Editors’ Introduction: Volume 8, Issue 3

The most recent good news is that the South African Government has certified the International Journal of Rural Criminology and all the other journals in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). This means that scholars will earn "publishing points" if published in journals like IJRC, encouraging them to submit to and refer to "free quality content" in open access journals. So, to quote the now famous and often cited song title by the Nobel Prize Winner in Literature and pop/folk song writer, Bob Dylan, "the times they are a-changin".

IJRC too is "a-changin", perhaps "adjustin" is the better word, in two ways. First, on the About page are now warning statements about plagiarism and AI-generated content. Both are not acceptable. We now use Turnitin on all submissions, and the AI checker as well. Second, this is the third issue in volume 8, and it is expected there will be a fourth issue published late in 2024. That will allow us to publish IJRC with each volume corresponding to the calendar year, beginning in 2025.