The South African Journal of Science aims to publish original work of importance in any field, which will interest readers from more than one discipline. In particular, we are keen to publish work that has a regional focus on Africa. Research contributions, which are peer-reviewed, are of three kinds: reviews, articles, and research letters. The format for all of these categories is, of necessity, relatively brief compared with that of more specialised journals: details can be found in our instructions to authors. Submissions can be made online.

Our second important function is to serve as a forum for debate about recent developments in research and in higher education. The front section of the journal covers news, news features, book reviews, obituaries, commentaries, letters and news and views articles. (The last category comprises articles which opine on important recent developments either in the published literature or at conferences.) These contributions are not peer-reviewed, and potential authors are encouraged to liaise with the Editor-in-Chief before submitting work of this nature to the journal.

Ten associate editors handle manuscripts in the following areas:

• Ecology and organismal biology
• Agriculture and forestry
• Health sciences
• Arts, humanities & social science
• Chemistry
• Physics, astronomy & mathematics
• Molecular & cell biology
• Technology & computer science
• Earth sciences
• Archaeology & palaeontology

The international standard serial number (ISSN) is 0038-2353. The electronic international standard serial number (eISSN) for the South African Journal of Science is 1996-7489.

The South African Journal of Science publishes six issues per year. Individual papers are published as soon as they are ready for publication by adding them to the table of contents of the 'current' volume and issue. In this way, the South African Journal of Science aims to speed up the process of manuscript publication from submission to becoming available on the website.