Submissions

This journal is not accepting submissions at this time.

Author Guidelines

We have reached our capacity for dealing with new submissions for 2024, and as such will not accept any new submissions for the rest of the year. During this time we will continue to work with our current submissions as normal. We will reopen the submission system again early in February 2025.

General

Contributions are considered for publication with the understanding that they will be submitted anonymously to at least two expert referees with a view to their suitability for publication. The editors reserve the right to make such changes to a contribution that is, in their judgment, desirable for conforming to the PELJ/PER Standard for Style and Citation Guide, correct language and clarity. A contribution will be referred to at least two referees, but the editors may approach additional referees in cases of conflicting findings. PELJ/PER adheres to the ASSAf National Code of Best Practice in Editorial Discretion and Review for South African Scholarly Journals.

Author details

Each author's full name and surname, title, academic qualifications, present position, the institution with which he/she is affiliated, the ORCiD and email address must be provided to the editors.

Different categories of contributions

A distinction is made between articles (7-10 000 words), notes (5-7 000 words) and case notes (5-10 000 words). The author has to indicate in which of these categories the contribution should be considered. The editors reserve the right to decide on the appropriate category. An article is regarded as a substantial original contribution of a high scholarly standard. The same rigour is required for notes and case notes, though they may be shorter contributions of material of shorter-term topicality.

From time to time, invited papers of eminent guest lecturers (under the rubric orationes) and book reviews will also be published. In addition, since 2022, the journal has published opinions (under the rubric opinions). Orationes et opinions are not peer-reviewed; however, they must comply with the requirements of the journal in all respects. The final decision to publish lies with the journal’s management. Also essential to note is that it does not qualify as research output as set out in the Department of Higher Education and Training’s Research Outputs Policy, 2015, published in GN 188 of GG 38552, published on 11 March 2015.

Publication in series, for example, Parts 1 and 2, is not allowed. Each article is expected to stand on its own and form a cohesive whole.

Limitation of submissions per year. Due to the large number of submissions we receive as well as keeping to good editorial practices, we will allow a maximum of two submissions per author per year. We discourage submitting two articles at the same time. 

Abstract

All contributions should on submission be accompanied by an abstract of about 200 - 300 words in English. Should the article be written in a language other than English, an English title and abstract should also be provided. Supply a list of keywords with your final submission.

Style and Format

Contributions must be prepared to conform to the requirements of the PELJ/PER Standard for Style and Citation Guide. They must be submitted electronically in a format compatible with a word-processing package that works in the Windows environment. The contribution must also be properly language-edited and contain footnotes, an abstract, a bibliography and a list of keywords.

The following are some of the required style settings according to the PELJ/PER Standard for Style and Citation Guide: (Please read the style guide and comply fully with ALL the requirements in the guide).

  • 1.15 line spacing
  • Arial 12pt font
  • 1.5 lines after each paragraph
  • Longer quotes blocked (10pt font and 1cm indent left and right) with no quotation marks
  • Use of straight quotations marks and not "smart" quotation marks
  • Avoid cross-references such as "above", "see note" etc. Repeat the source every time instead of using ibid, op cit, supra, etc.
  • Note the differentiated citation style between footnotes (abbreviated) and full citation in the bibliography under literature (specifically see the examples in the example bibliography at the end of the style guide.)
  • Anonymise your contribution by removing your details from inside the document, as well as removing your details from the document's metadata (file details).

Ethics statement / Submission Checklist

When submitting a contribution electronically via this platform, the submitting author(s) must read through each item in the Submission Checklist and agree to all items. This Submission Checklist is an Ethics Statement and a binding agreement between PELJ/PER and the author(s). It accompanies the article throughout its lifetime, regardless of whether it is published.

Submission Preparation Checklist

All submissions must meet the following requirements:

[Please note that if your submission does not substantially comply with our style requirements (see our Style Guide) it will be rejected outright and you will have to resubmit anew.]

  • I am the author/We are the authors of the contribution submitted for publication, and it is my/our own original work.
  • I am / We are familiar with the Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal's ethics statement, based on the "Code of Best Practice in Scholarly Journal Publishing, Editing and Peer Review" developed by the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), published in 2018. See https://www.assaf.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/NSEF-Code-of-Best-Practice-March-2018.pdf.

  • I/We have read all the Policies and Author Guidelines and are in agreement with all.

  • The contribution has not been submitted elsewhere, nor has it been published before. It is entirely original and contains no borrowings from other published works that could cause PELJ/PER or any other party legal liability of any kind. Each and every significant contribution to and citation in the submitted contribution have been attributed to and properly referenced.
  • The contribution does not contain any defamatory material nor does it infringe the rights of any third party or parties, nor is the author/authors’ copyright limited by any obligations or liabilities.
  • The contribution has been written with due diligence and meets all requirements for this type of text in terms of academic content and language correctness and it meets all formal requirements, including length prescriptions (footnotes included and bibliography excluded): • Article: 7 000-10 000 words • Note: 5 000-7 000 words • Case Note: 5 000-10 000 words

  • There is nothing in the manuscript which might reveal the identity of the author(s) to the reviewers. The instructions in ensuring a blind review have been followed.

  • I/We grant permission that the contribution may be downloaded, distributed and duplicated/reused without restriction, as long as credit is given to the original creator/s in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

  • I/We herewith grant PELJ/PER the exclusive license for multiple publishing of the submitted contribution in all known forms and formats, particularly for making and keeping copies of the contribution, reproducing it using any technique, including printing and saving electronic versions, on any and all known storage devices – in particular those using the Internet as a medium; and using all known IT-systems, in particular using the Internet as a medium.

  • The text adheres fully to the style and bibliographic requirements outlined in the PELJ/PER Standard for Style and Citation Guide.

  • I/We are aware that the final decision on the type of contribution (oratio, article, note, case note or book review) rests with the editors.

  • By submitting this contribution for consideration, I am/we are committed to review a maximum of two contributions per year for PELJ/PER.

  • I/We are aware that PELJ/PER subscribes to similarity and plagiarism detection software and all contributions submitted to the journal will be scanned to verify originality.
  • The submission file is in Microsoft Word, OpenOffice or RTF document file format (the preferred format is Microsoft Word).
  • I / We agree that by submitting this contribution to PELJ/PER, I / we accept the ethics statement and all the other conditions and requirements of the journal as set out above and in the guidelines and policies.
  • If your contribution deals with empirical and or quantitative research that triggers research ethics overview you are expected to submit your ethics certificate and number with your application.
  • I have not made more than two submissions to PER/PELJ this year, and I am not submitting two contributions at the same time.
  • I/We are aware that PELJ/PER charges an article processing fee of ZAR220.00 per (electronic) page to cover editorial expenses plus 15% VAT, which amount must be invoiced before the contribution is published on the website of PELJ/PER. The processing fee increases to ZAR220.00 per page from 1 April 2024.

Copyright Notice

A Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License applies to all articles published in PELJ/PER.

Copyright in all material published in PELJ/PER vests in the author, provided that authors grant, by submission of their contributions, permission that their contributions may be shared and adapted without restriction. An author furthermore agrees that the same contribution may not be published elsewhere without the written permission of the editor.

Anyone gaining access, electronically or otherwise, to a contribution published in PELJ/PER, may quote from such contribution, use the intellectual content thereof, share and adapt it, but subject to the following conditions:

  • you must give appropriate credit, provide a link and indicate if changes were made; and
  • the copyright of the author(s) may not be infringed in any way.

Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party. Personal data collected is dealt with in accordance with the South African POPI Act, South Africa's equivalent of the EU GDPR. Also view the Khulisa Journals Data Privacy Policy for more information.