Systems and methods are provided for GF(q) iterative decoding. A decoder computes a plurality of R messages corresponding to a variable node of the decoder and forms decoder extrinsic information for the variable node by combining the plurality of R messages. The decoder stores the decoder extrinsic information in a memory during a first time period and retrieves the decoder extrinsic information from the memory during a second time period, the second time period occurring after the first time period. The decoder extrinsic information is provided to a soft detector.