Psychiatry Journals

South Africa is officially known as Republic of South Africa since 1961. South Africa is named as Republiek van Zuid-Afrika in Dutch and Africans replaced the name as Republiek van Suid-Afrika in 1983. It has an official name of Republic since 1994 in each of its 11 official languages.

Geographically, South Africa is located at the southern tip of Africa and it is the southernmost sovereign state in Africa. It is bounded on the south by Southern Africa extending along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans, on the north by the neighbouring nations of Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, and on the east by Mozambique and Swaziland, and encompassing the kingdom of Lesotho.

South Africa has a mixed economy and ranked as top African Country of the Future by FDi magazine based on the country's economic potential, work environment, infrastructure, business friendliness, cost- adequacy, and Foreign direct investment Strategy. South Africa does not have a thriving informal economy.

South Africa is a country that is interested in the origins, development and behaviour of humankind. In the field of Science, this island nation produced 11 Nobel laureates so far. The Society of Psychiatrists of South Africa (SPSA) is the representative body for psychiatrists which is affiliated to the South African Medical Association and psychiatry journals. The Mental Disorders Act was introduced in 1916. In South Africa, there are 24 registered public psychiatric hospitals, accommodating some 14 000 acute and long-term care patients. The National Health Plan has highlighted mental health and substance misuse priority areas for development. Likewise, Medical Research Council has recognised mental health and substance misuse as research priorities, and funding is more forthcoming. The South African Journal of Psychiatry was established in 1995, and publishes four issues per year on Psychiatry subject.