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About HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies

This page includes information on the focus and scope of HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies as well as the policies and publication procedures. For details on how to prepare and submit a manuscript via the online manuscript submission system, please see the instructions for authors.

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Focus and scope ↑

HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies is an influential and frequently cited accredited peer reviewed, Open Access journal, published since 1942, that promotes multidisciplinary, religious, and biblical aspects of studies in the international arena.

Historic overview of HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies ↑

HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies was founded in 1943 as a result of an international endeavour involving Dutch and South African scholars. It is the oldest theological journal in South Africa. Its historical roots date back to 1942 when the Cape Town based international Dutch company HAUM/Du Buissy Publishing House became the first sponsor of the initiative taken by theologians of the University of Pretoria in co-operation with scholars in the Netherlands. At the time, the theologians were responsible for theological quality management, whilst HAUM/du Buissy Publishing House provided the administrative infrastructure. HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies’ rights were later sold to the Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa (Hervormde Kerk). The then N.H.W. Press (owned by the Netherdutch Reformed Church) printed HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies (also known as Hervormde Teologiese Studies) and the administration of the journal was handled by staff attached to the Church Synod office in Pretoria. Up until Volume 64 in 2008, four issues were published annually. Professor Doktor J. de Zwaan (Leiden), Professor Doktor H.W. Obbink (Utrecht) and Professor Doktor B. Gemser (Groningen) from the Netherlands played an influential role in the first Editorial Board together with the Dutch-born internationally recognised Old Testament scholar Professor Doktor A. van Selms. During the first four years of HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies’ existence (1943−1947/1948), academics from the University of Pretoria who served on the Editorial Board, together with Professor Van Selms and the above-mentioned Dutch scholars, were Professors J.H.J.A. Greyvenstein (New Testament Studies and Practical Theology), S.P. Engelbrecht (Church History) and A.S. Geyser (New Testament Studies). Over the years a close collaboration as far as the infrastructure and scholarly quality of HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies were concerned developed between the Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa and the Faculty of Theology at the University of Pretoria, founded in 1917. The Dutch Reformed Church (Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk) joined in 1937 and became Section B of the Faculty of Theology. In 2000, the two sections, the Dutch Reformed Church (the then Section B) and the Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa (Section A) amalgamated and formed the multi-church oriented Faculty of Theology in collaboration with the Uniting Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa. In view of the amalgamation the General Synod of the Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa decided that the newly established Reformed Theological College should be responsible for the infrastructure of HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies.

The present day

htsThe Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa is the title owner of HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies; a contractual agreement was reached between the University of Pretoria and the Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa in 2000, in terms of which the Reformed Theological College was affiliated to the Faculty of Theology. According to Clause 7.2 of this agreement, HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studiesadministration is managed by the Faculty of Theology’s Reformed Theological College (HTK). The Reformed Theological College is responsible through the Editorial Board of HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies to ensure that the criteria for accreditation of HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies by the Department of Education of the South African national government are met and upheld. Accreditation is a condition for tertiary institutions in South Africa to receive a financial subsidy from the Department of Education for published research outputs of South African academics and their registered research associates. As a co-partner in the multi-church theological faculty at the University of Pretoria, the Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa through its support of the Reformed Theological College in the Faculty of Theology and the Nederduitsch Hervormde Lecturers’ Council of the Faculty of Theology, supports academic publishing in the field of theology, more specifically through HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies as a scholarly journal. At the beginning of 2009, commencing with Volume 65 of HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies, the Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa entered into a publishing agreement with African Online Scientific Information Systems (Pty) Ltd (AOSIS). This company provides various services, including but not limited to the provision of scholarly publication services through its scholarly publishing division known as ‘AOSIS OpenJournals’.

ptsaIn 2007, consultation between the editors of the journals Practical Theology in South Africa and HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studiesbegan with the possibility of uniting in their endeavours to be one theological research portal. In 2009 these discussions ended in a formal agreement between the Society for Practical Theology in South Africa and the Editorial Board of HTS Teologiese/Theological Studies to jointly promote and ensure the sustainable publication of scholarly articles in theology. In the permanent section Practical Theology the tradition of publishing original, scholarly and peer reviewed research within Practical Theology as a theological discipline will be honoured and continued. We want to link up with the international growing consensus on what this discipline wants to contribute to theology as such and as part of the proud tradition of HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies.

Open Access ↑

Open Access refers to free and unrestricted access via the Internet to articles published in HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies. This free access has usage limitations as stipulated in the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) usage license. The license allows redistribution and reuse of all articles on the condition that HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies is appropriately credited.

Peer review policy ↑

HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies has a double-blinded peer review process. Manuscripts are initially examined by editorial staff and are sent by the Editor-in-Chief to two expert independent reviewers, either directly or by a Section Editor. The editors do not inform the reviewers of the identity of the author(s). The reviewers’ identities are not disclosed to the authors either. The reviewers’ comments as well as recommendations regarding an article’s form may be passed on to the corresponding author and may also include suggested revisions. Manuscripts that are not approved for publication will not be returned to the submitting author in any format. Please note that AOSIS OpenJournals do not retain copies of rejected articles.

The peer review process aims to ensure that all published articles:

  • present the results of primary scientific research
  • report results that have not been published elsewhere
  • are scientifically sound
  • provide new scientific knowledge where experiments, statistics and other analyses are performed to a high technical standard and are described in sufficient detail so that another researcher will be able to reproduce the experiments described
  • provide conclusions that are presented in an appropriate manner and are supported by the data
  • are presented in an intelligible and logic manner and are written in clear and unambiguous English, Afrikaans and Dutch.
  • meet all applicable research standards with regard to the ethics of experimentation and research integrity
  • adhere to appropriate reporting guidelines and community standards for data availability.

The journal publisher, AOSIS OpenJournals, is a member of the CrossCheck plagiarism detection initiative. In the event of suspected plagiarism in submitted works CrossCheck is available to the editors of HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies to detect instances of overlapping and similar text. AOSIS OpenJournals endorses and applies the standards of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), which promotes integrity in peer-reviewed research publications.

Publication frequency ↑

HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies publishes one issue per year. Individual articles are published as soon as they are ready for publication by adding them to the table of contents of the 'current' volume and issue. In this way, HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies aims to speed up the process of manuscript publication from submission to becoming available on the website. Since 2010, each second issue of HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies is dedicated to the publication of articles themed and focused on practical theology.

Special issues may be added on an ad hoc basis to the journal throughout a particular year and will form part of consecutive issues thereafter.

Authors will be able to check the progress of their manuscript via the submission system at any time by logging into the journal website’s personalised section.

Monographs and special issues that formed part of HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies through the years:

Indexing ↑

After publication in HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies, the complete text of each article is deposited immediately and permanently archived in major bibliographic databases:

Additionally, HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies uses the LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) system to create a distributed archiving system amongst participating libraries and permits those libraries to create permanent archives of the journal for purposes of preservation and restoration.

The journal is always seeking to establish a LOCKSS-compliant archive with university libraries. The URL to the LOCKSS Publisher Manifest for HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies is: http://www.hts.org.za/index.php/hts/gateway/lockss 

Please inform us if you are using our manifest as we would like to add your name to the list above.

DoHET accreditation ↑

The following lists are regarded as accredited journals by the South African Department of Higher Education and Training (DoHET):

Journals appearing on the IBSS:

Journals appearing on the three indices of Thomson Reuters products:

List of approved South African journals: Journals that do not appear in the abovementioned international indices but are published in South Africa and meet specific criteria may be included in this list.

In conclusion: HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies meets the criteria of the DoHET (see List of approved South African journals as maintained by the DoHET and Arts and Humanities Citation Index). It is therefore accredited and approved by the DoHET for its inclusion in the subsidy system for being a research publication for South Africa.



ISSN: 0259-9422 (print) | ISSN: 2072-8050 (online)Follow us on:

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