Journal profile · Psychiatry
South African Journal of Psychiatry
ISSN 1608-9685 · eISSN 2078-6786 · AOSIS (Pty) Ltd · SOUTH AFRICA · Quarterly
South African Journal of Psychiatry: CAS Zone 4 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 1.27; fully open access; APC charged, amount not published; median 152 days to acceptance (88 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: easy; 62 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE, SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
South African Journal of Psychiatry is published by AOSIS (Pty) Ltd and is in Zone 4 of Medicine in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Mental Health Treatment and Access, Schizophrenia research and treatment and Mental Health and Psychiatry, together about 34.8% of its articles. Its main subfields are Clinical Psychology. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
In 2025, the inclusion of AI policies became compulsory for all SciELO SA journals. Authors using AI-assisted technology must disclose their use in manuscripts to ensure transparency, accuracy, and trust. Guidance is available in the Plagiarism, Fabrication and Artificial Intelligence Policy page and the Submission Guidelines under 'AI-assisted technologies' in the formatting requirements. Not sure if this journal is indexed in SciELO SA? Please check our Indexing Services page.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Psychiatry
Editor-in-chief Bonginkosi ChilizaPublisher website
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named South Africa 13, United States 1, United Kingdom 1, Switzerland 1, New Zealand 1 (19 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Mental Health Treatment and AccessPsychology16.6%
- Schizophrenia research and treatmentMedicine11.8%
- Mental Health and PsychiatryArts and Humanities6.5%
- Family Caregiving in Mental IllnessPsychology6.3%
- Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentPsychology4.6%
- Substance Abuse Treatment and OutcomesMedicine3.9%
- Bipolar Disorder and TreatmentMedicine3.8%
- Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and PostpartumMedicine3.6%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Medicine Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Psychiatry | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Psychiatry | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Medicine Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Psychiatry | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIESSCIScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
Web of SciencePMCEmbaseSciELOPublisher website
Other: Index Medicus, Google Scholar, EBSCO
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
- 1.27LetPub ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 2.3LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 1.3Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.53LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.74LetPub ·
- h-index
- 10LetPub ·
- h-index
- 32OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 233OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.27OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 7.7%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 99.37%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 54LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 994 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 45 | 45 | 9 |
| 2025 | 62 | 62 | 56 |
| 2024 | 66 | 66 | 154 |
| 2023 | 53 | 53 | 290 |
| 2022 | 66 | 66 | 381 |
| 2021 | 54 | 54 | 429 |
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 PubMed · to
152 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 112 days – 199 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 65 days (88 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 224 days
- Sample
- 88 articles with submission and acceptance dates (109 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
- Average review time (community reports)
- over 12 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- EasyLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 45 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 13,837 | No | CC BY | |
| OpenAlex | ZAR 10,352 | — | — | |
| LetPub | ZAR 9,912 | 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 prepare5 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 250 words
- Keywords
- 8
- Manuscript length
- ≤ 4,000 words
- Reference style
- Vancouver
- Cover letter
- Required
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, Authorship, Conflicts of interest, Data availability, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Preprints
- AI use Disclosure of AI-assisted technologies
The Acknowledgements section must include a clear statement disclosing any use of generative AI or AI-assisted technologies (e.g., for data analysis, dataset or artefact creation) in conducting the research. This statement should: Be specific by naming the exact AI tool(s) used. State the purpose of the tool’s use, such as artefact creation or data analysis. Disclose human oversight by confirming …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Authorship Disclosure of contributors not qualifying for authorship
Authors retain copyright unless specified otherwise. Model summary
The acknowledgement section includes listing those who contributed to the work but did not meet authorship criteria, with the corresponding description of the contribution. Acknowledge anyone who provided intellectual assistance, technical help (incl. editing), or special equipment and/or materials. Authors are responsible for ensuring that anyone named in the Acknowledgements agrees to be named. …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Disclosures
Authors are required to disclose any prior dissemination of the manuscript content. This includes, but is not limited to: Thesis-based work (e.g., master's or doctoral theses). Preprint versions that are published on open repositories. Refer to our Frequently Asked Questions: Questions from Authors - Preprints. Conference papers or presentations that were expanded into an article. Additionally, au…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Data availability statement
All research articles should have a data availability statement included in the manuscript in the form of a sentence under a separate heading entitled ‘Data availability statement’. The following are examples of a data availability statement. If you use one of the examples, you should modify it to fit your specific relationship. Availability of data Suggested data availability statements Example 1…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright
Open access under CC BY 4.0 license. Model summary
All articles published in this journal are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license, unless otherwise stated.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access OPEN ACCESS
Article Processing Charges apply. Model summary
All articles published in this journal are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license, unless otherwise stated.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review
Double-blinded peer review; authors must anonymise manuscripts. Model summary
The journal follows a double-blinded peer-review process, and you need to make your manuscript anonymous.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Disclosure of preprint-based content
Scenario Suggested preprint-based disclosures Example 1 A preprint version of this work was previously published on [Preprint Server Name] ([DOI or link]), and we acknowledge its role in shaping the final article. Example 2 – preprint feedback incorporated in the final manuscript We acknowledge the initial version of this work published as a preprint on [Preprint Server Name] ([DOI or link]). Feed…
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
- AOSIS (Pty) Ltd
- Country or region
- SOUTH AFRICA
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Quarterly
- ISSN
- 1608-9685
- Electronic ISSN
- 2078-6786
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Submission system ↗LetPub
- 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 South African Journal of Psychiatry
What CAS zone is South African Journal of Psychiatry in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, South African Journal of Psychiatry is in Zone 4 of Medicine, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Psychiatry. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 4 of Medicine. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of South African Journal of Psychiatry?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 1.27; CiteScore 2.3, h-index 32.
How long does peer review take at South African Journal of Psychiatry?
Based on the dates recorded on 88 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 152 days (interquartile range 112–199 days); authors report an average review time of over 12 weeks; the community-reported acceptance is “Easy”. 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 South African Journal of Psychiatry?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 250 words; Keywords: 8; Manuscript length: ≤ 4,000 words; Reference style: Vancouver; Cover letter: Required. 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.
Where are the editorial board members of South African Journal of Psychiatry based?
Of the 19 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are South Africa (13), United States (1) and United Kingdom (1). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index South African Journal of Psychiatry?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, South African Journal of Psychiatry is indexed in SCIE, SSCI, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists Web of Science, PMC, Embase and SciELO; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is South African Journal of Psychiatry open access, and what is the APC?
South African Journal of Psychiatry is a fully open-access journal. APC charged, amount not published.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, Publisher website, DOAJ; 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: .