究基金会。
• The Academy of Science of South Africa became title owner and publisher in 2002, and it has held that position since.2002 年，南非科学院取得刊名所有权并接手出版，一直沿续到当下。
• That handover accounts for a split in the catalogues. NLM still prints the association as the imprint, a legacy of the pre-2002 record, while Crossref and OpenAlex name the academy.这次交接也解释了书目里的分歧，NLM 至今把学会写作出版者，属于 2002 年以前的记录，Crossref 与 OpenAlex 则记南非科学院。
• Volume numbering has tracked the calendar. Volume 104 carried 2008 and volume 122 carries 2026, eighteen volumes across eighteen years.卷号一直跟着日历年走，2008 年是第 104 卷，2026 年是第 122 卷，十八年正好走了十八卷。
• The record for 2010 is the one exception, spilling across volumes 105 and 106, after which the alignment was pulled back into place.唯一的例外落在 2010 年，著录跨在第 105 卷与第 106 卷上，此后对齐又校了回来。
• Issues now come as six double numbers a year, 1/2 through 11/12, and every year from 2020 onward carries exactly that set in Crossref.现在每年出六个合期，从 1/2 到 11/12，2020 年以来每一年在 Crossref 里都是这一组编号。
• Identifiers moved with the platforms. Deposits sit under 10.1590 in 2008, 10.4102 from 2010 to 2012 and the journal's own 10.17159 for everything since 2015.标识符随平台几次易手，2008 年的著录在 10.1590 之下，2010 年至 2012 年用 10.4102，2015 年以后一律用刊物自有的 10.17159。
• The online archive is split in two, one file running from 1905 to 2008 and another from 2009 to the present.官网存档分成两段，一段自 1905 年排到 2008 年，另一段从 2009 年接到当下。
• Impact has stayed inside a narrow band for five years, 2.197 in 2021, 2.134 in 2022, 1.5 in 2023, 2.3 in 2024 and 1.9 in the 2025 release, on 3,756 citations.五年里影响因子在窄幅区间内起伏，2021 年 2.197，2022 年 2.134，2023 年 1.5，2024 年 2.3，2025 年公布 1.9，总被引 3756 次。
• Open access is close to complete, 99.17 percent of the 2025 output being gold, and the title is listed in DOAJ and in SciELO South Africa.开放获取几乎覆盖全部内容，2025 年有 99.17% 的论文以金色方式发表，刊物同时列在 DOAJ 与 SciELO South Africa 名录中。
• Selectivity is severe. The journal reports a 98 percent rejection rate for 2025 with about 71 articles a year, so most submissions never reach a volume.取舍很严，官网写明 2025 年退稿率 98%，一年刊出约 71 篇，多数投稿到不了卷页。

Editors

• Leslie Swartz, a psychologist in the Department of Psychology at Stellenbosch University, holds the editorship.主编由 Stellenbosch University 心理学系的 Leslie Swartz 担任。
• Linda Fick is Managing Editor and keeps the editorial office, with Nadia Grobler running the online publishing system and Phumlani Mncwango the publishing administration.执行编辑为 Linda Fick，主持编辑部日常，线上出版系统由 Nadia Grobler 管理，出版行政由 Phumlani Mncwango 负责。
• Ten associate editors each hold a subject desk, so a manuscript is first read by someone who works in its field instead of by a generalist.十位副编辑各守一个学科栏，稿件先由同行领域里的人看，不落到通才手里。
• Teresa Coutinho of the University of Pretoria takes agriculture and forestry, and Jemma Finch of the University of KwaZulu-Natal takes archaeology, anthropology and palaeontology.University of Pretoria 的 Teresa Coutinho 负责农业与林业，University of KwaZulu-Natal 的 Jemma Finch 负责考古学、人类学与古生物学。
• Philani Mashazi at Rhodes University covers chemistry, and Chrissie Boughey, also at Rhodes, the humanities, social sciences and education.Rhodes University 的 Philani Mashazi 管化学，同校的 Chrissie Boughey 管人文、社会科学与教育学。
• Earth and environmental sciences belong to Jennifer Fitchett of the University of the Witwatersrand, engineering and technology to Thywill Dzogbewu of the Central University of Technology.地球与环境科学归 University of the Witwatersrand 的 Jennifer Fitchett，工程与技术归 Central University of Technology 的 Thywill Dzogbewu。
• Pascal Bessong of the University of Venda holds cell, molecular and health sciences, Vusi Gumede of the Durban University of Technology social and economic sciences.University of Venda 的 Pascal Bessong 负责细胞、分子与健康科学，Durban University of Technology 的 Vusi Gumede 负责社会与经济科学。
• Organismal biology is the one desk held from abroad, by Sydney Moyo at Louisiana State University, while physics, mathematics and astronomy go to Pierre Cilliers of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology.生物有机体学是唯一设在国外的分栏，由 Louisiana State University 的 Sydney Moyo 负责，物理、数学与天文学由 Cape Peninsula University of Technology 的 Pierre Cilliers 负责。
• Two mentorship tracks run alongside. Mesias Alfeus shadows the Editor-in-Chief, and Nkosinathi Madondo, who coordinates the scheme, shadows the humanities desk.另有两条带教线并行，Mesias Alfeus 跟随主编学习，负责统筹该计划的 Nkosinathi Madondo 跟随人文栏。
• A fourteen-member editorial advisory board, chaired by Linda Richter of the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Human Development, includes Quarraisha Abdool Karim, Daya Reddy and Himla Soodyall.编辑顾问委员会共 14 人，主席是 DSI-NRF 人类发展卓越中心的 Linda Richter，成员中有 Quarraisha Abdool Karim、Daya Reddy 与 Himla Soodyall。
• Research papers are refereed, front-section pieces are commissioned instead, and reviewers returned their reports in 17 days on average during 2025.研究论文走外审，前置栏目由编辑部约稿，2025 年审稿人平均 17 天交回意见。
• The cycle is not fast. Editorial office time ran to 51 days, associate editors held manuscripts for 82 days, and the average span from submission to decision was 211 days.周期不算快，编辑部这一段用到 51 天，副编辑手上停留 82 天，从投稿到决定平均 211 天。
• Revised manuscripts move quicker, 61 days on average, and part of the delay is put down to the scarcity of willing reviewers, which the journal says outright.返修稿走得快些，平均 61 天，刊物把部分拖延归因于愿意审稿的人不好找，这一点写得很直白。