About the Journal
Focus and scope
The South African Journal of Arts Therapy (SAJAT) is an online, open-access and peer-reviewed journal dedicated to fostering dialogue and research on Arts Therapies that focuses on Africa and the Global South.
The primary focus is on South Africa, Africa and the Global South where arts and culture have had an instrumental role in forging identities and post-colonial scholarship that promotes cultural diversity, inclusivity and social justice.
SAJAT promotes creative expression, imagination and innovative practices in arts therapy scholarship that furthers the practices of mental health services that actively respond to societal trama and challenges facing children and adults.
The journal aims to be representative of a variety of arts therapy modalities, cognisant of the value of a dynamic interface between the visual arts, dance, movement, music and drama as well as intersiciplinary fields that provides a platform for under-represented African arts therapists on the global stage . It extends knowledge and education in the field for mental health and allied professionals.
We welcome contributions from established and emerging scholars, and we are open to proposals for Themed Issues guest edited by leading scholars in relevant arts therapy modalities.
About the Journal
The purpose of the journal is to provide a scholarly forum to advance the understanding of how art therapy and visual art contribute to the treatment, education, development, and enrichment of people. This is a new platform for broad spectrum of ideas in therapy, practice, professional issues and research. SAJAT is the newest publication in the field and showcases emerging and established voices in Africa-centered scholarship.
Art therapy is a mental health profession that enriches the lives of individuals, families, and communities through active art-making, creative process, applied psychological theory, and human experience within a psychotherapeutic relationship.
Submissions
Publishes two issues a year in April and in September and a special edition may be considered from time to time. Issues are available as open access. The Journal invites manuscripts all through the year, submitted online through its website in two versions, one being anonymous. Research articles and essays must be between 5,000 and 7,000 words long. Commentary and debate articles must be 3,000 to 4,000 words responding to a debate or a topical issue. The journal has a dedicated space for the voices of emerging scholars/students. Emerging scholars’ essays must be 1,500 to 3,000 words long. All must be prepared according to author guidelines. We encourage the submission of book reviews of up to 1,500 words in length. Longer review articles that debate the book will also be considered at 2,000 to 4,000 words in length.
Author fees
The journal subscribes to the principle that results of largely public-funded research must be published without article processing charges (APCs) on contributors.
Open Access
This journal is fully Open Access. The journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 South Africa (CC BY-NC 2.0 ZA).
Copyright
Authors retain the copyright to their articles.
Archiving and Indexing
The articles published are archived and indexed accordingly
Repository policy
This journal allows authors to deposit the published version of their work in an institutional or any other repository of their choice.
Peer Review Policy
All research articles go through a double-blind peer-review process. The reviewers have expertise in the areas that they review on. The decisions on publication are based on the balance of the views of reviewers.
Authorship
Authors are those who make a substantive contribution to a submission. The author who makes more contributions than another must appear first in the authors' list in the submission, regardless of their positions or status. A student must be listed as principal author in multiple-authored publications that substantially derive from their research work.
Funding
Authors must acknowledge their sources of funding under a specific heading.
Conflict of interest
Authors are required to disclose conflict of interest. Journal editors must declare conflict of interests, and recuse themselves from managing submissions where such conflict of interest is present. The conflict of interest matters relating to board members will be declared. The editorial board will serve as an appeal body in cases of disputes.
Publishing ethics
There are standards of expected ethical behavior for all parties involved in the publishing of scholarly journal articles: the authors, the journal editors, the peer reviewers, and the publisher. This publication ethics statement is based on COPE’s Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors. The journal editors, peer reviewers and authors are expected to follow The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines on professional publishing standards at publicationethics.org. In addition to COPE, the following organizations have also collaborated to identify best practices for scholarly publications: the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA), and the JSTOR.
Privacy Statement
The names and addresses specified when registering will be used solely for purposes of correspondence with the Author or reviewers (editors) when preparing the article for publication.
Private data will not be shared with other individuals and organizations without first seeking the permission of the owners of such data.
Editor’s Code of Conduct
The editors of this journal will:
- Maintain high-quality assurance and ethical standards in submissions published in the journal;
- Ensure the integrity of the peer-review process;
- Promote equal and equitable access to publishing opportunities for authors;
- Maintain cordial relations among all stakeholders including authors, reviewers, editors and the board;
- Attend expeditiously to all complaints;
- Treat all submissions fairly and justly on the merits of their content;
- Maintain and improve the journal’s reputation.
Role of the editorial committee
The committee is made of the editor-in-chief, editors and editorial assistants of the journal responsible for the day-to-day editorial management of the journal production. They are responsible for soliciting or receiving submissions, quality checking them, assigning reviewers, overseeing the revision of the submissions and supervising the production process. The editor-in-chief leads this committee and assigns editors submissions to work and convenes discussions, where necessary, and ratifies editorial decisions in line with the journal editorial policies. The final decision rests with the editor-in-chief.
Duties of the Board
The editorial board is an advisory and governance structure appointed by the Association in line with best practices in journal governance. It brings together scholars representing various areas of expertise within the scope of the journal’s focus. Board members serve voluntarily for a three-year term subject to renewal. The Board functions include:
- Promoting the journal in their networks;
- Providing advice related to the publication of high-quality manuscripts;
- Serving as a mechanism for authors to appeal against editorial decisions.
- Receiving an annual report from the Editor-in-Chief detailing the status of operations and including such statistics and other relevant information;
- Make recommendations to the Editor-in-Chief based on the annual report.
Online ISSN: 2960-1614