List of DHET-approved journals

ZA Publications Monitor

According to the 2015 Research Output Policy of the South African Department of Higher Education, publications in four categories qualify for subsidy under certain conditions. The categories are articles that are published in a list of approved journals, books, book chapters and conference proceedings by publishers deemed to meet strict criteria of peer review and good editorial practices.

On this page we present information on the JOURNALS that are currently (2026 publication year) approved for subsidy by the DHET and for submission in 2027. The list has been consolidated from previous lists and cleaned (removal of duplicates, standardisation of journal spelling variants, inclusion of journal status which indicates where journals have become inactive or been discontinued or delisted during 2025). Only articles that are publised in one of these journals during 2026, may be submitted for subsidy in 2027.

You can use the journal finder to find a specific journal to check whether it is currently on the list of approved journals for subsidy and also what its status is.

You can also download the current list of journals that are eligible for subsidy as an excel file.

As explained below, the list will be updated twice a year at the end of June and at the end of November in order to reflect any changes in the status of journals during 2026, for example where a journal has been delisted or discontinued. If you have any questions about the list or any specific journal, please send an email enquiry.

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Title variants:

    About this list

    Journal status

    Because journal lists are dynamic (journals are added, discontinued or delisted), we have included a journal STATUS FIELD in the list. When you type in the name of a journal, one of following seven results will be shown displaying the current journal status. If a journal is not eligible for subsidy, you can click on the status badge to see the reason.

    Eligible for subsidy

    The journal is currently active and articles published in this journal during 2026 are eligible for subsidy in 2027.

    Discontinued

    Journal has either stopped publishing or the journal title has changed. Articles in these journals do not qualify and hence are not eligible for subsidy.

    Inactive

    Journal temporarily stopped publishing. Articles in these journals do not qualify and hence are not eligible for subsidy.

    Not indexed

    No information is available on the indexing status of the journal that might previously have been indexed. Articles published in such journals do not qualify for subsidy.

    Delisted

    A journal is delisted when it has been removed from an index, database, or accredited list (DHET, CAWoS, Scopus, DOAJ, SciELO SA, IBSS, NSD). Delisting may occur due to failure to meet core inclusion criteria, ethical concerns, predatory practices or performance and citation issues. Articles published in such journals do not qualify for subsidy.

    Not DHET accredited

    South African journals that applied for DHET accreditation but were not recommended for accreditation do not qualify for subsidy. This category also includes journals that underwent a review process and were ultimately not recommended for accreditation.

    On hold

    In the case of some journals, concerns may have been raised about the quality of the content published. This means that these journals are being re-evaluated according to selection criteria and new content will not be indexed during the course of the re-evaluation. While the journal has been ‘tagged’ as “on hold’ it is not eligible for subsidy.

    Not eligible for article subsidy

    Some articles appear in collected works or conference proceedings which violate the DHET rule that an article is only eligible for subsidy when it is published in a bona fide journal.

    Which sources are included?

    The journals listed here include journals accredited by the DHET, as well journals that are indexed in the CAWeb of Science, Scopus, DOAJ, Scielo and NSD.

    We have developed a consolidated list that does not contain journal title duplicates and shows the standard journal name as displayed on the Journal website.

    Users of this page can look for a specific journal name, by typing in the journal name in the search field of the Journal finder. If you begin typing the journal name, a list of titles will appear below the search box. Selecting one of these will display the details for the specific journal. Clicking on "Search" will provide a broader, keyword search. You can also download the entire list if you prefer.

    How often is the list updated?

    Because the STATUS of a journal can change throughout a calendar year, CREST will update the status of each journal at the end of May and end of October each year. We will also, at that time, send a list of journals whose status have changed since the beginning of the year to all university research office.