The Division for Research Development (DRD) is responsible for the submission of research outputs for subsidy purposes to the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), as well as the compilation of a research output report of the University This is done annually through dedicated coordinators who is responsible for the process of submission of publications for subsidy within their respective departments/centres/units/schools. It includes uploading of electronic copies of supporting documents on Symplectic Elements, the system used for this purpose since 2024. The closing date for submission is the second last Monday in January every year. Historic data (prior to 2024) is still available to coordinators on the Research Administrator (RA) System.
The DHET subsidises research outputs in the following categories:
- Journal articles (research articles) in accredited journals
- Peer-reviewed books/chapters in books
- Peer-reviewed published conference proceedings
Please see the DHET’s policy here for further details.
- Research Publication Submission for Subsidy
- Accredited Journals
- Symplectic Elements/Annual Collection Module (ACM)
- Electronic Research Administration (for records prior to the 2024 survey)
- Procedures and Definitions
- Communiqué from the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET)
- Department of Higher Education and Training: New Research Output Policy
- Creative Outputs and Innovations
A survey is done annually to record the research activities of the previous output year. Only research activities or achievements that are the result of original research are reported. The survey serves two purposes, the first is to measure research outputs for subsidy purposes according to the Department of Higher Education & Training's (DHET) policy while the second is to gather information for the annual research report. Find here the Notice and Internal Guidelines for submission of research outputs for subsidy as well as for reporting purposes.
Books and conference proceedings, with the purpose of disseminating original research and new developments within specific disciplines, sub-disciplines or fields of study, can be submitted for subsidy purposes. Evidence of peer review is a fundamental prerequisite and hard copies of the publications have to be provided as well. In the case of books and/or chapters in books, each hard copy of the book should be accompanied by a statement from the publishers, indicating that a process of peer review prior to publication was followed. A justification/motivation from the editor/author whereby certain aspects such as the target audience, unique contribution of the publication towards existing knowledge in the field as well as a declaration that no plagiarism was committed, are addressed, is needed. If the target market is not set out in the book, hand in a motivation clarifying the target market. Please see a summary of the requirements for the submission of books/chapters in books, here.
Research articles in accredited journals also qualify for subsidy. Correspondence to the editors, abstracts or extended abstracts, obituaries, book reviews, news articles and advertorials are excluded. In the case of international journals, requests for inclusion in the lists of accredited journals have to be directed to the relevant indices (e.g. Web of Science, Scopus, etc.). South African Journals that meet the criteria of the DHET may be proposed for inclusion and this process is administered by the DHET.
An incentive scheme by means of the Special Support Scheme (SSS) is used to encourage researchers to publish their research activities according to the official policy of the Department of Higher Education & Training for the subsidising of research publications.
Since 2018 the respective subcommittees of the research committee have decided to pay SOS funds only for DHET-approved units. The SOS funds is therefore payable into the respective S-accounts after the university had received feedback from the DHET the year after the survey. Researchers now have the option of appealing the verdict of the DHET panels. One of the conditions of the appeal is if the verdict was based on the content of the publication, and not if technical requirements t were not met. Please see the full set of guidelines for appeal, here. This document outlines the process and procedure for processing appeals for research publications that had not been approved for subsidy allocation in terms of the policy.
Click here for a complete list of accredited journals (IBSS, Web of Science Core Collection, DOAJ, Norwegian list, SciELO, Scopus and local list) as received from DHET in January 2025. The DOAJ applies only to the 2025 publications and onwards.
Important information
The following indices are regarded as accredited journals by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET):
- Science Citation Index (Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection)
- Social Sciences Citation Index(Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection)
- Arts and Humanties Citation Index (Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection)
- Emerging Sources Citation Index (Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection) (Included by DHET from 2025 survey)
- List of approved South African journals as maintained by the DHET
- The Norwegian List (only level 2)
- SciELO SA
- Scopus (Please select "Source " and Sign in with your institutional sign-on details and select the "Download Scopus Source list" )
- DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals) Only applies from the submission in the year 2022 and onwards
Journals that do not appear in the above-mentioned international indices but are seated in South Africa and meet specific criteria (see below), can be included in this local list of accredited journals.
Should you wish to submit international journals for accreditation, the journal can be submitted directly via the editor of the journal to any of the accredited indices (see the links to each of these indices below):
Journal Citation Reports® is a comprehensive and unique resource that allows you to evaluate and compare journals. Click here to visit the Journal Citation Reports® (Impact Factor) website.
Symplectic Elements is the system used for collating research publications of SU's researchers. The Annual Collection Module (ACM) of Elements will handle the submission of a subgroup of these publications to DHET for subsidy purposes. A coordinator for each department/division/centre/bureau/school, as designated departmental chairperson/head/director, will be responsible for coordinating this process and ensure that the relevant documentation is submitted for those publications that are submitted for subsidy to DHET.
Elements is designed around and centred on the individual researcher. The system consists of a central hub with various modules. Publication metadata for SU's researchers are harvested from publisher data sources (PubMed, Dimensions, Web of Science, Scopus, MLA, Crossref, ArXiv, etc and it's displayed in Elements.
Researcher profiles consisting of publications, teaching activities etc are displayed in the Discovery module whereas submissions of publications to DHET are done via the Annual Collections Module (ACM).
Click here to login on Symplectic Elements
Various guides and training material can be accessed here below.
Manuals and Training material for the submission of publication outputs for subsidy
Symplectic Elements Annual Collection Module (ACM) training videos
An electronic system, the Research Administrator (RA), has until 2024 been used for capturing the data required for the annual research outputs survey. This system will still be active for viewing by the coordinators during 2025, especially as far as the subsidy reports for DHET-acccredited publications are concerned.
The following documents contain information regarding all aspects of the annual research output survey:
Click here for the latest communiqué from the Department of Higher Education & Training (DHET) regarding e-books and so called ‘predatory’ publishers. *3 September 2014
Previous correspondence as received from the Department of Higher Education & Training regarding the identification of predatory journals and the rejection of subsidy for publication in these journals refers. DHET identified two lists of journals in their communication namely a list of predatory journals as well as a list of possible predatory journals. In both instances subsidy for 2016 publications in these journals were rejected. DHET recalled this decision (see the official correspondence in this regard) after heavy criticism from various sources, especially in the case of the the second list of possible predatory journals since no indication was given as to the criteria that were used in compiling this list.
* 6 February 2018
Please see the communique, here, for the reversal of some of the Scopus journals as predatory journals 31 August 2020
Click here for the discontinued 2022 Scopus Journal List.
The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) introduced the Policy on the Evaluation of Creative Outputs and Innovations produced by South African Public Higher Education Institutions (2017) in 2018. The following categories are included in this policy:
| Creative Outputs | Innovations: |
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Important documents
Announcement
Researchers now have the opportunity to submit their creative outputs for the period 2022 – 2024 (n-3) to the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) for subsidy purposes.
The internal closing date for submissions of these outputs is 4 April 2025.
Please complete the online form for each of your submissions: https://redcap.sun.ac.za/surveys/?s=KAT7JTJAPALYK3FA
Read the FAQ document here.
