About the Journal
Focus and Scope
Lexikos (Greek for "of or for words") is a journal for the lexicographical specialist. It is the only journal in Africa which is exclusively devoted to lexicography.
Articles dealing with all aspects of lexicography or the implications that research in related disciplines such as linguistics, computer and information science, etc. has for lexicography will be considered for publication. Articles dealing with terminology will be also considered, but a lexicographic perspective should be apparent. Articles that do not have a lexicographic focus will not be processed.
Articles may be written in Afrikaans, English, Dutch, German and French.
Peer Review Process
Articles and review articles are subjected to strict anonymous evaluation by independent academic peers in order to ensure the international research quality thereof.
Publication Frequency
Lexikos 34 will be published-as-you-go, or as articles are peer reviewed and typeset.
All Lexikos 34 articles will be collected into a full volume in October/November 2024 as usual.
Open Access Policy
This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.
Accreditation, Indexes and Availability
Lexikos is available online at http://lexikos.journals.ac.za/
Lexikos is available online from Sabinet, AJOL, Ebsco and Proquest
Indexes
Asian Digital Library; Arts and Humanities Citation Index®, Current Contents®/Arts & Humanities, Current Contents®/Social and Behavioral Sciences; ERIH Plus; EuroPub Index; Index Copernicus Journals Master List; Journal Citation Reports/Social Sciences Edition, Social Sciences Citation Index®, and Social Scisearch®; Linguistic Bibliography Online; Linguistics Abstracts Online; Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts; MLA International Bibliography; R.R.K. Hartmann's Bibliography of Lexicography; SciELO SA; Scopus
Digital Preservation
Lexikos. This journal is in the process of migrating from the Stellenbosch University preservation platform to the PKP PN (Preservation Network) platform.
ORCID iD
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Sponsors
Mouthpiece of Afrilex (African association for Lexicography)
Sources of Support
AFRILEX
Die Fonds Neerlandistiek
Het Jan Marais Nationale Fonds
Journal History
Lexikos (Greek for "of or for words") is a journal for the lexicographic specialist and since 1991 it is published by the Bureau of the WAT in the AFRILEX Series. AFRILEX is an acronym for "lexicography in or for Africa". The publication of Lexikos is an indirect result of a formal lexicographic discussion in Stellenbosch in 1989 between the editorial staff of the WAT and a group of prominent linguists. The Bureau of the WAT realized that there existed a great need for the exchange of lexicographical information and experience in Africa. This lead to the establishment of Lexikos, which as specialist publication could serve as an excellent medium and vehicle for lexicographic discussion.
Lexikos is the only journal in Africa that is exclusively devoted to lexicography. It contributes enormously to stimulate the lexicographical discourse not only in Africa but also in the international lexicographic community. It consists of contributions from all over the world on a variety of lexicographical aspects, theoretical as well as practical.
Although the first contributions published were only in Afrikaans and English, articles in other languages such as German, Dutch and French were also later published. At first only articles were published, but later it became necessary to add other types of contributions and categories such as reviews and publication announcements. As from Lexikos 4 the contributions were also distinguished typologically and accordingly classified under headings such as Articles, Review Articles, Reviews, Projects, Reports and Lexiconotes.
In 1994 an Advisory Board as well as an Editorial Committee of international standing was appointed. The Advisory Board primarily gives advice to the Editor, and the Editorial Committee judges contributions for Lexikos to help ensure the academic quality of the publication. As from the first volume of Lexikos two or more lexicographic specialists judged each research article. From volume 4 onwards Lexikos was accredited by the Department of Education as an income generating publication. This once again confirmed the standard of the journal.
Since 1996 Lexikos has become the mouthpiece of the African Association for Lexicography. One of the most important aims with the publication of Lexikos still remained the establishment of a communication channel for national and international lexicographic discussion, and in particular to serve lexicography in Africa, with its rich language diversity.
The first editor of Lexikos was Mr Pieter Harteveld. His contribution to the establishment and expansion of Lexikos was remarkable. The scientific standard and relevance of the research contributions was of great importance to him. Mr Harteveld was the editor of the first five volumes of this publication. After he passed away Dr D.J. van Schalkwyk acted as the editor of Lexikos 5. As from Lexikos 6 Dr J.C.M.D. du Plessis took over as editor and he remained in this position until Lexikos 20 was published. He once again acted as the editor for Lexikos 23 when the appointed editor was unavailable owing to pressure of work. During his editorship Dr Du Plessis established and strengthened the journal's position and status as scientific journal on an international level. He did his utmost to help create a true culture of scientific reporting on lexicography in Africa. He also offered guidance to new contributors by assisting them with their contributions. Since 2011 Lexikos has been edited on a rotating basis by Profs Elsabé Taljard, Danie Prinsloo and Rufus Gouws. In 2016 Dr H.S. (Steve) Ndinga-Koumba-Binza joined the editorial team after Prof. Gouws had to withdraw from the team owing to other work obligations. Although the editorial team share the joint responsibilities for each volume one member of the team is annually appointed as final editor. As of 2020/2021 the journal has been edited by a team of rotating editors, with one editor-in-chief and three associate editors. This decision was made to ease the workload on the editor-in-chief and ensure that any one of the editors could steer the ship at any given time. Prof. Taljard, Prof. Dion Nkomo and Dr Ndinga-Koumba-Binza were the first editor team to work under this new division of labour. In 2021 Mr André du Plessis (no relation to Dr Du Plessis), joined the team. The successful publications of Lexikos 31 (under editorship of Prof Taljard) and Lexikos 32 (under editorship of Prof. Nkomo) proved that this new structure could work. Mr Du Plessis was given the opportunity to lead the team of editors in 2023 and 2024. The editorial team revised the editorial structure after the addition of Prof. Michele van der Merwe and Prof. Sonja Bosch to the team. The decision was made to appoint Mr Du Plessis as editor-in-chief for an extended period to ensure a stable administrative and academic hub. The new structure will enable the editorial team to have a single coordinator and administrator, while editorial duties could be fairly shared amongst all editors. Prof. Bosch is to serve as German editor, while Prof. Van der Merwe, like Profs. Taljard and Nkomo, will be an associated editor. Dr Ndinga-Koumba-Binza can now focus solely on French submissions.
Lexikos is published annually. It is electronically available on the webpage http://lexikos.journals.ac.za/, but also made available by Sabinet, AJOL, Ebsco and Proquest.
Since 2009 Lexikos has been an indexed journal for which an Impact Factor is being calculated in the category Linguistics. In 2017 the Impact Factor of Lexikos as Linguistics journal was higher than the average among journals in humanities published outside the Western world. This shows that Lexikos has established itself as one of the leading lexicographical journals in the world.
The publication of the printed issues of Lexikos was made possible inter alia by a generous donation from the L.W. Hiemstra Trust. This trust was established by Riekie Hiemstra in memory of Ludwig Wybren (Louis) Hiemstra. In 2018 the journal became an online-only publication.