About the Journal
Aims and Scope of the JSR
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 with 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 problematisation and contextualisation of religions or religious discourse.
The journal’s primary publication language is American English for all submissions.
Editorship History of the JSR (1993-present)
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).
In 2014 Prof Johannes Andreas 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 with assistance from Prof. Lee-Shae Scharnick-Udemans from the University of the Western Cape. Under Profs Strijdom & Scharnick-Udemans, the JSR became an online open access publication.
Prof Maria Frahm-Arp from the University of Johannesburg was the first woman to edit the journal and served as Editor-in-Chief from 2021-2025. Under Prof Frahm-Arp’s leadership the journal moved to UJ Press and is hosted on the Open Journal Systems (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 the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Prof Maria Frahm-Arp has been the acting Editor-in-Chief since March 2026 and assisting her is Dr Nelly Mwale from the University of Zambia & University of South Africa and Dr Tristán Kapp from the University of the Western Cape & University of Pretoria.
Declaration of Interest
The JSR is an independent journal despite its affiliation with the ASRSA and hosting by the UJ Press. The journal has no direct affiliation with the University of Johannesburg and the journal does not receive any sponsorship from any connected bodies, stakeholders, or associations. Therefore, there are no conflicts of interest in work that is published with one or more outside bodies. The journal does charge Article Processing Charges (APCs), payable after acceptance, 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).