Journal profile · CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE
Southern African Journal of Critical Care
ISSN 1562-8264 · eISSN 2078-676X · Health and Medical Publishing Group · South Africa
Southern African Journal of Critical Care: CAS Zone 4 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 1 (journal website); diamond open access (no APC); no APC; median 225 days to acceptance (27 articles, last 24 months); 21 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Southern African Journal of Critical Care is published by Health and Medical Publishing Group 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 Sepsis Diagnosis and Treatment, Family and Patient Care in Intensive Care Units and Intensive Care Unit Cognitive Disorders, together about 30.4% of its articles. Its main subfields are Emergency Medicine. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
The SAJCC is an academic medical journal publishing original research, reviews and editorials in the fields of Intensive Care, Emergency Medicine and Critical Care Nursing. The journal is published tri-annually and accredited by the South African Department of Higher Education and Training (DoHET), and indexed with PubMed Central.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named South Africa 20, Hong Kong, China 1 (21 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Sepsis Diagnosis and TreatmentMedicine11%
- Family and Patient Care in Intensive Care UnitsHealth Professions10.8%
- Intensive Care Unit Cognitive DisordersMedicine8.6%
- Respiratory Support and MechanismsMedicine7.7%
- Trauma and Emergency Care StudiesMedicine7%
- Nosocomial Infections in ICUMedicine6.5%
- Palliative Care and End-of-Life IssuesMedicine5.1%
- Emergency and Acute Care StudiesMedicine4.9%
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 | Critical Care Medicine | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Critical Care Medicine | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
Database indexing
ESCIScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
SCIEPMCEmbaseCurrent ContentsSciELOPublisher website
Other: Biological Abstracts (BIOSIS)
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 (publisher) 2025
- 1Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 1.9LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 1.9Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.3LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.4LetPub ·
- h-index
- 19OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 52OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 0.83OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 16.7%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 81.4%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 17LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 295 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 7 | 7 | 1 |
| 2025 | 21 | 21 | 13 |
| 2024 | 18 | 18 | 24 |
| 2023 | 16 | 16 | 47 |
| 2022 | 16 | 16 | 92 |
| 2021 | 23 | 23 | 124 |
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
225 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 144 days – 308 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 124 days (27 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 338 days
- Sample
- 27 articles with submission and acceptance dates (34 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)
- about 15 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 15 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Single 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
Diamond open access (no APC)DOAJ
Every article is open access and authors pay no article processing charge.
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOAJ | No APC | No | CC BY-NC | |
| LetPub | No APC | No | — |
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 prepare1 items from the author guidelines
- Reference style
- Vancouver
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use
- AI use
Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) policy Model summary
Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) policy
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
- Health and Medical Publishing Group
- Country or region
- South Africa
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 1562-8264
- Electronic ISSN
- 2078-676X
- Society / sponsor
- Critical Care Society of Southern Africa
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- 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 Southern African Journal of Critical Care
What CAS zone is Southern African Journal of Critical Care in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Southern African Journal of Critical Care is in Zone 4 of Medicine, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Critical Care Medicine. 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 Southern African Journal of Critical Care?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 1 (2025); this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 1.9, h-index 19.
How long does peer review take at Southern African Journal of Critical Care?
Based on the dates recorded on 27 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 225 days (interquartile range 144–308 days); authors report an average review time of about 15 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.
Where are the editorial board members of Southern African Journal of Critical Care based?
Of the 21 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are South Africa (20) and Hong Kong, China (1). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Southern African Journal of Critical Care?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Southern African Journal of Critical Care is indexed in ESCI, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists SCIE, PMC, Embase, Current Contents and SciELO; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Southern African Journal of Critical Care open access, and what is the APC?
Southern African Journal of Critical Care is a diamond open-access journal (no APC). It charges no article processing charge.
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: .