Over the past 40 years, the South African Historical Journal has become renowned and internationally regarded as a premier history journal published in South Africa, promoting significant historical scholarship on the country as well as the southern African region. The journal, which is linked to the Southern African Historical Society, has provided a high-quality medium for original thinking about South African history and has thus shaped – and continues to contribute towards defining – the historiography of the region.

The South African Historical Journal publishes a wide variety of material, encompassing issues ranging in time from those around pre-colonial communities to those pertinent to a society in transition in the early 21^st century, the practice and teaching of history and debates about heritage and the commemoration of the past. It includes ground-breaking innovative research, general historical and historiographical overviews, historical debates, interviews with historians and reflections on their work, review articles and critical reviews of important books.

The journal is peer reviewed and evaluated by the editors, editorial board and other international specialist referees. The Journal is fully accredited in South Africa, it is listed in the Thomson Reuters Arts & Humanities Citation Index and its contents are accordingly cited, annotated, indexed and/or abstracted.