Start main page content

South African Journal on Human Rights

Founded in 1985 by the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) and housed at the School of Law, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, the SAJHR is the leading South African public law journal, publishing scholarship of the highest standard for a worldwide readership. The Journal appears four times a year and is published by CALS and Taylor & Francis (as of January 2016).

Taylor & Francis offers reduced, very favourable, subscription rates to African institutional subscribers (currently the annual rate for African institutional subscriptions is R1,439.55 for print and online subscriptions; and R1,259.60 for online only subscriptions). For more information on the rates and special offers - including the STAR programme, which offers 31 days’ free access to leading Taylor & Francis journals for individual African researchers - visit SAJHR's Taylor & Francis website under the 'News and Offers' tab. For South African and African subscriptions, contact lester@nisc.co.za.

Past issues of the SAJHR from 1985 - 2015 are available online on the following websites (some of these might require a subscription): Heinonline and Juta Online Publication. Past issues of the SAJHR are available (at a per article purchase price) on the Taylor & Francis website.

The journal is dedicated to the advancement of scholarship on human rights and justice-related law in South Africa. While this remains the primary focus of the Journal, the editors accept submissions dealing with the enforcement of human rights in other countries where direct and substantive relevance to South Africa is demonstrated. Contributions from scholars on the African continent and the Global South that comply with this focus are encouraged.    

Thematically, the editors accept submissions that deal with human rights, legal philosophy, law and society, constitutional law, administrative law and public international law. Submissions taking an interdisciplinary or empirical approach to these subjects are also considered. 

EDITORIAL OFFICES

The editorial offices of the Journal are located at the following address:

The Editors
South African Journal on Human Rights
Centre for Applied Legal Studies
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
Wits 2050
South Africa

GUIDE TO CONTRIBUTORS

All contributions must be submitted via Scholar One. Scholar One is an electronic management system used by the Journal in its handling of all submissions. 

The journal has moved over to the electronic management system of Scholar One and the editors are no longer able to accept emailed submissions. Authors should therefore submit their work via Scholar One, and this system will govern the entire submissions process until a submission is accepted for publication.

For general queries, please contact the Editor in Chief, Christopher Gevers at gevers@ukzn.ac.za.

Correspondence regarding submissions should be directed to the above email address/es or to the specific Article Editor, where this has been assigned. Any queries from publishers related to books for review, should be directed to the Editor in Chief.

Submissions are evaluated by the editors for conformity to the editorial policy and are peer reviewed anonymously before publication.

The SAJHR is indexed by ISAP (Index to South African Periodicals) and IBSS (International Bibliography of the Social Sciences). It is accredited by the South African Department of Education for subsidy purposes.

Submissions to the SAJHR should comply with the following requirements:

The submission must be in English, must be an original, unpublished work and should not simultaneously be submitted for publication elsewhere.

  • An Article is an original, substantial contribution that engages thoroughly with scholarship and case law on a particular topic. Articles should not, in general, exceed 12 000 words (including footnotes). Article submissions must be accompanied by a paragraph-length abstract.
  • The journal also publishes Case Notes and Current Developments. A Case Note is a thorough examination of a particular judgment or series of judgments, while a Current Development is an analysis of the status quo pertaining to a particular topic. Case Notes and Current Developments are typically 4 000 to 6 000 words.
  • Authors who are on the SAJHR editorial committee are welcome to submit articles, in line with the rules for submission. Any such submission will be subject to the Journal's strict double blind review process, meaning that the author is not privy to the identity of the reviewers nor can s/he influence the review process.
  • Contributors must comply with the Journal’s house style (see below). Cases, statutes, literature and other sources should be cited accurately, in the correct format and checked by the author.

  • Contributions that do not comply with the Journal's house style will not be considered and will be sent back to the authors.
  • The Journal does not accept unsolicited book reviews.
  • To promote diversity, the SAJHR has a policy of not publishing more than one article per author every two years, whether co-authored or otherwise.

UPCOMING SPECIAL ISSUES

  • Gender-based Harm in Higher Education (2024)
  • Lost in Translation: Justice and Rights in South Africa's Many Languages (2024)
  • International Law, the Global South and The Question of Palestine (2024) 

EDITORS

The Journal has an Editorial Board and an Editorial Committee.

The Editorial Committee is composed of the editors who manage the day-to-day business of the Journal. The SAJHR editors are:

Prof Tendayi Achiume
Email: achiume@law.ucla.edu 

Dr Rachel Adams 
Email: rachel@africanobservatory.ai
 
Prof Cathi Albertyn 
Tel: +27 11 717 8467
Email: Cathi.Albertyn@wits.ac.za 
 
Prof Zsa-Zsa Temmers Boggenpoel
 
Prof Lilian Chenwi 
Tel: +27 11 717 8465
Email: Lilian.Chenwi@wits.ac.za 
 
Prof Jackie Dugard 
Email: Jackie.Dugard@wits.ac.za 
 
Dr Christopher Gevers (Current Editor in Chief) 
Email: gevers@ukzn.ac.za
 
Dr Jeff Handmaker 
Email: Handmaker@iss.nl 
 
Dr Joey Kok (Managing Editor)
 
Prof Safia Mahomed
Email: mahoms1@unisa.ac.za 
 
Prof Charles Maimela
 
Prof Joel Modiri 
Tel: +27 12 420 2879
Email: joel.modiri@up.ac.za 
 
Dr Muriel Mushariwa
Tel: +27 11 717 8444
 
Prof Jameelah Omar
House Style

The submission must be in English, must be an original, unpublished work that is not simultaneously being considered for publication by another journal and should not, in general, exceed 12 000 words (including footnotes). Submissions between 4000 and 6000 words may be considered for the Cases and Comments sections. Submissions in the form of book review essays (engaging critically with one or more books) should be between 4000 and 6000 words.

Correspondence, books for review and all other communications should be directed to the Editor in Chief, Christopher Gevers, at gevers@ukzn.ac.za

Contributions must be submitted via Scholar One. Scholar One is an electronic management system used by the Journal in its handling of all submissions.

Read more in the guide to the SAJHR House Style

Advisory Board

Patrons

Justice Kate O'Regan
Former Justice, Constitutional Court of South Africa 

Sir Sydney Kentridge, QC
Barrister, London; Former Justice, Constitutional Court of South Africa 

Advisory Board

Bernadette Atuahene
Professor of Law, Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology; Research Professor, American Bar Foundation

Dennis Davis
Judge of the High Court; President of the Competitions Appeal Court

John Dugard SC
Honorary Professor of Law, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg; Professor Emeritus, University of Leiden; and Judge ad hoc, International Court of Justice

Erika George
Professor of Law, Co-Director Center for Global Justice, SJ Quinney College of Law, The University of Utah

Pregs Govender
Former Deputy Chair, South African Human Rights Commission

Sandra Liebenberg
HF Oppenheimer Professor of Human Rights, University of Stellenbosch

Gilbert Marcus
Senior Counsel, Johannesburg Bar

Mandisa Maya
Deputy Chief Justice, Constitutional Court of South Africa 

Christina Murray
Professor of Law, University of Cape Town

John Murungi
Professor of Philosophy, Towson University

Makau Mutua
SUNY Distinguished Professor and the Floyd H. and Hilda L. Hurst Faculty Scholar, University at Buffalo School of Law

Barney Pityana
Rector of the College of the Transfiguration, Grahamstown

Kathy Satchwell
Judge of the High Court of South Africa

Magdalena Sepúlveda
Chilean Lawyer; Immediate past UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights

David Unterhalter SC
Judge, Supreme Court of Appeal; Professor of Law, University of Cape Town; and Chairperson of the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organisation

Share