Thank you for considering to publish your work with us! Please note that the authors are fully responsible for the claim that their manuscript is their original work, that it has not been published before and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. We kindly inform you that parallel submission of the same manuscript to another journal constitutes a misconduct and eliminates the manuscript from consideration by SAJ.

In the case when submitted manuscript is a result of a research project, or its previous version has been presented at a conference (under the same or similar title), kindly provide detailed background information in the Acknowledgments section. A paper that has already been published in another journal cannot be reprinted in SAJ.

Please note that the responsibility of each author is to ensure that manuscripts submitted to SAJ adhere to general ethical standards of academic publishing. Authors are responsible for the claim that the manuscript contains no unfounded or unlawful statements and does not violate the rights of third parties. The Publisher shall not be held legally responsible should there be any claims for compensation.

Reporting standards

A submitted manuscript should contain sufficient detail and references to permit reviewers and, subsequently, readers to verify the claims presented in it. Please note that the deliberate presentation of false claims is considered a violation of ethical standards.

Please note that the authors are responsible for the contents of their submissions and must make sure that they have permission from all involved parties to make the data public.

Please note that the authors wishing to include figures, tables or other materials that have already been published elsewhere need to obtain permission from the copyright holder(s). Any material received without such evidence will be assumed to originate from the authors.

Authorship

Please note that the authors need to make sure that all the relevant contributors are listed as authors and. If persons other than authors were involved in important aspects of the research project and the preparation of the manuscript, kindly acknowledge their contribution in a footnote or the Acknowledgments section.

Acknowledgment of Sources

Please note that the authors need to properly cite the relevant  sources. Information obtained in a private conversation or correspondence with third parties, in reviewing project applications, manuscripts and similar materials, must not be used without the express written consent of the information source.

Plagiarism

Please note that SAJ has zero tolerance for plagiarism. Instances when a person assumes another’s ideas, words, or other types of creative expression as their own, are considered a major violation of academic integrity. Plagiarism may also involve a violation of copyright law, punishable by legal action.

Please note that plagiarism can include, but is not limited to the following:

• Word for word, or almost word for word copying, or purposely paraphrasing portions of another author’s work without clearly indicating the source or marking the copied fragment (for example, using quotation marks);
• Copying equations, figures or tables from someone else’s paper without properly citing the source and/or without permission from the original author or the copyright holder.

Please note that all submissions are thoroughly checked for plagiarism via iThenticate programme. We kindly inform you that any manuscript that shows obvious signs of plagiarism will be automatically rejected.

If plagiarism is discovered in a paper that has already been published by the journal, it will be retracted in accordance with the procedure described in the ‘Retraction policy’ section.

Conflict of interest

Please note that the authors expected to disclose conflict of interest that might have influenced the presented results or their interpretation.

Fundamental errors in published works

Please note that when an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify SAJ’s Editorial team and work with with the Editor to retract or correct the paper.

Review of the Reviewers

Please note that, striving for excellence and continuous upgrading of our processes, SAJ also relies on authors to review the reviewers. Authors will be asked to fill in a short form and assess the usefulness of the feedback they receive.

Please note that by submitting a manuscript the authors agree to the SAJ Editorial Policies.