Login to access subscriber-only resources.
About the Journal
Focus and Scope
The South African Yearbook of International Law (SAYIL) is an annual publication, published by Unisa Press and administered by Unisa's Department of Public, Constitutional and International Law.
SAYIL is accredited by the Department of Higher Education and Training of South Africa.
The Yearbook publishes contributions in English in any area of international law. We encourage articles and notes on current issues and those that look back on developments that took place during the year of the volume. Although we publish articles in any area of international law, the editors particularly welcome submissions that have a South African or broader African relevance.
Journal History
The South African Yearbook of International Law was established in 1975 and formerly housed in the Centre for Public Law Studies at the University of South Africa. Since 2018 the journal is housed in the Department of Public, Constitutional and International Law at the University of South Africa.
Peer Review Process
All submissions are peer-reviewed by means of the double-blind system to guarantee impartiality and a focus on quality of the submissions. All articles submitted to the journal are peer reviewed by at least two reviewers.
The final decision in the case of a dispute between reviewers lies with the editors, although in all cases an attempt is made to reach consensus between the reviewers.
Editorial Policy
Contributions that have been published in part on in whole elsewhere or sent for consideration elsewhere will not be processed.
Contributions are subject to a plagiarism check using iThenticate.
The journal will not publish submissions by the same author in consecutive volumes. Should the author still wish to submit, a one-year waiting period will apply before the article can be considered for publication.
The final decision to publish contributions resides with the editor. In case of a dispute, authors may approach the Chair of the Editorial Board.
Editors reserve the right to make changes to copy:
- according to house style,
- to ensure clean and clear copy free of grammar, spelling, punctuation, syntax and idiomatic errors,
- to produce accuracy, coherence and clarity, and
- to avoid possible liability.
The editors are committed to ethical research and publication practices as well as maintaining the integrity of the journal, and therefore follow the COPE guidelines.
Plagiarism
Manuscripts containing plagiarism will not be considered for publication in the journal. Plagiarism is defined as the use of another person'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 re-use of significant, identical or near-identical portions of one's own work without citing the original version).
SAYIL 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 archived.
Authorship and AI Tools
Unisa Press adheres to the COPE Guidelines on Authorship and AI Tools which state that AI tools cannot meet the requirements for authorship as they cannot take responsibility for the submitted work. Authors are required to acknowledge the use of AI Tools in any aspect of the generation of their article.
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 it is rejected by SAYIL or withdrawn by the author(s).
By submitting work for consideration to be published in SAYIL, 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.
Digital Preservation Policy
SAYIL uses the PKP preservation network.
Self-archiving Policy
|
Author's Pre-print: |
author can archive pre-print (ie pre-refereeing) |
|
Author's Post-print: |
author can archive post-print (ie final accepted version post-refereeing) |
|
Publisher's Version/PDF: |
author cannot archive publisher's version/ PDF |
|
General Conditions: |
|
