Scholarly Publishing Resources

SciELO SA

General Background to SciELO SA

SciELO SA is a prestigious open-access (free to access and free to publish), full-text searchable database of selected, high-quality South African scholarly journals.

SciELO SA is an integral part of the SciELO portal, which had its origins in Brazil and is now distributed across most South American countries. It is managed by ASSAf, funded by the South African Department of Science and Technology (DST) and endorsed by the South African Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET). SciELO SA is currently strengthening the scholarly journal evaluation and accreditation systems in South Africa. The aim of this open access collection is to enhance the visibility of quality, peer-reviewed South African research.

The South African Journal of Science (SAJS), published by the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), was the first prestigious, peer-reviewed journal to be fully open access on the SciELO SA collection.

Journals selected must first go through a rigorous process of quality appraisal in which journal accreditation by the Department of Higher Education and Training is considered as well as the peer-review panel evaluations conducted by ASSAf. This ensures that the most reliable, credible and innovative research by South Africa’s top researchers will be available in full to any person with internet access and the desire to learn, at no cost. Actual usage by scholars and scientists is monitored by the indexing system in various ways, including journal impact factors, and article citation and download statistics.

As at January 2025 there were 111 titles in the collection (and growing). To see the most recent list of titles included in the collection click here.

It is foreseen that eventually all open access South African Scholarly journals recommended for SciELO SA, may be published in the collection. The aim of this open access collection is to enhance the visibility of quality, peer-reviewed South African research.

Please let us know if your journal would like to join our collection.