South African Historical Journal

Aims & Scope

The South African Historical Journal is fully accredited, peer reviewed and internationally regarded as a premier history journal published in South Africa, promoting significant historical scholarship on the country as well as the southern African region.

As the journal of the Southern African Historical Society, it has provided a high-quality medium for original thinking about South African history and has thus shaped – and continues to contribute towards defining – the historiography of the region.

Published quarterly, the South African Historical Journal publishes a wide variety of material, encompassing issues ranging in time from those around pre-colonial communities to those pertinent to a society in transition in the early 21st century, the practice and teaching of history and debates about heritage and the commemoration of the past.

It includes ground-breaking innovative research, general historical and historiographical overviews, historical debates and rejoinders, interviews with historians and reflections on their work, review articles and critical reviews of important books.

It regularly publishes articles in special issues on themes such as: ‘Oral Histories in South Africa’ (2008); ‘Let’s Talk About Bantustans’ (2012); and ’Tswana History’ (2014) All research articles published in the journal have undergone rigorous peer review, based on initial editor screening and anonymized refereeing by at least two referees.

The Journal follows a ‘double-blind’ process of evaluation of material: the names of authors are not disclosed to referees, and the identities of referees are not revealed to authors.

We request that our referees compile helpful reports which fully motivate their recommendation regarding publication.

View Aims & Scope

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Metrics & Ranking

Impact Factor

Year	Value
2025	1
2024	0.40

SJR (SCImago Journal Rank)

Year	Value
2024	0.121

Quartile

Year	Value
2024	Q3

h-index

Year	Value
2024	23

Journal Rank

Year	Value
2024	27209

Journal Citation Indicator

Year	Value
2024	31

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Abstracting & Indexing

Journal is indexed in leading academic databases, ensuring global visibility and accessibility of our peer-reviewed research.

• Scopus
• Google Scholar
• Web of Science

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Subjects & Keywords

Journal’s research areas, covering key disciplines and specialized sub-topics in Arts and Humanities, designed to support cutting-edge academic discovery.

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Most Cited Articles

The Most Cited Articles section features the journal's most impactful research, based on citation counts. These articles have been referenced frequently by other researchers, indicating their significant contribution to their respective fields.

• The Invention of the Concentration Camp: Cuba, Southern Africa and the Philippines, 1896–1907

  Citation: 46

  Authors: Jonathan

• From Feverish Festival to Repetitive Ritual? The Changing Fortunes of Great Trek Mythology in an Industrializing South Africa, 1938–1988

  Citation: 46

  Authors: ALBERT, HILARY

• Evolution and Racial Theory: The Hidden Side of Wilhelm Bleek

  Citation: 43

  Authors: ANDREW

• The Sons of Ham: Slavery and the Making of Coloured Identity

  Citation: 41

  Authors: MOHAMED

• The Voortrekker Monument: Monolith to Myth

  Citation: 40

  Authors: ELIZABETH

• ‘God Made the White Man, God Made the Black Man…’: Popular Racial Stereotyping of Coloured People in Apartheid South Africa

  Citation: 35

  Authors: Mohamed

• Towards a History of Mass Violence in the Etat Indépendant du Congo, 1885–1908

  Citation: 34

  Authors: Aldwin

• Disempowered to Consent: Sara Bartman and Khoisan Slavery in the Nineteenth-Century Cape Colony and Britain

  Citation: 33

  Authors: YVETTE

• Revisiting the ‘Old’ South Africa: Excursions into South Africa's Tourist History under Apartheid, 1948–1990

  Citation: 31

  Authors: Albert

• Beyond ‘Homelands’: Some Ideas about the History of African Rural Areas in South Africa

  Citation: 30

  Authors: William

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