EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
Editor-in-Chief
- Siphamandla Zondi, University of Johannesburg, RSA
Editors
- Joseph Keutcheu, University of Dschang, Cameroun
- Folashadé Soulé-Kohndou, Oxford University, UK
- Tinuade Ojo, University of Johannesburg, RSA
Book Review Editor
- Odilile Ayodele, University of Johannesburg, RSA
Editorial Assistant
- Salome Delaila, University of Johannesburg, RSA
EDITORIAL BOARD
Paulo Faria, Associação Angolana de Ciência Política, Angola | Yolande Bouka, Queen’s University, Canada |
Eduardo J Sitoe, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Mozambique | Patrice Bigombe Logo, Université de Yaoundé II, Cameroon |
Julien Bokilo, Marien Ngouabi University, Congo Republic | Dimpho Delegise, Université de Guyane, French Guyana |
Maryam Ben Salem, University of Sousse, Tunisia | Olivia Umurerwa Rutazibwa, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK |
Ezrah Aharone, University of Delaware, USA | Gilbert Maoundonodji, University of Ndjamena, Chad |
Aloysius-Michaels Nnabugwu Okolie, University of Nigeria in Nsuka, Nigeria | Joe Ndambwa, University of Zambia, Zambia |
Joseph Chunga, University of Malawi, Malawi | Rita Kiki Edozie, University of Massachusetts, USA |
Sheetal Sheena Sookrajowa, University of Mauritius, Mauritius | Okey Iheduru, Arizona State University, USA |
Shadrack Nasong’o, University of Memphis, USA | Tukumbi Lumumba-Kasongo , Wells College, USA |
Christopher Isike, University of Pretoria, RSA | Nadine Machikou, Université de Yaoundé II, Cameroon |
Boniface Dulani, University of Malawi, Malawi | Moses Khisa, North Carolina State University |
Kassahun Berhanu, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia | Andy Knight, University of Alberta, Canada |
Aims and Scope
The African Journal of Political Science is the flagship publication of the African Association of Political Science. It is an open-access and strictly peer-reviewed academic journal dedicated to the study of the political in all its dimensions and permutations in African and black societies in general. It targets both academic and non-academic readers interested in various perspectives on political questions facing Africa and the black world. It aims to contribute to growing, strengthening and diversifying the studies of political phenomena in every way desirable. It supports the Association’s objectives and will from time to time publish out of the Association’s colloquia and conferences.
Submissions
The journal publishes one issue a year in November and a special edition may be considered from time to time. Issues are available as open access. The Journal invites manuscripts all through the year, submitted online through its website. Submissions must be between 4000 and 7000 words long, prepared according to author guidelines.
Author fees
The journal subscribes to the principle that results of largely public funded research must be published without article processing charges (APCs) on contributors.
Open Access
The journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Archiving and Indexing
The articles published are archived and indexed accordingly.
Peer Review Policy
All research articles go through a double-blind peer review process. The reviewers have expertise in the areas that they review on. The decisions on publication are based on the balance of the views of reviewers. Those who are interested in being reviewers must send a note to the editor-in-chief.
Authorship
Authors are those who make a substantive contribution to a submission. The author who makes more contribution than another must appear first in the authors list in the submission, regardless of their positions or status. A student must be listed as principal author in multiple-authored publications that substantially derive from their research work.
Funding
Authors must acknowledge their sources funding under a specific heading.
Conflict of interest
Authors are required to disclose conflict of interest. Journal editors must declare conflict of interests, and recuse themselves from managing submissions where such conflict of interest is present. The conflict of interests matters relating to board members will be declared. The editorial board will serve as an appeal body in cases of disputes.
Publishing ethics
The journal commits to maintain academic integrity of submissions it publishes.
We respect the rights of our authors and act firmly in on any suspicion or evidence of plagiarism or misuse of published articles.
Editor’s Code of Conduct
The editors of this journal will:
- Maintain high quality assurance and ethical standards in submissions published in the journal;
- Ensure the integrity of the peer review process;
- Promote equal and equitable access to publishing opportunities for authors;
- Maintain cordial relations among all stakeholders including authors, reviewers, editors and the board;
- Attend expeditiously to all complaints;
- Treat all submissions fairly and justly on the merits of their content;
- Maintain and improve the journal’s reputation;
Role of editorial committee
The committee is made of the editor-in-chief, editors and editorial assistants of the journal responsible for day-to-day editorial management of the journal production. They are responsible for soliciting or receiving submissions, quality checking them, assigning reviewers, overseeing the revision of the submissions and supervising the production process. The editor-in-chief leads this committee and assigns editors submissions to work and convenes discussions, where necessary, and ratifies editorial decisions in line with the journal editorial policies. The final decision rests with the editor-in-chief.
Duties of the Board
The editorial board is an advisory and governance structure appointed by the Association in line with best practice in journal governance. It brings together scholars representing various areas of expertise within the scope of the journal’s focus. Board members serve voluntarily for a three-year term subject to renewal. The Board functions include:
- Promoting the journal in their networks;
- Providing advice related to the publication of high quality manuscripts;
- Serving as a mechanism for authors to appeal against editorial decisions.
- Receiving an annual report from the Editor-in-Chief detailing the status of operations and including such statistics and other relevant information;
- Make recommendations to the Editor-in-Chief based on the annual report;
Author Guidelines
- SUBMISSIONS
The journal publishes one issue a year in November and a special edition in between will be considered from time to time. Issues are available as open access. The African Journal of Political Science invites manuscripts all through the year, submitted through its website. Submissions can be research article or review articles or essays, all must be between 4000 and 7000 words long in Times Roman size 12 font in line with author guidelines.
Special editions are considered once a year. A proposal must outline the edition’s focus, its potential contribution to debates, the number of articles planned, confirm double-blind peer reviews and timelines. It must include the profile of guest editor(s).
- TITLE PAGE
The author’s full name, affiliation and email address centred should appear only on the title page of one of the versions of the submission. The other version without these details is called the anonymous version.
- TITLE AND HEADINGS
Article title must be in bold Times Roman size 14 font and centred. The article title and headings must only capitalize key terms in the title.
e.g. The Future is Digital Politics: the Case of Sao Tome
Headings in body text must be in bold and numbered (1,2,3) in size 12 font size. Headings must be descriptive, short and meaningful. Sub-headings must be in italics, sub-numbered correspondingly: 1.1; 1.2; 2.1, 2.2 etc.
e.g.
- Digitisation or Degradation?
1.1. Contestations over digitization
- ABSTRACTS
Below the article title and affiliations, add a short abstract not exceeding 250 words, stating the main research problem/argument, major findings, and conclusion(s). Not italicized or indented.
e.g. Digital technologies are changing almost everything about modern societies. Their impacts on economies and labour have been a subject of panicked discussed for a while. On the continent, the discussion has largely been limited to the bearing that the digital divide or digital marginalization will have on the continent’s political economy. But it is clear now that there is a whole lot of complex politics at the back of digitization, from the politics of decision-making and policy making on this to the implications of digitization on political practices and experiences. Many questions have thus emerged on this. This paper discusses the ramifications of digital tools on the process of citizen engagement with government in a small island state of Sao Tome with marked disparities in access to technologies.
Keywords: Digitalisation, Digital Politics, Africa, Sao Tome, Citizen Participation
- FONT
Submissions must be in Times Roman regular, size 12 except headlines that must be size 14.
- LANGUAGE
For spelling, please use the English version of your choice consistently.
Example of inconsistent verbs use : “The political campaigns in the island energise youth formations. ….. The challenge is how political parties can catalize this. … “
- NUMBERS
Please use one to nine in words, then 10, 11, 12 etc.; 1 million; 2 billion, 4 kilos, 7 hectares (that is, numbers in figures before units of measurement).
- DATES
Dates must appear as follows: 3 October 2021. Use 2020s instead of 20’s or 2020’s..
- ABBREVIATIONS
Use full words with abbreviations within brackets the first time and then use abbreviations. No full stops in abbreviations, e.g., BRICS, NDB, Dr, MS.
- ITALICS
Use italics only when mentioning in the body text titles of published books or names of periodicals.
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Acknowledge sources of funding or other support or permissions granted in short statement under a headline at the end of the article, just before the list of references.
- ILLUSTRATIONS
Do not use illustrations from other sources that require copyright. Rather compile your own graphs and tables. Number the bold titles of illustrations using 1, 2, 3 formats.
- FAIR USE
The author is responsible for understanding and following the principles that govern the ‘fair use’ of quotations and illustrations and for obtaining written permission to publish, where necessary. Accuracy in citations and references is also the author’s responsibility
- REFERENCING
To avoid plagiarism, give credit to your sources by referencing direct quotations or ideas.
The reference style of the journal is the APA Reference and author-date citation style. No footnotes and endnotes, but in-text citation and a list of references (used only) at the end. See the examples and guidelines in https://www.mendeley.com/guides/apa-citation-guide
- BOOK REVIEWS
A book review should inform the reader of the book’s content and standing in the field of study. It can point to the book’s limitations and weaknesses. The purpose is to introduce the book to readers briefly.
Provide full bibliographical details of the book being reviewed in the form of author names. book title; edition, full page numbers, if any illustrations, if ebook.