About the Journal

Journal History

Toposcope (ISSN 1011-1948 (print version)) is published annually by the Lower Albany Historical Society (LAHS) to reflect the Society's activities and the interests of its members and readership, concerning, but not limited to, the history of the Lower Albany area in the Eastern Cape. The journal, published since 1970, is produced by the Editorial Committee and is issued free of charge to members of the Lower Albany Historical Society. In 2019 the Lower Albany Historical Society celebrated its 60th year of existence. The Journal is usually 60-90 pages long and generally published in August to coincide with LAHS’s annual Morse Jones Lecture.

Journal Scope

Articles in Toposcope range from historical anecdotes from Society members, to specialized topics by scholars, with a focus on the rich and diverse history of the Albany region. Articles should be interesting and readable rather than purposefully academic. but this does not exclude extracts or summarised academic papers.

Historical Contextualisation & Disclaimer

Names of people and geographical areas and towns are used in their historical context. Furthermore, the Editorial Board acknowledges that certain words and/or phrases used in historical documents may be considered offensive. These words and/or phrases will only be used if providing a contextual understanding of the subject matter, and in no way represents the views and opinions of the Society. Where it is required to use these words and/or phrases said word and/or phrases will be quoted and the original context attribution will be indicated in a reference.

Accessibility (Subscription & Open Access)

Toposcope is distributed free of charge to all members of the Lower Albany Historical Society. Individuals and institutions who are interested in access to the latest content of the journal, but for practical reasons are not able to be members of the Society are welcome to subscribe to the journal. An embargo period of one-years is applied and all content prior to the latest issue is made openly accessible to the public.

Peer Review Process

Toposcope is a society-based journal and no form of peer-review is applied. The Editor welcomes submissions of article manuscripts, reviews and personal narratives. Submissions should be sent as Word documents via email to the editor at The Toposcope Editor and follow guidelines for submission.

Copyright and Related Compliance

In compliance with the South African Copyright Act 98 of 1978, the copyright of published articles resides with the authors. The Society retains to right to distribute articles as published within the journal. The Editorial Board, furthermore, requires authors to agree that content is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence, which provides for the following:

You are free to:

  • Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format

  • Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.

Under the following terms:

In compliance with the South African Legal Deposit Act 54 of 1997, print copies are provided relevant places of legal deposit.

Preservation

In addition to the deposits to the relevant places of legal deposit, print copies of the journal are also provided to the Kowie History Museum in Port Alfred, and the Cory Library for Humanities Research, Rhodes University Libraries in Makhanda. Digital preservation is supported through the PKP Preservation Network through its LOCKSS project.

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