Journal profile · Water Resources
Water SA
ISSN 0378-4738 · eISSN 1816-7950 · South African Water Research Commission · SOUTH AFRICA · Quarterly
Water SA: CAS Zone 4 · Environmental Science & Ecology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 1.39; diamond open access (no APC); no APC; review 18–36 weeks (community reports); community-reported acceptance: easy; 35 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Water SA is published by South African Water Research Commission and is in Zone 4 of Environmental Science & Ecology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Water resources management and optimization, Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies and Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal, together about 24.6% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
WaterSA publishes refereed, original work in all branches of water science, technology and engineering. This includes water resources development; the hydrological cycle; surface hydrology; geohydrology and hydrometeorology; limnology; salinisation; treatment and management of municipal and industrial water and wastewater; treatment and disposal of sewage sludge; environmental pollution control; water quality and treatment; aquaculture in terms of its impact on the water resource; agricultural water science; etc. Water SA is the WRC’s accredited scientific journal which contains original research articles and review articles on all aspects of water science, technology, engineering and policy. Water SA has been in publication since 1975 and includes articles from both local and international authors. The journal is issued quarterly (4 editions per year).
Source: LetPub
Research area (LetPub): Water Resources
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Water resources management and optimizationEngineering9.3%
- Hydrology and Watershed Management StudiesEnvironmental Science8.4%
- Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen RemovalEnvironmental Science6.9%
- Water Quality and Pollution AssessmentEnvironmental Science6.4%
- Wastewater Treatment and ReuseEnvironmental Science4.8%
- Flood Risk Assessment and ManagementEnvironmental Science4.6%
- Child Nutrition and Water AccessNursing4.5%
- Hydrology and Sediment Transport ProcessesEnvironmental Science3.9%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Environmental Science & Ecology Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Environmental Science & Ecology | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Water Resources | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Environmental Science & Ecology Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Environmental Science & Ecology | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Water Resources | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Environmental Science & Ecology Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Environmental Science & Ecology | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Water Resources | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
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
- 1.39LetPub ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 2.4LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.38LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.45LetPub ·
- h-index
- 53LetPub ·
- h-index
- 85OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 1,300OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 0.98OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 7.1%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 34LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 2,301 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 26 | 26 | 2 |
| 2025 | 35 | 35 | 19 |
| 2024 | 38 | 38 | 76 |
| 2023 | 41 | 41 | 153 |
| 2022 | 46 | 46 | 264 |
| 2021 | 52 | 52 | 441 |
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)
- 18–36 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- EasyLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 53 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 | |
| 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)
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, License & copyright
- Authorship
Authors warrant that content does not violate existing common law or statutory copyrights. Model summary
In submitting their manuscript, authors warrant that the content does not violate any existing common law or statutory copyrights.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Copyright Notice
Copyright: Authors retain copyright but grant the Water Research Commission and Water SA a non-exclusive, irrevocable, worldwide licence to publish under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. Model summary
Authors retain copyright in their submission but grant the Water Research Commission and Water SA a non-exclusive, irrevocable, worldwide licence to publish their manuscript under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. In submitting their manuscript, authors warrant that the content does not violate any existing common law or statutory copyrights.
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
- South African Water Research Commission
- Country or region
- SOUTH AFRICA
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Quarterly
- ISSN
- 0378-4738
- Electronic ISSN
- 1816-7950
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- 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
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Water SA
What CAS zone is Water SA in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Water SA is in Zone 4 of Environmental Science & Ecology, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Water Resources. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 4 of Environmental Science & Ecology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Water SA?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 1.39; CiteScore 2.4, h-index 85.
How long does peer review take at Water SA?
Authors report an average review time of 18–36 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.
Which databases index Water SA?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Water SA is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is Water SA open access, and what is the APC?
Water SA 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, 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 2026-08-25). Last updated: .