About the Journal

Focus and Scope

Phronimon publishes original scientifically justifiable contributions (articles, discussions of articles previously published and book reviews) within the field of Philosophy and the Humanities. 

Peer Review Process

Phronimon uses a double-blind peer review system to ensure the anonymity of both the author and the reviewer. Usually, articles are sent to two reviewers, if there is a disagreement a third reviewer is used. Based on their recommendations, the Editor decides whether the manuscript should be accepted as is, should be revised or rejected. The final decision whether to publish any article remains with the Editor. Reviewers are encouraged to provide detailed critical and constructive comments. We strive towards a review period of 8 weeks.

Publication Frequency

The journal only publishes online.

Phronimon uses a continuous publishing model, according to which articles are published in final form individually as they become ready. The journal publishes one volume per year.

 

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

Fees

In order to finance open access, Phronimon requires authors of accepted articles to pay article processing charges (APC). APC are payable when the article has been accepted for publication and when an invoice has been delivered. APC are used to cover all costs related to the language editing, publishing, online hosting, and the archiving of each article.

The current rate is ZAR 9100 per article for 2025. These charges are reviewed annually.

The submitting author is responsible for the payment of the APC which must be confirmed at the time of submission. All amounts are due within 30 days from invoicing. The article will only be published once full payment has been received.

Since Phronimon encourages researchers from marginalised groups and communities to submit articles, authors could apply to be exempted from the APC. Since each application will be considered on its own merit a motivation needs to be provided. Send the application to the Editor when submitting your article. No author would be discriminated against in any way when exemption from the APC is granted.

Plagiarism

Manuscripts containing unoriginal content will not be considered for publication in the journal. Plagiarism is defined as the use of another's work, words or ideas without attribution or permission, and representation of them as one's own original work. Plagiarism may take many forms, ranging from major plagiarism (the copy-and-paste of large amounts of text), to minor plagiarism without dishonest intent (e.g. when an author uses parts of an introduction from an earlier paper) and even self-plagiarism (the reuse of significant, identical or near-identical portions of one's own work without citing the original version).

Phronimon subscribes to plagiarism detection software and all contributions submitted to the journal will be scanned to verify originality. Ithenticate (http://www.ithenticate.com/) is currently used.

If major plagiarism is brought to light after a manuscript has been published, the journal will proceed to conduct a preliminary investigation. The journal reserves the right to formally retract such manuscripts and publish statements to reference material as plagiarism.

All records are being archived.

 

Licencing and Publishing

In consideration for the publication of your article by Unisa Press you hereby agree to grant to Unisa Press an irrevocable nonexclusive license 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.

You shall retain the perpetual royalty-free right to reproduce and publish in print and electronic format, and further sublicense the article in all languages throughout the world in all formats, and through any medium of communication provided that you make reference to the first publication by the Journal and Unisa Press.

 

Author agreement

The author(s) agrees that the contribution is original work, was not published elsewhere, is not being considered for publication elsewhere, and will not be submitted for publication elsewhere unless rejected by Phronimon or withdrawn by the author(s).

By submitting work for consideration to be published in Phronimon, the author(s) agree(s) with all the policies of the journal. The attention of the author(s) is drawn in particular to the policies on copyright, licensing and publication.

Neither the editorial staff, the board nor the publisher accept responsibility for the opinions or viewpoints expressed, or for the correctness of facts and figures.

Disclaimer

Phronimon, the University of South Africa and Unisa Press make every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information contained in our publication. However, Phronimon, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the contributions. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Phronimon, the University of South Africa and Unisa Press. 

Phronimon, the University of South Africa and Unisa Press shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to, or arising out of the use of the content of the publication.

Competing Interests Policy and Procedure

As an academic journal publisher, we recognize the importance of managing potential competing interests in order to maintain the highest standards of academic integrity and transparency. We have established clear policies and procedures for handling potential competing interests among our authors, reviewers, and editorial team.

Policies:

  1. Disclosure: All authors are required to disclose any potential competing interests that may be relevant to their research, such as financial or personal relationships with organizations or individuals that may have an interest in the research. All reviewers are required to disclose any potential competing interests that may affect their ability to provide an impartial and objective evaluation of the manuscript.
  2. Evaluation: Our editorial team carefully reviews all disclosures of potential competing interests and assesses whether the competing interest is relevant to the manuscript. If a competing interest is deemed relevant, the editorial team will consider the potential impact of the competing interest on the manuscript and its publication.
  3. Recusal: In cases where a competing interest may affect the impartiality or credibility of the publication, the editorial team reserves the right to reject a manuscript or recuse a reviewer. Reviewers may also recuse themselves from the review process if they have a potential competing interest.

Procedures:

  1. Disclosure: Upon submission of a manuscript, all authors are required to complete a disclosure form that outlines any potential competing interests. Reviewers are also required to disclose any potential competing interests before accepting a review assignment.
  2. Evaluation: Our editorial team evaluates all disclosures of potential competing interests and determines whether the competing interest is relevant to the manuscript. If a competing interest is deemed relevant, the editorial team will consider the potential impact of the competing interest on the manuscript and its publication.
  3. Recusal: If a competing interest is deemed relevant and could potentially affect the impartiality or credibility of the publication, the editorial team will reject the manuscript or recuse the reviewer. Reviewers may also recuse themselves from the review process if they have a potential competing interest.
  4. Transparency: We believe in maintaining transparency throughout the publication process. All disclosures of potential competing interests will be made public upon publication of the manuscript.

By establishing these policies and procedures, we aim to ensure that potential competing interests are managed appropriately and that our publications maintain the highest standards of academic integrity and transparency.

Ethics Statement (Unisa Press Journals)

As part of fulfilling the University of South Africa's vision of being "the African university shaping futures in the service of humanity" the vision of Unisa Press Journals is to "publish with integrity" and, as such, Unisa Press Journals would like all parties involved in the publication process to adhere to the expected ethical behaviour set out in this ethics statement.

1.    Responsibilities of the Publisher and the Institutions and/or Societies on Behalf of Which It Publishes

Unisa Press Journals and the institutions and/or societies on behalf of which it publishes shall ensure that:

1.1.  Good practice is maintained to the standards set out in this statement.

1.2.  Collaborations with other publishers and industry associations adhere to standards for best practices on ethical matters, errors and retractions.

1.3.  The publisher's address and contact details are published in all journals and on these journals' websites.

1.4.  Guidelines on how the review process works are published on all journals' websites.

1.5.  Journals publish guidance on what is expected from reviewers.

1.6.  Journals publish guidance on what is expected from authors.

1.7.  Journals have properly functioning editorial boards and international advisory boards.

2.    Responsibilities of Editorial Boards

A properly functioning editorial board of a journal is of vital importance to ensure that the journals are governed efficiently. The board is responsible to ensure that the requirements for journals to be accredited by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) are adhered to.

Editorial boards need to:

2.1.  Meet regularly and be actively involved in the editorial management of the journal.

2.2.  Have terms of reference.

2.3.  Keep minutes of their meetings.

2.4.  Be comprised of members from beyond a single institution, and with more than two-thirds of the editorial board members beyond a single institution.

2.5.  Be reflective of expertise in the relevant subject area.

2.6.  Ensure that the names, titles and affiliation of board members are published in the journal and on the journals' website.

2.7.  Ensure that all board members serve for a clearly defined term, after which they may be re-elected in order to remain on the board.

2.8.  Ensure that their journal has a mechanism for authors to appeal against editorial decisions. This should be managed by the editorial board and not the editor.

2.9.  Appoint the academic editor of the journal

3.    International Advisory Boards

This journal, just like any other, does boast a vibrant team of international advisory board, which advises the editorial board and the editor on the academic standard of the journal. This is a critical part of our editorial component as it helps the journal to foster excellence in scholarship. 

4.    Responsibilities of Academic Editors

Academic Editors should:

4.1.  Execute their duties in an objective and fair way without discriminating on the basis of ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious or political affiliation or sexual orientation of authors or reviewers.

4.2.  Ensure that articles include English abstracts if their language of publication is not English.

4.3.  Ensure that their journal uses the double blind peer review method, where the identities of authors and reviewers are not known to each other.

4.4.  Pursue suspected cases of misconduct and not just simply reject articles that raise suspicion.

4.5.  Give authors an opportunity to respond to any complaints and, if they are not satisfied, ask the authors' employers to investigate. Editors should persist until they obtain a resolution to the problem in question.

4.6.  Follow reasonable procedures when complaints of conflict of interest or of an ethical nature arise, and follow the procedures of the society or institution which owns the journal, where appropriate, to resolve the complaint. Journals owned by Unisa need to follow the guidelines set out in the relevant Unisa policies.

4.7.  Keep all documentation relating to the investigation of a complaint.

4.8.  Correct any inaccuracy or misleading statement that has been published in order to maintain the integrity of the academic record. They have to publish errata, corrigenda or even retract articles if need be.

4.9.  Make sure their journals comply with all the requirements of the Department: Higher Education and Training's Research Outputs Policy (2015)

5.    Responsibilities of Peer Reviewers

 Reviewers should:

5.1.  Maintain the confidentiality of all information supplied by the editor.

5.2.  Review each manuscript objectively, in a timely manner, contribute to the decision-making process regarding publication of articles, and assist in improving the quality of the manuscript.

5.3.  Alert the editor to any suspected plagiarism or substantially similar content.

5.4.  Keep the integrity of the double blind peer review intact by ensuring they stay anonymous in their review reports.

5.5.  Be aware of any potential conflict of interest, and decline the review on those grounds.

6.    Authors' responsibilities

 Authors should:

6.1.  Declare any real or potential conflict of interest regarding the research and the publication process.

6.2.  Confirm that each submission has not been previously published and that it is not under consideration by another journal.

6.3.  Confirm that the work in submission is original, and acknowledge and cite content from other sources.

6.4.  Confirm that they have obtained permission to reproduce any content that is not theirs.

6.5.  Notify the journal editor or publisher immediately if a significant error in their publication comes to light, and should cooperate with the editor and publisher if it is necessary to retract the article or to publish an erratum, addendum or corrigendum notice.

6.6.  Maintain accurate records of data associated with their submission, and should grant access to these data if reasonably requested. Where allowed and where appropriate, authors should deposit this data in a suitable repository or storage for sharing and further use.

6.7.  Ensure that any studies involving human or animal subjects conform to local, national and international laws and requirements. Authors should obtain express permission from human subjects and respect their privacy.

6.8.  Be aware that online originality checking will be conducted to protect the integrity of the journal.

7.    Misconduct

Misconduct and unethical behaviour may be identified and brought to the attention of the editor and publisher at any time, by anyone. Sufficient evidence should be provided in writing by any complainant when informing the editor or publisher for an investigation to be initiated. All allegations should be taken seriously and must be treated appropriately. Those who report such behaviour in good faith must be protected in accordance with relevant Unisa policies and procedures. When misconduct or unethical behaviour is confirmed appropriate actions should be taken timeously, including correcting the research record (Singapore Statement, 2010).

Data Policy

By publishing in the journal authors are required to provide a data availability statement in their articles. Authors are encouraged to share their data but not required to. The decision to publish will not be affected by whether or not authors share their research data.

Required

  • Data availability statements

Optional / Encouraged

  • Data citation
  • Data sharing via repositories for all research data

Definition of research data

This policy applies to the research data that would be required to verify the results of research reported in articles published in the journal. Research data include data produced by the authors (“primary data”) and data from other sources that are analysed by authors in their study (“secondary data”).

Research data includes any recorded factual material that are used to produce the results in digital and non-digital form. This includes tabular data, code, images, audio, documents, video, maps, raw and/or processed data.

Definition of exceptions

Research data that are not required to verify the results reported in articles are not covered by this policy.

This policy does not require public sharing of quantitative or qualitative data that could identify a research participant unless participants have consented to data release. The policy also does not require public sharing of other sensitive data, such as the locations of endangered species. Alternatives to public sharing of sensitive or personal data include:

  • Deposition of research data in controlled access repositories
  • Anonymisation or deidentification of data before public sharing
  • Only sharing metadata about the research data
  • Stating the procedures for accessing your research data in your article and managing data access requests from other researchers

Embargoes

Embargoes on data sharing are permitted.

Supplementary materials

Sharing research data as supplementary information files is discouraged.

Data repositories

The preferred mechanism for sharing research data is via data repositories. Please see  https://repositoryfinder.datacite.org/​ for help finding research data repositories.

Data citation

The journal encourages authors to cite any publicly available research data in their reference list. References to datasets (data citations) must include a persistent identifier (such as a DOI). Citations of datasets, when they appear in the reference list, should include the minimum information recommended by DataCite and follow journal style.

Data licensing

The journal encourages research data to be made available under open licences that permit reuse freely. The journal does not enforce particular licenses for research data, where research data are deposited in third party repositories. The publisher of the journal does not claim copyright in research data.

Researcher/ author support

Questions about complying with this policy should be sent to rallpb@unisa.ac.za

Data availability statements

The journal requires authors to include in any articles that report results derived from research data to include a Data availability statement. The provision of a Data availability statement will be verified as a condition of publication. Data availability statements should include information on where data supporting the results reported in the article can be found including, where applicable, hyperlinks to publicly archived datasets analysed or generated during the study. Where research data are not publicly available, this must be stated in the manuscript along with any conditions for accessing the data. Data Availability statements must take one of the following forms (or a combination of more than one if required for multiple types of research data):

  • The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available in the [NAME] repository, [PERSISTENT WEB LINK TO DATASETS]
  • The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current​ study are not publicly available due [REASON WHY DATA ARE NOT PUBLIC] but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
  • The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current​ study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
  • Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were​ generated or analysed during the current study.
  • All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this​  published article [and its supplementary information files].
  • The data that support the findings of this study are available from [third party name] but restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for the current study, and so are not publicly available. Data are however available from the authors upon reasonable request and with permission of [third party name].

Preprint policy

Definition of Preprints

Preprints are versions of scholarly papers that precede formal peer review and publication in a scientific journal. They are typically shared on public repositories to facilitate early dissemination of research findings.

Submission of Preprints:

Authors are encouraged to submit their manuscripts to preprint servers prior to or simultaneously with submission to our journal. This allows for early feedback from the community and can help improve the quality of the final published paper.

Preprint Repositories

Authors may post their preprints on recognized repositories such as arXiv, bioRxiv, medRxiv, or other discipline-specific preprint servers. Authors affiliated with Unisa are encouraged to post their preprints on the Unisa Press preprint server UnisarXiv. The repository should provide a DOI or a persistent link to ensure proper citation.

Citation of Preprints

When citing preprints, authors should include the DOI or persistent link and clearly indicate that the work is a preprint. For example: “Author(s), Title, Preprint Repository, Year, DOI.”

Peer Review and Publication

Submission of a manuscript to a Unisa Press journal that has been previously posted as a preprint will not affect the peer review process. The manuscript will undergo the same rigorous peer review as any other submission. Double blind peer review cannot be ensured in the case of preprints so preprint articles will undergo single blind peer review.

Ethical Considerations

Authors must ensure that their preprints comply with ethical standards, including proper attribution of sources, avoidance of plagiarism, and adherence to guidelines for the use of human and animal subjects.

Updates and Revisions

Authors are encouraged to update their preprints with new data or corrections as needed. Significant updates should be clearly indicated in the preprint repository.

Communication with the Journal:

Authors should inform the journal at the time of submission if their manuscript has been posted as a preprint. This information should be included in the cover letter and the manuscript itself.

Impact on Journal Metrics

The journal recognizes that preprints can increase the visibility and impact of research. Citations to preprints will be considered in the context of the final published article.

Licensing and Copyright

Authors should ensure that their preprints are posted under a license that allows for reuse and distribution, such as a Creative Commons license. The journal will not consider manuscripts that have been posted under restrictive licenses that limit dissemination.

Copyright

Copyright remains with the author(s) of the article(s).

All articles published in Phronimon can be re-used under the following licence: 

 CC BY SA

 Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Language

The journal publishes in English.

Open access

Phronimon is an Open Access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of Open Access.

Articles form this journal can be made available on personal websites and institutional repositories, subject to the following conditions:

1)            Always upload the final version as published at https://unisapressjournals.co.za/index.php/Phronimon/index

2)            Acknowledge the publisher.

Cite the article as part of the metadata and include the DOI as part of the citation to the article.

Publication Frequency

Phronimon publishes one volume per year consisting of one issue in a continuous publication model.

Articles are published online as they are finalised. A DOI is immediately allocated. These articles are subsequently assigned to a volume and issue according to the journal's publication schedule. Page numbers are allocated at this stage.

Usage and impact

Statistics are generated through OJS, as well as all other platforms indexing Phronimon.

Access selected statistics at:

Sponsors

Discipline of Philosophy, Department of Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology, College of Human Sciences, UNISA

Journal History

The South African Society for Greek Philosophy and the Humanities (SASGPH) was established in 1996, with the primary aims to enhance appreciation for Greek philosophy and the Humanities, as well as the building of national and international relations. Phronimon was the accredited Journal of SASGPH. It aims at high academic quality to meet the highest standards of philosophical expertise. The journal is accessible to readers from a broad range of philosophical disciplines. Preference is given to articles relating to ancient Greek philosophy but contributions from the humanities are also accepted. Phronimon offers an international forum for interdisciplinary research and it encourages a diversity of viewpoints.