Focus and Scope

De-centre: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies is a peer-reviewed and open-access journal committed to rigorous research and debate. De-centre publishes full research articles in the fields of the humanities, social sciences, and science-related studies that expand our understanding of social phenomena and provide novel insights that advance knowledge. The journal welcomes engaging and creative contributions that challenge dominant narratives, enhance contextual relevance, promote inclusivity and push knowledge boundaries. De-centre also features peer-reviewed short articles and commentaries on topical issues. Before submitting your manuscript, please review our submission guidelines.

Peer-Review Process

For submissions considered suitable for publication in De-centre: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, the following details outline the peer-review process:

• A double-blind peer review process is used by the journal.
• All manuscripts submitted to the journal are initially screened by the editorial office for compliance with the journal's guidelines.
• At this stage, the manuscripts are also subject to a plagiarism detection process using Turnitin. In the event that plagiarism is detected, the plagiarism policy will come into effect at this stage. A manuscript may be rejected or returned to the authors for resubmission before review.
• Suitable manuscripts are assigned to at least two independent expert reviewers to assess their quality for academic publication. Reviewers are given 21-30 days to report whether a submission should be accepted, accepted after minor or major revisions, or not accepted for publication. Where the decisions conflict, the editor can arbitrate the reports or appoint another reviewer. The editor-in-chief may edit peer review reports if they contain offensive language or deviate from the journal's policy, for example with regard to anonymity. Such edits will not change the reviewer's opinion or quality of the review report.
• After the reviewers have made their decisions, the editor-in-chief informs the author of their decision. For minor revisions, authors have 30 days to make the revisions. When major revisions are required, authors have 60 days to revise, after which the manuscript will undergo another round of review.
• Revised manuscripts are submitted online.
• The manuscript is referred to the publication stage when the editor-in-chief has determined that the paper now merits publication.  

Production and Publication Process

• Manuscripts accepted for publication are queued for copyediting, layout, and proofreading in accordance with the journal's style and format.
• The journal requires that articles be language-edited prior to publication. The authors are then given the opportunity to approve the copyedited and proofread versions of their papers. At this stage, only minor corrections can be made, such as typos and layout modifications.  Authors should carefully check figures to ensure they are correctly captured and labelled.
• Any major corrections at this stage will be addressed in line with the journal's correction policy.
• The final approved copy by the author is assigned to an issue with a DOI and prepared for publication.
• Authors are informed immediately their articles are published online.

Publication Model and Frequency 

A continuous publication system is used by the journal. A minimum of one volume is published each year.  Articles are published online once they are ready for publication.  All articles are assigned a DOI.

We welcome special issues. The number of special issues we can publish in a given year is limited to five.  

• A special issue should consist of 7-15 papers.
• A special issue should have a main focus and no more than four guest editors.
• Guest editors are expected to demonstrate that they have research track records within the area of the proposed special issue.
• Academics wanting to guest edit a special issue of the journal should contact the editor-in-chief to request a special issue proposal form.
• Guest editors’ names and affiliations must be detailed on the proposal form.
• Following approval of the special issue proposal, the journal's special editions coordinator will hold an editorial briefing meeting with the guest editor(s) to discuss the procedures, timelines, and other aspects of the special issue.
• The guest editor(s) can seek submission either by calling for papers (CFPs), or directly inviting suitable authors which may be the option in the case of conferences etc.
• The guest editor(s) must ensure that authors submit their papers via the journal's online submission portal.
• Guest editors are responsible for ensuring that manuscripts submitted are of a suitable standard.
• Furthermore, it is the guest editor's responsibility to ensure that authors are familiar with the journal's guidelines and policies.
• All papers submitted for special issues are double-blind peer-reviewed. A suitable and diverse panel of reviewers will be selected by the guest editor(s) in consultation with the editor-in-chief.
• Guest editors oversee the review process and recommend a decision to the editor-in-chief. A final decision is made by the editor-in-chief after reviewing the recommendation.
• Papers authored by guest editors(s) will be dealt with individually by the editor-in-chief following the same review guidelines.
• Upon completion of the special issue, the guest editor(s) is required to provide the order of papers as well as an editorial which serves as the introduction to the special issue containing the names and affiliations of the guest editor(s).

Author’s Fees

No fees are charged for submissions or publication.

Editorial Policy

Appeal and Complaints:  Authors may appeal a submission decision if they believe it was unfair. You are requested to contact the editor-in-chief with your reasons for appealing the decision within 14 days of the decision. The editor-in-chief, in consultation with relevant members of the editorial board will review the appeal letter. Where deemed appropriate, new reviewers may be appointed to evaluate the submission. Feedback will be communicated within 30 days. A final decision will be made by the editor-in-chief. Please contact the managing editor or the editor-in-chief if you have complaints regarding the journal's procedures or policies, or the conduct of our staff.

Article Retraction:  Articles published by De-centre would remain intact. However, should the situation warrant such as in cases of plagiarism, data error, among others where the integrity of the journal is at stake, a paper may be retracted or replaced to protect scholarship. The editor-in-chief may determine where an article needs to be retracted. The author may also initiate a retraction process if errors are perceived in data and conclusions. A notice of retraction will be published online, including the details of the article, the reason for retraction, and the author who initiated the retraction. 

Responses and Rebuttals:  To encourage discussion of our publications, we welcome formal responses to articles published in the Journal in the form of commentaries. The commentaries must be submitted within 30 days of the publication of the original article. The commentaries will be subject to an external review. Responses and rebuttals must be written respectfully and collegially. Note that they must be directed at the article content and not the author(s). Responses and rebuttals can also be submitted in form of commentaries to articles published in other journals. 

Confidentiality: All manuscripts submitted to De-centre are treated with confidentiality. As such, authors, reviewers, and editorial staff must treat all manuscripts and correspondence with the editorial office with the utmost confidentiality.

Copyright and Licensing:  Authors keep their manuscript copyright under a Creative Commons licence: CC BY SA. By publishing your article, you agree to grant the publisher an irredeemable licence to publish in print and electronic format, and further sublicense the article, for the full legal term of copyright and any renewals thereof in all languages throughout the world in all formats, and through any medium of communication. This journal permits and encourages authors to post items submitted to the journal on personal websites or institutional repositories after publication, while providing bibliographic details that credit this journal.

The publisher's version may be used for teaching purposes, in books, theses, dissertations, as well as in conferences and conference papers. 

A copy of the publisher's version may also be hosted on the following websites:

• Non-commercial personal homepage or blog.
• Institutional webpage.
• Authors Institutional Repository. 

The following notice should accompany such a posting on the website: “This is an electronic version of an article published in the De-centre: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, Volume XXX, number XXX, pages XXX–XXX”, DOI. Authors should also provide a hyperlink to the original paper or indicate where the original paper may be found

Language:  The journal is published in English only.

Corrections:  Where errors are detected post-publication, corrections will be made and published online and in print forms at the discretion of the editor-in-chief either as errata or corrigenda. The former is published when errors result from the publication process. The latter involves the correction of an authors' error. In both cases, the author will have to approve the corrections for publication. Where corrections are minor typographical mistakes, they will not warrant a new publication.    

Digital Archiving:  The digital contents of the journal are easily accessible and preserved for long-term access.

Plagiarism: Papers submitted to the De-centre: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies are screened for plagiarism using Turnitin. Manuscripts containing plagiarism will not be considered for publication in the journal. In other words, papers that contain any form of plagiarism will be rejected. The journal frowns at publishing malpractices. See more on unethical practices below. 

Open Access Policy: De-centre: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies is fully open access. As such, all articles are available online immediately upon publication.

Author Agreement: The author(s) agree(s) that the contribution is original work, was not published elsewhere, and is not being considered for publication elsewhere, and will not be submitted for publication elsewhere unless it is rejected by De-centre: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies or officially withdrawn by the author(s). Authors submitting their papers to De-centre: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies automatically agree with all journal policies. All opinions or arguments stated by the author(s), as well as facts and figures are strictly the responsibility of the author(s).

Repository:  The De-centre: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies allows authors to deposit versions of their work in repositories of their choice. A full reference for publication in the De-centre: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies must be indicated on the first page of the submitted document.

Ethics Statement

De-centre: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies subscribes to: National Code of Best Practice in Editorial Discretion and Peer Review for South African Scholarly Journals

Authorship and Attribution:  All submissions to De-centre: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies must include the names and details of all authors who contributed significantly to the research and writing of the manuscript.

• Each contributing author must be included in the online submission with the corresponding author clearly identified.
• Contributing authors will receive a notification of submission immediately.
• Contributors must be listed accordingly in a manner determined and decided by the authors. Any further changes to authorship details should be sent to the journal’s editorial team.
• By submitting the paper to De-centre: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, authors confirm that all data in the submitted paper are real and accurate. The journal frowns completely on the practice of ‘gift authorship’, ‘honorary authorship’ and ‘ghost authorship’ where authors are listed without making significant contributions to the research or writing process. Should the practice of ‘gift authorship’ be suspected by the editorial team, such a paper will be rejected. However, should there be contributors to the paper who are not deemed to have made significant contributions to merit authorship, such individuals can be listed in the acknowledgments section at the end of the paper. Authors are required to indicate their contributions to the manuscript.
• Prior to publication, all contributing authors must have seen and approved the final version.
• Authors are requested to read the submission procedures carefully and confirm that their manuscript fully follows the journal guidelines before submission.
• Authors must also be aware that AI tools are incapable of producing original research. As such, where authors have consulted AI-technological tools in their research, their use must be disclosed, described transparently, and correctly referenced.
• If there are any competing interests, authors should clearly acknowledge this at the point of submission by adding a ‘comment to the editor’.
• We advise that all potential authors go through the ASSAf and SciELO Guidelines for the Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools and Resources in Research Communication as De-centre: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies fully subscribes to the guidelines provided by ASSAf and ScieLO. 

Research Ethics: Researchers submitting manuscripts involving human subjects must declare compliance with ethical practices at the point of submission. The declaration must involve the ethical procedures followed such as confidentiality, the participant consent process and anonymity among others. All manuscripts describing research involving human subjects must also indicate that informed consent was obtained and that the principles of research ethics are adhered to. Details of these must be included in the methodology section of the manuscript. Manuscripts that fail to adhere to these instructions will not be considered for publication.

Misconduct or Unethical Practices:  All submissions to De-centre: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies must be free of unethical practices. These practices may include plagiarism, falsification/fabrication of data, salami-slicing, ghost authorship, AI-generated full manuscripts as well as other practices that violate the principles of ethical research and integrity. For procedural fairness, authors will be asked to provide explanations if the editorial team suspects unethical behaviour. The review process will only continue provided the suspected unethical practice is not substantiated. If the suspected unethical practice is substantiated, the article is instantly rejected. Articles published before the unethical practice is established will be retracted in accordance with the retraction policy discussed under the editorial policy.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: This arises when certain information is not made fully apparent, especially where such details may influence authors, reviewers, and editors' judgment.  As such, at the time of submission, authors must indicate if there are any conflicts of interest e.g. funding or acknowledgement that the editorial office should be aware of.  A conflict of interest indication does not imply rejection of the paper. Where a conflict of interest is stated, such information will be published alongside the paper.  Although we use a double-blind peer-review process, reviewers are also asked to declare any conflict of interest which could include the perceived identity of the author, shared relationships, among others. Such declaration does not invalidate the review report. The editor-in-chief (EiC) is also obliged to declare any conflict of interest regarding any submission. Where the editor is listed as an author of a particular manuscript, the system automatically excludes the EiC from accessing the manuscript. The EiC will withdraw from the evaluation process of any manuscript where they feel conflicted, such as when evaluating a manuscript submitted by a student, close associate, or a colleague. The submission will be handled by other members of the editorial team. Members of the editorial board or advisory board are permitted to publish in the journal. Their submissions will be treated in the same manner as those of other authors.