About the Journal

Focus and Scope

The South African Journal of Surgery (SAJS) is a quarterly, general surgical journal. It carries research articles and letters, editorials, clinical practice and other surgical articles and personal opinion, South African health-related news, obituaries and general correspondence. While the emphasis is placed on the South African perspective and relevance to surgery in a developing world setting, we strive to maintain an international audience. SAJS is indexed as follows: AIM, AJOL, DHET, EBSCO, Embase, Index Medicus, Medline, Sabinet, SciELO SA and WoS.

Peer Review Process

Original Research Articles, Case Reports and Review Articles are subject to peer review. The peer review process involves the following:

  • All manuscripts undergo an initial assessment by the Editorial Office to ensure that they comply with the Authors Guidelines.
  • The Editor-in-Chief then screens the submission to ascertain if it complies with the Criteria for Publication (see Scope).
  • The Editor-in-Chief then assigns the manuscript to a Section Editor depending on the subject matter.
  • Any submission by an Editorial Board member or Section Editor will be handled by editorial staff independent of the publication. For submissions where the Editor-in-Chief is an author or co-author, the submission will be handled by the Deputy Editor-in-Chief.
  • The Editor-in-chief or the Section Editors can at this stage advise on one of the following:
    • Reject the manuscript
    • Reject and recommend major revision prior to resubmission
    • Send out the manuscript for peer-review
  • Should the section editor recommend ‘Reject’ or ‘Reject and resubmit’, a brief outline of the reasons for rejection is provided to the authors.
  • If a manuscript is deemed suitable for review by the Section Editor, a minimum of two independent reviewers will be appointed.
  • Reviewers will be given one week to respond to the request to review.
  • Reviewers are given three weeks to submit a report. At least two reports are required to make a decision.
  • The review process is double blind, that is, both authors’ and reviewers’ identities are concealed.
  • To ensure a blinded review, the main body of the manuscript should not contain any identifying information, including author’s names, institutions or affiliations. Please do not include the name of the ethics committee; this information should be provided in the title page. Editorial staff may redact any information contained in the manuscript, which may compromise the blinding of the peer review process.
  • Once two reports have been received, the Section Editor will make one of the following recommendations:
    • Send out for additional peer-review (In case of conflicting peer-review reports. Please provide the name and email address of potential additional peer-reviewer/s), or
    • Reject, or
    • Major revisions required (Revised manuscript needs to be sent back to the original peer-reviewers for review and final decision), or
    • Minor revisions required (Revised manuscript can be approved by you as the Section Editor alone), or
    • Accept as is.
  • Reviewers are required to declare any conflict of interest, where applicable.
  • Reviewed articles should be treated confidentially prior to publication.
  • If reviewers’ recommendations diverge, the Section Editor can arbitrate the recommendation or refer the manuscript to a third reviewer.
  • Once the final decision has been reached, the Section Editor’s send a decision letter to the authors.
  • Authors are given three weeks to revise a manuscript. Section Editors then make a decision on minor revisions and refer major revisions back to reviewers for their recommendations before making a decision.
  • Correspondence regarding editorial decisions will be communicated to the authors by the editorial office.
  • Authors can appeal a decision in writing to the Editor-in-Chief.

Enrol as a reviewer:

The SAJS encourages readers who are actively involved in research and with particular expertise to serve as peer reviewers of the journal:

Already a registered user? Login to the journal website and edit your profile to include 'Reviewer' as a role. Kindly express your interest to serve as a reviewer in an email to robyn@jesser-point.co.za, specifying your user login.

Not a registered user? Reviewers are required to register with the journal website. Kindly also express your interest to serve as a reviewer in an email to robyn@jesser-point.co.za.

Please read our privacy policy regarding registration. 

Accept an invitation to review:

Logon to the journal website, click on Reviewer and then the title of the article under active submissions. Under Review Step 1 select the email icon adjacent to the appropriate response (will do the review/unable to do the review) to notify the Editor.

Performing/submitting a review:

Ensure that you have accepted to perform the review (outlined above) and consulted the Reviewer Guidelines provided. Login to the journal website, click on Reviewer and the title of the article under active submissions. Complete the steps. Please may we ask that you do your review in MSWord and upload the document on the website. This will ensure that the review is saved on the website. You are also welcome to email your review to Robyn Marais at robyn@jesser-point.co.za. Should you require further assistance, contact robyn@jesser-point.co.za.

Publication Frequency

Journals are published quarterly (1 volume comprising 4 issues per annum).

Open Access Policy

All articles published by the SAJS are made freely and permanently openly accessible online immediately upon publication, without subscription charges or registration barriers. The journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

Due to legislative requirements with regard to advertising of scheduled medication, the full version of journal is only sent to ASSA Members. This version includes advertising and requires the authentication of the reader.

Members wanting to register for access to the version with the advertising can do so free of charge. Note that this access is not immediate upon registration, but needs to be validated by the publisher.

Copyright

South African Journal of Surgery (SAJS) Copyright is held by Association of Surgeons of South Africa (ASSA). Copyright of the articles is held by the authors. The work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial Works 4.0 South Africa License (CC BY NC). Material submitted for publication in the SAJS is accepted provided it has not been published elsewhere. SAJS does not hold itself responsible for statements made by the authors. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the ASSA or its members.

Authors may use their own work after publication without written permission, provided they acknowledge the original source. Individuals and academic institutions may freely copy and distribute articles published in SAJS for educational and research purposes without obtaining permission.

Comments policy

The posting of comments to published articles requires registration with this journal website. Only constructive comments that relate to the published material will be permitted. Posted comments solely represent the opinions of the respective user and not those of the SAJS, and do not imply endorsement by the SAJS. The SAJS reserves the right to remove comments without notice that are abusive, threatening, defamatory, contain advertising or spam, or violate another user’s privacy. The SAJS reserves the right to revoke the privileges of users that post inappropriate material. Such material may be brought to the attention of the publisher (robyn@jesser-point.co.za). The SAJS reserves the right to modify this policy without notice.

Notifications

Readers of the SAJS are encouraged to register with the journal website to receive notifications of new issues online (open access).

  • Already a registered user? Login to the journal website and edit your profile to include 'Reader' as a role.
  • Not a registered user? Register with the journal website and specify 'Reader' as a role in your user profile. For assistance contact robyn@jesser-point.co.za. Please read our privacy policy regarding registration.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is defined as the use of another's work, words or ideas without attribution or permission, and representation of them as one’s own original work. Plagiarism may take many forms, ranging from major plagiarism (the copy-and-paste of large amounts of text), to minor plagiarism without dishonest intent (e.g. when an author uses parts of an introduction from an earlier paper) and even self-plagiarism (the reuse of significant, identical or near-identical portions of one's own work without citing the original version).

The journal subscribes to CrossCheck, an initiative to prevent scholarly and professional plagiarism. All manuscripts submitted to the journal are automatically scanned against the CrossCheck database to verify originality. 

Manuscripts containing plagiarism will not be considered for publication in the journal. If plagiarism is brought to light after a manuscript has been published, the journal will proceed to conduct a preliminary investigation. Suspected misconduct will be reported to the institutes and funding agencies of the authors concerned. The journal reserves the right to formally retract such manuscripts and publish statements to reference material as plagiarism.

Article Processing Charges

Article processing charges (APCs) are levied on articles submitted and approved for publication to SAJS as of 1 October 2023 as set out below:

  • Articles
    • Papers from South Africa: R5,000.00
    • Papers from Non-African countries: US$1,050.00
  • Case reports including video case reports
    • From South Africa: R2,500.00
    • From Non-African countries: US$260.00
  • Valid waiver requests will be considered for manuscripts accepted from African countries other than South Africa.
  • APCs will not be charged for
    • Editorials
    • Invited reviews
    • Obituaries
    • Letters to the editor

APCs are usually covered by South Africa Universities.  Authors need to apply through various channels stipulated by their specific institution. These will be invoiced to the first author by Medpharm Publications if the paper is accepted for publication. There will be no discount for authors who are ASSA members as the journal is already subsidised by ASSA, VASSA and SASES.

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