About the Journal

Focus and Scope

South African Crime Quarterly is an inter-disciplinary peer-reviewed journal that promotes professional discourse and the publication of research on the subjects of crime, criminal justice, crime prevention, and related matters. South Africa is the primary focus for the journal but articles on the above subjects that reflect research and analysis from other African countries are considered for publication, if they are of relevance to South Africa.

SACQ is an applied policy journal. Its audience includes policy makers, criminal justice practitioners and civil society researchers and analysts, including the academy. The purpose of the journal is to inform and influence policy making on violence prevention, crime reduction and criminal justice. Articles submitted to SACQ are double-blind peer-reviewed before publication.

Peer Review Process

All articles are subject to double blind reviews by two reviewers. The review period is usually between 2 and 6 months depending on when the article is submitted in the publication process, and when the reviewers are available. Reports from reviewers are anonymised and returned to authors for appropriate action. Since most articles deal with issues relevant to South Africa, most reviewers are South African experts in the relevant fields, but international reviewers are also used from time to time.

Articles are also subject to editorial review before the peer review process. It is not uncommon for a member of our editorial team to recommend changes to a submission prior to peer review, especially when submissions do not comply with the Author Guidelines. 

Publication Frequency

SACQ currently uses a continuous publication model, with articles added as they are ready for publication. It will return to a quarterly model in 2025. Each edition contains an editorial and at least four articles, the majority of which are research articles. Most editions also contain a case note on recent court judgements and an interview on a current topic in criminology and public policy.

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

Articles form this journal can be submitted to institutional repositories, under the following conditions:

Policy on Racial Classifications

Racial classifications have continued to be widely used in South Africa post-apartheid. Justifications for the use of racial descriptors usually relate to the need to ensure, and monitor societal transformation. However, in the research and policy community racial descriptors are often used because they are believed to enable readers and peers to understand the phenomenon they are considering. We seem unable to make sense of our society, and discussions about our society, without reference to race.

South African Crime Quarterly seeks to challenge the use of race to make meaning, because this reinforces a racialised understanding of our society. We also seek to resist the lazy use of racial categories and descriptors that lock us into categories of identity that we have rejected and yet continue to use without critical engagement post-apartheid. Through adopting this policy South African Crime Quarterly seeks to signal its commitment to challenging the racialization of our society, and racism in all its forms.

We are aware that in some instances using racial categories is necessary, appropriate and relevant; for example, in an article that assesses and addresses racial transformation policies, such as affirmative action. In this case, the subject of the article is directly related to race.

However, when race or racial inequality or injustice, is not the subject of the article, SACQ will not allow the use of racial categories. We are aware that some readers might find this confusing at first and may request information about the race of research subjects or participants. However, we deliberately seek to foster such a response in order to disrupt racialised thinking and meaning-making.  

Copyright & License Terms

Copyright on articles is shared between the authors/s, the Institute for Security Studies and University of Cape Town

All articles published in SACQ can be re-used under the following CC license: CC BY-SA Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Digital Preservation Policy

This journal utilizes the Portico system to create permanent archives of the journal for purposes of preservation and restoration. Click here to view SACQ in the Portico Keeper's Registry.

Usage and Impact

Statistics are generated through OJS, as well as all other platforms indexing SACQ.

Access selected statistics at:


Source: Google Scholar Citations Profile

Plagiarism Policy

All articles submitted to SACQ are subject to a plagiarism test (iThenticate) before publication. Should plagiarism be detected the article will be rejected without the author being afforded the opportunity to revise and resubmit.

Article Processing Charges (APCs)

No submission fees or APCs apply.

Sources of Support

SACQ is hosted using OJS, made available by the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf).

Journal History

SACQ originated in 1997 when the ISS collaborated with Business Against Crime (BAC) to start an accessible publication on crime in South Africa. BAC facilitated the early negotiations and Nedcor funded the publication that was called the Nedcor ISS Crime Index.

Published six times a year, partner organisations eventually included the HSRC and Transparency International.

In 2000, the name was changed to the Nedbank ISS Crime Index. In 2001 Nedbank withdrew from the project and in 2002 the ISS launched SACQ which has been published quarterly ever since.