Author Guidelines
- SUBMISSIONS
The African Journal of Political Science publishes two issues a year in April and in September and a special edition in between will 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 in two versions, one being anonymous. Research articles and essays must be between 5,000 and 7,000 words long. Commentary and debate articles must be 3,000 to 4,000 words responding to a debate or a topical issue. The journal has a dedicated space for the voices of emerging scholars/students. Emerging scholars’ essays must be 1,500 to 3,000 words long. All must be prepared according to author guidelines. We encourage the submission of book reviews of up to 1,500 words in length. Longer review articles that debate the book will also be considered at 2,000 to 4,000 words in length.
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 the 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 discussion 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 the 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. … “
- QUOTATIONS
Use quotation marks for in-paragraph quotes (1 or 2 sentences long).
e.g. Mubara (2012:4) says, "digital technologies do not lead to digital maturity automatically. Maturity comes from a stronger integration of technologies into public policies." This author agrees only n part with this view.
Indent and italicise quotes longer than this.
e.g.
For Rejoice Eve Namale (2021, no pagination) of Ibrahim Foundation, the digital divide has a major impact on school and education, saying:
In Africa, teacher training often does not include information and communications technology (ICT) skills. In addition, the restricted availability of electricity and mobile coverage hampers the use of digital devices and the development of digital literacy. Governments need to ramp up funds towards screening current teachers’ capabilities and retraining them where necessary. Teachers play a vital role in building the leaders of tomorrow, yet they are among the lowest paid public sector workers in many parts of Africa, which is largely disincentivising. There should be significant pay increases for teachers to ensure that they remain motivated and their passion is nurtured. They can then provide better learning environments for their students, helping to unlock their potential.
8. 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).
9. DATES
Dates must appear as follows: 3 October 2021. Use 2020s instead of 20’s or 2020’s.
10. 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.
11. ITALICS
Use italics only when mentioning in the body text titles of published books or names of periodicals.
12. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Acknowledge sources of funding or other support or permissions granted in the short statement under a headline at the end of the article, just before the list of references.
13. 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. Create your graphs and tables using excell or other apps. Do not use screengrabed or pcitured versions as they aare not editable.
14. 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
15. 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
16. 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 as a title in the following order: author names, book title; edition, full page numbers, if any illustrations, e-book if e-book.
