Journal profile · Social Sciences-Law
Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal
ISSN 1727-3781 · North-West University · South Africa
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Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal: fully open access; APC charged, amount not published; review about 24 weeks (community reports); 61 articles in 2025; indexed in Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal is published by North-West University. By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Legal Issues in South Africa, Legal principles and applications and Comparative constitutional jurisprudence studies, together about 48.4% of its articles. Its main subfields are Law and Political Science and International Relations. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
PELJ/PER publishes contributions relevant to legal development in a constitutional state. Development law and constitutionalism are excellent themes for comparative work. Contributions dealing with any aspect or discipline of the law from any part of the world are welcome.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Social Sciences-Law
Editor-in-chief General ContributionsPublisher website
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Legal Issues in South AfricaSocial Sciences36.4%
- Legal principles and applicationsSocial Sciences6.3%
- Comparative constitutional jurisprudence studiesSocial Sciences5.7%
- Family and Matrimonial LawSocial Sciences4.6%
- Environmental law and policySocial Sciences3.8%
- Judicial and Constitutional StudiesSocial Sciences3.1%
- International Law and Human RightsSocial Sciences3%
- Legal Rights and Human RightsSocial Sciences2.9%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
CiteScore quartiles (Scopus, June 2026 release)
| Subject | Quartile | Rank | Percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Law | Q3 | 781/1162 | — |
| Sociology and Political Science | Q3 | 1120/1530 | — |
Scopus ranks journals by CiteScore within each subject: the 75th percentile and above is Q1, then a quartile every 25 points. A different system from the CAS zones.LetPub
Database indexing
ScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
Web of ScienceSciELOPublisher website
Other: ProQuest, Crossref
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
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 0.6LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.18LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.51LetPub ·
- h-index
- 28OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 174OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 0.64OpenAlex ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 0%LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,824 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 56 | 56 | 444 |
| 2025 | 61 | 61 | 598 |
| 2024 | 106 | 106 | 683 |
| 2023 | 84 | 84 | 762 |
| 2022 | 103 | 103 | 631 |
| 2021 | 73 | 73 | 645 |
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
- Average review time (community reports)
- about 24 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 24 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Double anonymous peer reviewDOAJ
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
Fully open accessDOAJ
Every article is open access; authors usually pay an article processing charge (APC).
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOAJ | ZAR 3,500 | No | CC BY | |
| OpenAlex | ZAR 3,500 | — | — | |
| LetPub | ZAR 3,500 | No | — | |
| Publisher website | Yes, amount not published | — | — |
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)
What to prepare3 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- 200–300 words
- Reference style
- Author–date
- Not considered
- Publication in series, for example, Parts 1 and 2
Article types accepted3
- articleArticle: 7 000-10 000 wordsLength not stated
- case noteCase Note: 5 000-10 000 wordsLength not stated
- noteNote: 5 000-7 000 wordsLength not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteData availability, Publication ethics, License & copyright, Plagiarism
- Data availability
Personal data used exclusively for stated journal purposes; handled per South African POPI Act. Model summary
The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party. Personal data collected is dealt with in accordance with the South African POPI Act, South Africa's equivalent of the EU GDPR.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics
Ethics statement based on the ASSAf Code of Best Practice in Scholarly Journal Publishing, Editing and Peer Review (2018). Model summary
I am / We are familiar with the Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal's ethics statement, based on the "Code of Best Practice in Scholarly Journal Publishing, Editing and Peer Review" developed by the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), published in 2018.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Copyright Notice
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License applies to all articles published in PELJ/PER. Model summary
A Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License applies to all articles published in PELJ/PER. Copyright in all material published in PELJ/PER vests in the author, provided that authors grant, by submission of their contributions, permission that their contributions may be shared and adapted without restriction. An author furthermore agrees that the same contribution may not be published …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Plagiarism
Similarity, plagiarism, and AI detection software used to scan all contributions to verify originality. Model summary
I/We are aware that PELJ/PER subscribes to similarity, plagiarism, and AI detection software, and all contributions submitted to the journal will be scanned to verify originality.
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.
Before you submit
Five checks before submitting to Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal
- 1ScopeRecent output centres on Legal Issues in South Africa, Legal principles and applications.Check scope
- 2Article type and formatAbstract: 200–300 words; Reference style: Author–date; Not considered: Publication in series, for example, Parts 1 and 2.Author guidelines ↗
- 3English languagePolish grammar and academic style before you submit: it lowers the risk of rejection for language and improves your chances of acceptance.
- 4FeesZAR 3,500 (DOAJ)Fee details
- 5Expected review timeabout 24 weeks · Community averageReview data
The checks are built from this page's data.
Profile
Publication details and official links
- Publisher
- North-West University
- Country or region
- South Africa
- Language
- English, German, Dutch, Afrikaans
- ISSN
- 1727-3781
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 29 (2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Aims & Scope ↗LetPub
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗LetPub
- Editorial board ↗LetPub
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal
How long does peer review take at Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal?
Authors report an average review time of about 24 weeks. 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.
What are the manuscript requirements of Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: 200–300 words; Reference style: Author–date. A model extracted these from the author guidelines and each was checked against the text; check the latest version on the journal's website before submitting.
Which databases index Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal is indexed in Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists Web of Science and SciELO; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal open access, and what is the APC?
Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal is a fully open-access journal. APC charged, amount not published.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, DOAJ, Publisher website; 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: .