ISSN 1011-7601 printed version
ISSN 2413-3027 online version

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

• Scope and Editorial Policy
• Open Access Policy
• Submissions

Research Misconduct

The JSR strives to detect and prevent any form of research misconduct e.g., in the presentation of data, arguments, graphs, or figures already published elsewhere. The journal strives to ensure that articles are not published where there are inconsistent data sets; where citations have been manipulation; or plagiarism is practiced. Should these be detected the article will not be accepted for publication. Should these be detected after publication the JSR will either retract the article or issue an errata notice (cf. the section ‘Procedures for issuing errata, corrigenda, and retractions’ on the website.

The JSR follows the guidelines for research misconduct as set out by the COPE (cf. COPE: Allegations of Misconduct; https://publicationethics.org/guidance).

Plagiarism

The JSR takes plagiarism very seriously. To prevent plagiarism all authors are required to submit a Turnitin or iThenticate report with their articles proving that the score is less than 10. Once an article has been through the review process and the author(s) submit their final draft for language editing, the article is once again submitted to Turnitin. Should the report give the article a score of 10 or more the author(s) will be required to revise the article. No article will be published with a Turnitin score of 10 or more. The JSR follows the guidelines for plagiarism as set out by COPE (https://publicationethics.org/guidance).

AI Tools and Integration

Concealing the use of AI tools is considered unethical by the JSR and violates the principles of transparency and honesty in research.

The JSR follows the guidelines set out by ASSAf and SciELO in 2025 regarding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs).

AI is technology that enables computers and machines to simulate human intelligence and problem-solving capabilities (https://www.ibm.com/topics/artificial-intelligence). LLMs are types of machine learning (ML) models that can perform a variety of natural language processing (NLP) tasks, such as generating and classifying text, answering questions in a conversational manner, and translating text from one language to another (https://www.techopedia.com/definition/34948/large-language-model-llm).

AI Authorship

The JSR does not regard AI tools as authors because they ‘do not meet the requirements for authorship as they cannot take responsibility for the submitted work’ (ASSAf guidelines on AI usage in scholarly publications; https://www.assaf.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Final-ASSAf-and-SciELO-Guide-lines-for-the-Use-of-Artificial-Intelligence-AI-Tools-and-Resources-in-Research-Communication_17-Sept-2024-.pdf). ‘As non-legal entities, AI tools cannot assert the presence or absence of conflicts of interest or manage copyright and license agreements (cf. the COPE position statement; https://publicationethics.org/guidance).

AI Integration and Usage by Authors

It is the responsibility of the authors to ensure that the work they submit for publication to the JSR is authentic original research that can be validated through the methodologies used and described in the article. Authors are responsible for the integrity of their research and must ensure that the work they submit is not plagiarized, falsified, or inaccurate.

The use of AI tools for the following does not need to be declared:

• Using AI for writing

Authors may use AI to help with translations, spelling and grammar checks, language editing, and similarity checks.

• Using AI for reference management

Authors may use AI to help them manage their references such as EndNote.

Where AI is used in any form for the below, or in other instances, authors must declare that they have used AI and explain how it was used:

• Using AI for reference gathering and analysis

Authors may use AI to enhance their research but not to replace them. AI may be used in the gathering of, summarizing of, and initial analysis of references such as e.g., Scopus AI in the gathering of references.

• Using AI for the generation of graphs and images

Authors may use AI to enhance or generate graphics, tables, graphs, or images based on their research.

• Usage of AI for data collection

Authors may use AI to collect data.

• Usage of AI for the analysis of data

Authors may use AI to analyze their data such as e.g., AIliase or Atlas TI.

• Usage of AI for the conceptualization of a research problem or research topic

Authors may use AI to help them conceptualize a research problem, research topic, or research question.

Authors are reminded to verify all information, analysis, and content generated by AI. It is the authors’ responsibility to ensure that they do not include any misinformation or false information generated by an AI application.

Declaration of AI Usage

If an AI application has been used at any stage in the research process or content generation the authors must mention this in the abstract and body of the manuscript where it is used:

In-text: (Chat GPT 4.5, 2025) or Chat GPT 4.5 (2025).

References: Here the author has to include the name, version, and manufacturer of the tool used and the date on which it was accessed, e.g.,

Chat GPT 4.5. (2025). Version January 28, 2025, Open AI. (Accessed March 15, 2025).

AI Tools and the Editor-in-Chief’s Review of Articles

The Editor-in-Chief of the JSR may use AI tools to facilitate the detection of AI-generated or modified content.

AI Tools for Peer Review

At present the JSR does not use AI tools for peer reviewing and does not allow this use by reviewers.

Ethical AI Use

The JSR strives to ensure that the use of AI in research respects the principles of privacy, consent, and fairness. AI tools may only be used in a transparent way in which the limitations of the tools are acknowledged. Concealing the use of AI tools is unethical and violates the principles of transparency and honesty in research.

Disclosure

Authors are required to disclose any use of AI in the research process or manuscript preparation to ensure transparency and allow for proper assessment by reviewers and readers.

As part of the submission process, authors are required to click off their submission’s compliance with all of the following items. Submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

All submissions must meet the following requirements:

• The author(s) must peruse all the specifications outlined in the author guidelines. They must be aware of the article processing costs which are R8,000.00 per article and are payable before the article is published.
• The submission should not be previously published, and should not be submitted to another journal for consideration (except when an explanation has been provided to the Editor-in-Chief).
• The submission file must be in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, or RTF document file format.
• All referencing follows the adapted Harvard style of the JSR. Where available, URLs and DOIs for the references must be provided.
• The text must be typed in 1.5 space; Times New Roman; 12-pitch font; employs italics rather than underlining (except with URL addresses and DOIs); while all illustrations, figures, and tables should be placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.
• The text must adhere to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.
• For empirical research, authors are required to submit an ethical clearance letter received from their institution to do the research they have undertaken for their manuscript. For authors who have not received ethical clearance from their institutions, proof of consent from research participants is required. There may be instances where empirical research has been done but ethical clearance was not required. If this is the case the authors are requested to submit a short note explaining why ethical clearance was not required for their empirical study.
• The author(s) must ensure that the article falls within the journal’s scope. The journal’s main area of interest is the phenomenological and comparative study of the diversity of religions, religious traditions, and the religious movements and formations of Southern Africa. Since we foster the equal recognition of all religions, research on the prevalence, relevance, and practicing of World Religions in both local and global contexts is also encouraged. Research contributions may focus on any of the dimensions of religion, religiously shared, or specific values, and the historical and/or current problematization and contextualization of religions or religious discourse. Articles that primarily or only focus on theology or exegetical religious text studies will not be accepted for publication.
• Author(s) must submit a Turnitin or iThenticate report with their manuscript. The JSR follows the UJ Press plagiarism policy.

For more details, please refer to https://ujonlinepress.uj.ac.za/index.php/ujp/plagiarism