About the Journal

The Journal for the Study of Religion (JSR) is a bi-annual journal with one volume containing two editions published each year during June and December. Founded in 1993 the JSR is affiliated to the Association for the Study of Religion in Southern Africa (ASRSA). The JSR is an online open access journal, committed to enhancing accessible scholarship in the study of religion in the Global South.

The journal’s main area of interest is the phenomenological and comparative study of the diversity of religions, religious traditions, and the religious movements and formations of religions in Southern Africa. We are particularly interested in the lived realities of religion in Sub-Saharan Africa. Since we foster the equal recognition of all religions, research on the prevalence, relevance, and practicing of World Religions in both local and global contexts is also encouraged. Research contributions may focus on any of the dimensions of religion, religiously shared or specific values, and the historical and/or current problematization and contextualization of religions or religious discourse.

In 1987 the decision was taken by the Association for the Study of Religion in South Africa (ASRSA), the association to which the journal is affiliated, to change its name to the Journal for the Study of Religion (JSR). This change was made under the Editorship of Prof Martin Prozesky, assisted by Mr Patrick Maxwell and by an International Editorial Advisory Board whose members included leading scholars from the USA, Britain, New Zealand and Sweden, as well as from South Africa.

From 1993 until 1997, Mr Patrick Maxwell acted as Executive Editor. In 1998 the editorship moved to the University of Cape Town under the editorship of Prof Abdulkader Tayob (1998 – 2002) where it was given a new appearance. He was followed by Prof David Chidester (2003 – 2013).

From 1993 until 1997, Mr Patrick Maxwell acted as Executive Editor. In 1998 the Editorship moved to the University of Cape Town with Prof Abdulkader Tayob (1998-2002) who gave this journal a new appearance. He was followed by Prof David Chidester (2003-2013).

In 2014 Prof JA Smit from the University of KwaZulu-Natal served as Editor-in-Chief until 2017, when he handed over to Prof Johan Strijdom from the University of South Africa who served as Editor-in-Chief from 2018-2020. Under Prof Strijdom the JSR became an online open access publication.

Prof Maria Frahm-Arp from the University of Johannesburg was the first women to edit the journal and served as Editor-in-Chief from 2021-2025. Under Prof Frahm-Arp’s leadership the journal moved to the UJ Press and is hosted on the Open Journal System (OJS) platform, ensuring a robust content management system that can efficiently handle the submission of articles, peer review process, and publication. Authors are requested to submit their articles via the online system. During this time the journal also began to follow the best practice principles as laid out by ASSAf and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Dr Nelly Mwale from the University of Zambia has been the acting Editor-in-Chief since April 2025.

The journal’s primary publication language is American English for all submissions.

The JSR is an independent journal affiliated to the ASRSA and published by the UJ Press. The journal has no affiliation per se with the University of Johannesburg. The journal does not receive any sponsorship from any bodies or associations and therefore there is no conflict of interest in work that is published with one or more outside bodies. The journal does charge article processing fees (APCs) which are used to pay for the hosting of the journal on the UJ Press platform and the language editing of articles. Neither the Editorial Team of the journal nor the reviewers of articles are remunerated for their work.

 Archiving and Indexing 

The articles published are archived and indexed accordingly through LOCKSS, CLOCKSS and the PKP PN.

Copyright statement

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under an Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International license (CC BY–NC 4.0).

Online ISSN
2413-3027
Print ISSN
1011-7601