Revival of New Voices in Psychology

The UNISA Department of Psychology is pleased to announce the revival of its New Voices in Psychology (NVP) Journal that had been published by UNISA Press under the custodianship of the Psychology Departmental Chair. The NVP Journal was preceded by the UNISA Psychologia Journal, which initially was primarily aimed at publicizing the activities of the UNISA Psychology Department. When it was decided to change the direction of UNISA Psychologia to becoming a platform to disseminate scholarship of entry-level scholars, the name of the journal was changed to New Voices in Psychology. The NVP Journal was first published in January 2005 (Volume 1, Issue 1) was a peer-reviewed journal published bi-annually by UNISA Press. It aimed to nurture the work of young researchers and to encourage the development of new ideas in the discipline. To facilitate the achievement of these aims, the NVP Journal was also incorporated into the post-graduate academic training within the department through the introduction of The New Voices in Psychology Research and Publication Course that was attended by Clinical Masters as well as Research Consultation Masters students. The aim of the course was to foster a collaborative learning environment to build student research capacity.

In terms of its geographical focus, NVP accepted submissions from all over the world, but the emphasis was on working with post-graduate students and young academics from Africa. The journal carried contributions on all topics in psychology but with a bias towards issues relevant to the African context and toward critiques of psychology as a discipline and profession. Consistent with this focus and in an effort to become more student-driven, the editorial process of the NVP Journal was managed by an editorial committee consisting entirely of students. Unfortunately, a range of challenges resulted in the journal’s cessation with its last issue (Volume 12, Number 2) being published in 2017 and UNISA Press officially announcing in 2019 that it was discontinuing publication.

Notwithstanding these challenges, the need for a journal such as NVP has remained and its cessation was always meant to be temporary. Thus, UNISA Press has agreed to publish the revived journal. In addition to this, Psychological Society of South Africa (PsySSA)as Learned Society has agreed to make available its demonstrable intellectual, organisational, and administrative prowess to partner with UNISA in this regard. The revived journal will maintain the focus of providing an outlet for student and early scholarship, but also to broaden the scope and focus to include decolonial perspectives on the psychological study of social issues.

The journal will forthwith be Open Access but no APCs or page fees will be charged. Initially the journal will publish one volume each year. Articles will be published online when ready for publication via a continuous publication model. The journal will not be printed. Additional collections may be published for special events (e.g. conferences) and when special themes are addressed.

The journal will follow a double-blind peer review system. In order to facilitate accreditation, the journal will apply to be included in the Directory of Open Access Journals. All contributions published will be provided with a Digital Object Identifier (DOI). Efforts will be made to have the journal listed on a variety of platforms, including among others, Web of Science and Scopus.