About the Journal

The Southern African Quality Assurance Network (SAQAN) is a non-profit, member-based organization dedicated to promoting quality in higher education throughout Southern Africa. The SAQAN Journal for Quality Assurance in Higher Education is set to be the flagship publication of the SAQAN.

The main objective of the SAQAN Journal for Quality Assurance in Higher Education is to contribute to the development of quality assurance in higher education as both an academic and a professional practice in the Southern African region, on the African continent and beyond. The Journal is intended to serve as a platform for communicating on empirical studies, for theorizing conceptions of quality and quality assurance in higher education, to share experiences, good practices and approaches. A dedicated Journal for quality assurance as a field of scholarly activity will play a significant role in establishing the disciplines’ credibility.

The journal will create space for quality assurance practitioners to contribute with professional notes and reflections, in lieu of full-length research papers.

Reviews of relevant publications on higher education and on the quality and quality assurance will also form part of the journal.

Support and capacity development for research design, ethical clearance, scientific writing and language-editing, as well as the translation of the abstracts may also be provided to new authors.

Journal policies

  • Authors are not currently charged any processing fees.
  • Authors retain copyright of their work.
  • Authors may deposit their work published in this journal in institutional and/or other repositories of their choice.
  • Authors are required to declare their sources of funding for work leading to a published article, as well as declare any conflicts of interest.
  • Authors are required to submit ethical clearance from relevant institutions should it be relevant to do so.
  • The journal is an open access journal, and authors retain copyright of their work.
  • Submitted research articles are subjected to a double-blind peer-review process by reviewers who have demonstrated expertise in the area that the article focuses on.
  • Any personal information collected from authors as part the submission process will be kept confidential and not shared with any other parties.
  • Journal articles will be published in English, with abstracts published in English, French and Portuguese.
  • The Journal is editorially managed by a reputable board of editors that includes international, continental and regional representation.

Contributions that the Journal seeks to publish

The Journal will publish a wide range of contributions, including full-length conceptual and empirical research papers, professional notes, and reviews focused on quality assurance in higher education

Whilst the goal is to publish at least two issues a year, submissions are invited year-round.

The following types of contributions are invited:

1. Full-length conceptual papers

Full-length conceptual papers may explore any concept or set of concepts related to quality or quality assurance in higher education from a theoretical or philosophical position and in line with the themes and sub-themes described above. Submitted papers should be embedded in an appropriate literature review and should embrace a fresh approach to theorizing or practice, contributing to a relevant critical discourse of quality and quality assurance, and higher education. Papers should be no more than 8000 words, including the references, and should include 5 keywords and an abstract of no more than 250 words in English, French and Portuguese.

2. Full-length empirical research papers

Full-length empirical research papers should be based on quantitative or qualitative studies of data (which may include an in-depth case study), attempting to answer a set of research questions through the posing of hypotheses, supported by a theoretical framework, literature review and a specific research design. Papers should be no more than 8000 words, including the references, and should include 5 keywords and an abstract of no more than 250 words in English, French and Portuguese.

3. Professional notes

Professional notes create an opportunity for quality assurance practitioners to report on their work, for example through a smaller case study or by describing a good practice, in a narrative form, without the need for a theoretical framework, literature review or research design. Professional notes should be no more than 2000 words, including the references.

4. Reviews

Reviews of any seminal book, paper, conference, web-based or other resources, that prospective authors consider important or significant for the SAQAN community may be submitted. Reviews should be no more than 2000 words, including the references.

Technical requirements for submissions

Submissions must be in MS Word. The text is single-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end. Please view the Author Guidelines at for more details on the technical requirements for the submission, specifically as relates to referencing and formatting. Any use of Artificial Intelligence tools in the research, in the writing and editing of the submissions have to acknowledged.

All submissions should have been screened for plagiarism and copyright infringement. Please include the Turnitin or iThenticate report with your submission. See our plagiarism policy for details: https://ujonlinepress.uj.ac.za/index.php/ujp/plagiarism.

An ethical clearance certificate from your institution should accompany your submission if your research involves access to records of personal or confidential information.

The Peer Review Process

The review process takes place according to the following principles:

  • Pre-publication peer review.
  • Double-blind peer review.
  • The Editor mediates all interactions between reviewers and authors.
  • Peer reviews are not published.
  • Reviews are owned by the authors of the reviews.

In evaluating the manuscript, reviewers focus on the following aspects:

  • Originality
  • Contribution to the field
  • Technical quality
  • Clarity of presentation
  • Depth of research.