Journal profile · DEVELOPMENT STUDIES
Development Southern Africa
ISSN 0376-835X · eISSN 1470-3637 · Taylor & Francis
Development Southern Africa: CAS Zone 4 · Economics (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 1.41; hybrid open access; APC charged, amount not published; median 205 days to acceptance (86 articles, last 24 months); acceptance rate 13% (journal website); 40 articles in 2025; indexed in SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Development Southern Africa is published by Taylor & Francis and is in Zone 4 of Economics in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Legal Issues in South Africa, Urban and Rural Development Challenges and Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare, together about 30.6% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Development Southern Africa (DSA) is an internationally accredited, multi-disciplinary journal focusing on development policy and practice in the southern Africa region. Founded in 1984, DSA has become an important forum for presenting area-based scholarship in the social sciences and encouraging articles that seek policy solutions to local and regional socio-economic development challenges. It remains the southern Africa journal of choice for several disciplines (economics, sociology, agricultural economics, development studies, political science, amongst others), and it publishes articles in respect of the key development issues in the region. These include poverty, unemployment, tourism, agriculture, business development, infrastructure development and other related development themes. The journal encourages quantitative and qualitative policy relevant research articles, shorter research notes, book reviews and debates. As DSA is widely read by policy makers, we encourage authors to make policy suggestions based on the evidence conveyed in the article. DSA also welcomes proposals from guest editors for special issues, and encourages first time authors to co-author articles for such theme editions. DSA publishes six issues annually. Peer Review Statement All articles in this journal have undergone rigorous peer review, based on initial editor screening and anonymized refereeing by two referees.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): DEVELOPMENT STUDIES
Editor-in-chief Marié KirstenPublisher website
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Legal Issues in South AfricaSocial Sciences11.2%
- Urban and Rural Development ChallengesSocial Sciences9.7%
- Poverty, Education, and Child WelfareSocial Sciences9.6%
- Local Economic Development and PlanningSocial Sciences7%
- Land Rights and ReformsAgricultural and Biological Sciences5.1%
- Microfinance and Financial InclusionEconomics, Econometrics and Finance4.6%
- Agricultural Innovations and PracticesAgricultural and Biological Sciences4.1%
- Income, Poverty, and InequalitySocial Sciences4.1%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Economics Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Economics | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Development Studies | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Economics Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Economics | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Development Studies | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Economics Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Economics | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Development Studies | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
JCR / CiteScore quartiles on the journal's website
- CiteScore Q2 · 2025
Publisher-reported: JCR figures are Clarivate's and CiteScore figures Scopus's to confirm; both are a different system from the CAS zones.Publisher website
Database indexing
SSCIScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
EBSCO, EBSCO Database, Elsevier/Geo AbstractsPublisher website
As the journal's website lists them, not checked against each database; for Web of Science editions the records above apply.
Editions, and major and minor categories, are shown separately and never merged into one zone; check which edition your institution uses before you submit or report.
Metrics
Impact metrics and publication volume
Impact
- Impact factor
- 1.41LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 1.5Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 1.8Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 4.4LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 4.4Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.52LetPub ·
- SJR (publisher) 2025
- 0.52Publisher website ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.93LetPub ·
- SNIP (publisher) 2025
- 0.93Publisher website ·
- h-index
- 79OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 975OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.52OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 6.7%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 13.42%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 38LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher)
- 612,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 2,496 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 42 | 31 | 9 |
| 2025 | 40 | 30 | 57 |
| 2024 | 62 | 49 | 297 |
| 2023 | 53 | 29 | 285 |
| 2022 | 43 | 10 | 424 |
| 2021 | 85 | 19 | 1,114 |
Sources count differently and were observed at different times, so each source's own value is kept; "publisher" marks figures from the journal's website.
Review & acceptance
Review time and acceptance
Review time from article dates manuscript dates registered with Crossref · to
205 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 137 days – 279 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 17 days (86 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 222 days
- Sample
- 86 articles with submission and acceptance dates (97 in the window); the latest was accepted on
Only articles that were accepted and published are counted, not the time spent on rejected manuscripts, so this usually runs longer than a publisher's "time to first decision".
Other sources
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 13%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 6 daysPublisher website ·
- First decision after review
- 75 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 19 daysPublisher website ·
Community reports come from authors' own submissions (confidence 0.5) and are not a promise from the journal; for publisher figures, the journal's own definitions apply.
Fees & open access
APC and open-access policy
Hybrid open accessLetPub
A subscription journal in which authors can pay to publish their article open access.
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Publisher website | Yes, amount not published | — | — |
A hybrid journal charges the APC only when the author chooses open access; publishing under the subscription model is usually free.
The journal's website is authoritative for fees; sources were observed at different times and each keeps its own value, without averaging.
Submission
Article types and submission policies (journal website)
Article types accepted4
- book reviewsThe journal encourages quantitative and qualitative policy relevant research articles, shorter research notes, book reviews and debates.Length not stated
- debatesThe journal encourages quantitative and qualitative policy relevant research articles, shorter research notes, book reviews and debates.Length not stated
- research articlesThe journal encourages quantitative and qualitative policy relevant research articles, shorter research notes, book reviews and debates.Length not stated
- shorter research notesThe journal encourages quantitative and qualitative policy relevant research articles, shorter research notes, book reviews and debates.Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteOpen access, Peer review
- Open access Open access
Development Southern Africa is a hybrid open access journal that is part of the Taylor & Francis 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…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer Review Statement
Peer review: initial editor screening and anonymized refereeing by two referees. Model summary
All articles in this journal have undergone rigorous peer review, based on initial editor screening and anonymized refereeing by two referees.
Source ↗Publisher website ·
Excerpts are quoted from the journal's website; "model summary" lines are written by Workers AI and checked against the text. The journal's website is authoritative.
Profile
Publication details and official links
- Publisher
- Taylor & Francis
- ISSN
- 0376-835X
- Electronic ISSN
- 1470-3637
- Society / sponsor
- Government Technical Advisory Centre
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 43, Issue 4 (2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Development Southern Africa
What CAS zone is Development Southern Africa in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Development Southern Africa is in Zone 4 of Economics, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Development Studies. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 3 of Economics. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Development Southern Africa?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 1.41; CiteScore 4.4, h-index 79.
How long does peer review take at Development Southern Africa?
Based on the dates recorded on 86 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 205 days (interquartile range 137–279 days); the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 13%. Article statistics cover accepted papers only, publisher figures follow the journal's own definitions, and community reports come from authors' own submissions; none is a promise from the journal.
Which databases index Development Southern Africa?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Development Southern Africa is indexed in SSCI and Scopus.
Is Development Southern Africa open access, and what is the APC?
Development Southern Africa is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC charged, amount not published.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, Publisher website, OpenAlex; every figure is tagged with its source and the date it was observed, and conflicting values are kept per source. LetPub source page: view ↗ (archived 2026-08-26). Last updated: .