Peer Reviewers

PEER REVIEWERS
(Ref. No. Press-Peer Reviews July 2026 )
Location: Remote

HSRC Press the publishing division of the Human Sciences Research Council is a small but prolific and innovative publishing house of social science and humanities scholarship and outstanding non-fiction from and about Africa and the global south. We publish independently evaluated peer-reviewed scholarly and academic works under our HSRC Press and AISA Press imprints and trade/academic nonfiction under our Best Red imprint. We are looking to appoint a panel of freelance peer reviewers to support our publication outputs. This panel will provide high-quality peer review assessments for book manuscripts including monographs and edited collections. Peer reviewers would be required to assess proposals and complete manuscripts.

Key responsibilities:

External peer reviewers for scholarly manuscripts are tasked with providing independent expert evaluations to ensure academic rigour integrity trustworthiness originality and new contributions to the field. Their scope of work typically includes assessing scholarly quality and integrity methodological soundness relevance and offering constructive feedback for improvement on proposals and complete manuscripts.

External peer reviewers act as gatekeepers of scholarly excellence ensuring that books meet high academic standards contribute meaningfully to their fields and are refined through constructive critique before publication.

Purpose/Scope of work

Deliverables

• A written report summarising findings (Generative AI cannot be used to write the report);
• Specific comments on strengths weaknesses and areas for improvement;
• A clear recommendation for manuscripts suitability for publication.

Applications should include:

1. A cover letter of motivation detailing your suitability for the position.
2. A detailed CV with contact details of 3 referees.
3. ORCID identifier
4. Proof of qualifications.
5. Two reference letters
6. List of verifiable scholarly outputs (minimum 10)

Please register and submit your application on-line at Instructions:

• Candidates can make use of their mobile devices or any browser to register on the Neptune recruitment site as well as to make applications for available vacancies; Candidates will be prompted to upload their CVs;
• Attachments must be less than 1MB there is an on-screen option to resize.

For further information about the HSRC or the post please consult our website (). Enquiries regarding the application process can be directed to Aurelia Smith at or Ms Abongile Mkwelo at and those relating to technical knowledge for the positions (NOT applications or CVs) may be directed to Roshan Cader at

Closing date: 14 August 2026. We encourage applicants to submit prior to this date. Applicants who have not been contacted within eight weeks should assume that their application has been unsuccessful. Only applicants who are interviewed will be advised of the outcome of their applications.

The HSRC reserves the right not to make an appointment.

APPLICATIONS FROM RECRUITMENT AGENCIES WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED

Key requirements:

• Subject expertise - must have recognised academic qualifications a PhD or equivalent;
• Must have an accredited scholarly publishing record: journal articles book chapters authored a monograph or volume editor of an edited collection;
• An academic affiliation will be advantageous;
• Demonstrable research experience in the relevant social sciences and humanities subfields (e.g. sociology political science anthropology history international relations economics etc.). Please indicate your area of specialisation;
• The ability to evaluate methodological rigour and integrity across qualitative quantitative and mixed-methods studies;
• At least 5 years research experience in a research environment;
• Fluency in English with excellent written and verbal communication skills;
• Competency in software such as Microsoft Word Adobe and online submission platforms.