Research Journals in Botswana and the Region

Interested in research journals in Botswana? The national journal system is small and revolves around the University of Botswana, which is why most researchers mix local journals with regional and international ones. This guide presents Botswana journals with their publisher and coverage, indicates regional alternatives, and explains how to check a journal. It is meant for researchers in Gaborone, Botswana; Palapye, Botswana; Maun, Botswana and throughout the country. Use it to build a shortlist, then confirm each entry yourself.

Scholarly Publishing in Botswana

The University of Botswana (UB), the nation’s leading research university, also acts as its principal journal publisher by means of University of Botswana Journals. Among its titles are Mosenodi, which covers educational research and social science, and Pula: Botswana Journal of African Studies. Another long-running journal, Botswana Notes and Records from the Botswana Society, deals with history, culture and natural sciences and keeps an archive on JSTOR.

Palapye’s Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST), Gaborone’s Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources and UB’s Okavango Research Institute in Maun are all building up their research strength. Oversight of education and training providers lies with the Botswana Qualifications Authority.

As the national system is small, researchers in Botswana publish extensively in African and international journals. Which of them count is decided by the current rule of your institution.

Researchers based in Botswana can pick from many specialised venues, because the country’s strong fields (dryland agriculture, mining and energy, public health including HIV, and wildlife and wetland ecology in the Okavango Delta area) feature prominently in regional and international journals.

Research Journals Published in Botswana

Each journal below is published in Botswana by a university, society or research body that can be identified. The “reported coverage” column gives what the journal or its publisher claims; before submitting, verify any indexing in Scopus Sources or the Master Journal List. A quick check in the original database takes little time and prevents surprises.

Review date: 4 October 2026, against each journal’s site or publisher. Meant as a starting point; it neither ranks journals nor lists every one.

Online Journal Platforms and Directories to Use

The UB journal system covers Botswana journals and AJOL covers African ones, while international directories let you cross-check both.

Where Research Happens in Botswana

Research in Botswana is concentrated in Gaborone, with a university of science and technology in Palapye and a wetlands research institute in Maun.

Picking the Right Journal

Start from your own requirement instead of a list when picking a journal. Ask for written confirmation of what your university or funder accepts, draw up a shortlist of journals with recent papers similar to yours, and study their instructions for authors before any formatting. If the first journal rejects the paper, a backup option saves weeks. Note each journal’s scope statement while you shortlist.

Fees and Affordable Options

Charges at university journals in Botswana are often small or absent, whereas regional and international journals range from free to expensive APCs. Look at each journal’s official fee page and enquire about waivers. A written confirmation of any waiver avoids confusion later.

Hand over money only following a genuine acceptance, and only via official routes. To compare, JMVRA charges foreign authors $41 USD, due only after acceptance and covering up to five authors.

You will find the whole comparison method in our guide to low-cost journal publication, which works wherever you are, plus how a low-fee journal manages its costs.

Regional and Pan-African Choices

Researchers in Botswana can look beyond national journals. Respected journals are published across Africa, and a number of them are indexed internationally:

• African Journals Online (AJOL) carries peer-reviewed journals from all over the continent, many of them open access and some free for authors.
• Indexed African journals cover medicine, for example the East African Medical Journal and the Ghana Medical Journal, as well as science and engineering from Nigeria, Egypt and Morocco; our country guides to Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Egypt and Morocco give details.
• Diamond open access journals ask for no payment from readers or authors; you can filter for them in DOAJ.

Regional journals frequently reach the audience best placed to use your findings, along with reviewers who know the setting.

Checking a Journal Step by Step

• Consult the ISSN register entry and make sure the full title matches precisely.
• Make sure each board member can be found and truly belongs to the stated affiliation.
• Look for a stated type of peer review, backed by genuine reviewer reports.
• Test any claim of indexing by searching Scopus Sources or the Master Journal List yourself.
• Do not make any payment ahead of a genuine acceptance.

Checklist Before You Submit a Manuscript

1. Journal chosenScope, requirements and indexing verified
2. Template observedFormat, style of references and length
3. Similarity checkedAll sources cited, your own earlier work included
4. Ethics coveredConflicts declared; approval and consent documented
5. Author details consistentNames and affiliations in publication-ready form
6. Cover letter readyExplains why the paper suits this journal

Practical Tips for Botswana Researchers Choosing Journals

Researchers in Botswana often work on questions with regional relevance, from public health to wildlife and development. These suggestions help you position that work for both local and wider readers.

• Frame local findings for wider readers. Explain why a result from Botswana matters beyond its borders, for example for neighbouring countries with similar conditions. This broadens appeal without hiding the local origin of your data.
• Involve communities responsibly. If your study involved villages or community groups, describe how consent was obtained and how results will be shared back. Reviewers value respectful, transparent fieldwork.
• Collaborate across the region. Co-authors from neighbouring institutions can strengthen datasets, comparisons and credibility. Agree on authorship roles in writing at the beginning so that no one is surprised later.
• Preserve field data carefully. Back up field notes, survey instruments and raw records in more than one place. Reviewers may ask for clarification, and lost files are hard to recover after a long gap.
• Plan around limited connectivity. If internet access is unreliable, download journal guidelines and templates in advance and prepare files offline. This avoids missed steps during a time-limited online submission.

Show clearly why your Botswana-based work matters regionally, document community consent, and keep your data safe and well organised.

Questions Researchers Often Ask

Summary and What to Do Next

Botswana has few journals of its own, so regional and international ones are important. Decide by your requirement and audience, check every journal and have a credible fallback ready.

1. Verify in writing what publication requirement your institution sets.
2. Take journals from the table for your shortlist and read through their current articles.
3. Our guide to journals in Botswana covered by Scopus and Web of Science helps with checking indexing.
4. Follow the journal’s template when preparing your manuscript, then submit at the journal’s own web address.

References and Sources

Checked on 4 October 2026. Indexing, fees and policies can change, so check them again before submitting.

• University of Botswana Journals
• Botswana Notes and Records on JSTOR
• Botswana Qualifications Authority
• African Journals Online
• Scopus Sources
• Clarivate Master Journal List
• ISSN Portal