Author Guidelines
The Journal of Development & Communication Studies is a quarterly journal that accepts academic research articles, talks, essays, conference papers, brief case studies, and book reviews that conform to the following specifications:
1) Full length academic research articles:
- Maximum 30 pages including references and illustrations
- 1.5 spacing
- Proper proofreading (To speed up the process of peer review, authors are advised to strictly edit their final copies personally or using a professional academic language editor, and check the same against plagiarism using such plagiarism detector software as http://turnitin.com or viper anti-plagiarism scanner downloadable for free from http://www.scanmyessay.com/).
- Verified data
- An abstract of not more than 300 words with up to five key words on separate page Carefully conducted literature review, theoretical framework, discussion, conclusions and recommendations
2) Conference papers, talks, discussion essays/papers
- Maximum 15 pages
- Abstract of not more than 300 words, with up to five key words
3) Book Reviews and Case Studies
- Maximum 5 pages
- Book summarized
- Strengths and weaknesses identified/discussed
- Alternatives/recommendations proposed
Copyright
Copyright of articles rests jointly with individual authors and the Journal of Development & Communication Studies. All submissions are subjected to online testing for plagiarism infringement. Any article found to have been plagiarized will be rejected. Authors should ensure that works cited have been appropriately acknowledged. All articles are rigorously peer-reviewed.
Review process
- Manuscript received - author informed (within 3 days/72 hours) - manuscript read and checked if the author followed guidelines. If author did not follow guidelines, the manuscript is sent back to author with advice to make recommended amendments.
- If the author followed guidelines, the manuscript is sent to at least two editors for consideration- editors’ comments and recommendation sent back to author for revision- if editors recommend rejection- manuscript is rejected and author is informed.
- If editors detect only minor problems, manuscript is edited and later sent to three reviewers. Otherwise, reviewers only work on author’s revised copy. Peer-reviewers are drawn from academic and research institutions internationally. Review is blind (author details are known by editorial office only).
- If two reviewers recommend publication, the manuscript is accepted, edited and proofread for publication (author is informed within 30 days).
- · If two reviewers reject a manuscript, the manuscript is rejected and the author is informed (within 30 days).
Payment
The Journal of Development & Communication Studies (JDCS) is available to readers at no fee. Contributing authors are expected to pay US$100. Hard copy editions are sold but featured authors receive complimentary copies.
Submission
Submit material by email attachment to editorial@devcomsjournalmw.org. Submissions received will be acknowledged within 72 hours. Authors will be informed of the outcome of the review process within 30 days.
Journal of Development and Communication Studies (JDCS) will effect the following from January 2018:
