Submissions
Submission is currently disabled for this journal.
This page is designed to help you ensure your submission is ready for and fits the scope of the journal.
Before submitting you should read over the guidelines here, then register an account (or login if you have an existing account)
About
Online archive: 1985 - 2020
Afrika Focus is a multidisciplinary journal dealing with Africa. Afrika Focus is published biannually and it is subject to international peer-review. Between January 2008 - January 2021 Afrika Focus was co-published by the Africa Platform of Ghent University Association (GAP) and Afrika Brug, the organisation which had been publishing the journal for twenty years. Afrika Focus was first published in 1985 and replaced the AVRUG-bulletin which in 1978 replaced the Nieuwsbulletin van de Afrika-Vereniging van de Rijksuniversiteit Gent. The latter first appeared in 1972.
From June 2021 onwards Afrika Focus is published by Brill Publishers https://brill.com/view/journals/afoc/afoc-overview.xml. With any questions on the editorial process or submission guidelines, please contact Annelies.Verdoolaege@UGent.be.
Focus and Scope
Focus and Scope
Afrika Focus provides a multidisciplinary forum for the study of Africa. It accepts scientific contributions dealing with current trends and new developments in this field. The articles should be based on original research and should promote interdisciplinary communication, also for the benefit of education. The editorial committee decides on acceptance following international and double-blind peer-review. Afrika Focus publishes papers in two languages: English and French. Apart from papers, the journal publishes research, fieldwork and conference reports, and book reviews. Reports should be no longer than 5000 words and they should adhere to the general guidelines for authors (including abstract, key words and reference list). Reports are not peer-reviewed.
Afrika Focus does not involve article processing charges nor article submission charges.
Peer Review Process
The review process of the journal Afrika Focus takes place according to the following procedure:
1. Before submission, authors are requested to consult the journal’s guidelines for authors. Authors are encouraged to bear in mind that Afrika Focus is a multidisciplinary journal with an academically and geographically diverse audience.
2. After finalizing their paper according to these guidelines, authors submit their manuscripts by sending an email to Annelies.Verdoolaege@ugent.be
3. Authors will be sent acknowledgement of receipt of the submission.
4. The paper will be pre-reviewed by one of the editors-in-chief and within a few days this editor-in-chief decides whether a submitted paper satisfies the journal’s criteria for review. If the paper does not comply with the criteria of the journal, the author(s) will receive a message with arguments for rejection and, if possible, a helpful recommendation for submission elsewhere.
5. When the article is accepted for review, the editor-in-chief selects three peer reviewers with an international publication record, upon which these reviewers will receive the paper and a standard evaluation form (an initial deadline of 4 weeks will be set).
6. Depending on the reviewers and the paper, reviews may take between a few days and two months. The average review time of a paper is one month.
7. After one month, reviewers who have not yet sent a review will be reminded to send their review as soon as possible.
8. In case a reviewer has requested more time, the author(s) will be kept informed of the delay.
9. Reviewers decide whether a paper admitted to the review process is to be rejected, resubmitted or accepted by filling in the evaluation form. Accepted papers are commonly recommended to undergo a list of well-determined revisions. These qualify as ‘minor changes’. Resubmission applies to papers attracting the reviewers yet requiring major amendments.
10. Authors will be informed about the decision of the reviewer(s), they will be sent a copy of the review, and - if the paper is accepted - instructions for the preparation of the next draft version.
11. Papers that have to be resubmitted are being evaluated as if they were new submissions; this usually happens by the same reviewer(s). This/these reviewer/s check/s whether the required alterations have been implemented and whether the end result can be accepted.
12. Final versions of accepted papers should be sent to the journal once more, together with a filled out, printed, signed and scanned Publishing Agreement. The author(s) will receive immediately acknowledgement of receipt of the final version.
13. The review process ends with a concluding reading of the paper by one of the editors-in-chief for a final check-up; the author(s) will receive acknowledgement of receipt of the final version.
14. Papers that have been accepted are usually published in the journal issue appearing between 4 and 6 months after acceptance. This means that there is a waiting list of several months before papers/issues are being sent to the publisher.
15. Each author receives a PDF of the final version of the article.
16. Depending on the speed of the review and of the revision by the authors, as well as on the number of papers on the waiting list, total time between submission and publication of the papers may range between 6 and 12 months.
Publication Frequency
Afrika Focus is publiced twice a year - one issue in June and one in December.
In addition, extra special online issues can be added to these two regular issues.
Open Access Policy
Afrika Focus is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author.
Copyright Notice for authors
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:· Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License (
) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.· Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
Submission Checklist
(1) Languages. Afrika Focus only accepts articles in French and in English. The language should be correct with regard to style, vocabulary and spelling. Book reviews have to be written in the language of the book.
(2) Cover page. Each article opens with a cover page with the following information: (a) the name, affiliation(s), address and electronic address of the author(s), (b) an abstract of no more than 150 words, in French and in English; this abstract has to be structured and needs to contain the following items: Introduction, Methodology, Results, Discussion, Conclusion (c) a maximum of five key words in the language of the article, as well as in English, and (d) possibly a word of thanks (in print these words of thanks will be put at the end of the article, after the text and before the references).
(3) Layout. The text should be laid out as follows: (a) double-spaced with font 12 throughout, including the citations, bibliographical references, titles and captions, (b) margins of 2.5 cm. on top, at the bottom, left and right. The main text should be no longer than 30 pages (double-spaced), except for special arrangements with the chief or guest editors. Avoid splitting words at the end of the line. Each new paragraph should be clearly indicated, as should the titles. Titles should be ordered without numbering, with a maximum of two levels.
(4) Quotations. Quotations, expressions in Latin or in any other foreign language, etc... should be marked by italics.
(5) Footnotes. Footnotes should be kept to a minimum. Footnotes should not be used to refer to secondary literature. Secondary sources need to be referred to in the text and they have to be listed in a reference list at the end of the article. Authors should make sure that a footnote does not give redundant information. Footnotes should be numbered consecutively and typed at the end of the text.
(6) Tables. Tables should be numbered separately and carry clear captions. Arrangements will be made with the publisher regarding the size and layout of the tables. These arrangements are binding.
(7) Figures. Figures should be submitted electronically and separate from the text. The format can be either TIFF, with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi, a high-resolution JPEG, or a PDF with printing quality. Afrika Focus does not accept figures in GIF-, MS Word- or MS Excel-format. All figures (drawings, graphs, pictures or maps) should be numbered consecutively. The reader should be able to clearly interpret graphs printed in black-and-white. Each figure should have a brief and clear legend. All aspects of the figures, including letters, should be large enough to still be legible when reduced in size.
(8) References. Afrika Focus largely follows the APA reference system (http://www.apastyle.org/) with regard to references cited in the text and the reference section at the end of the article.
(9) References in the text. References in the text should read:
a) name of the author in lower-case, followed by a comma and the year of publication, possibly followed by a colon and the page reference (Janssens, 1975: 5-15)
b) if there are two authors (Janssens & Peterson, 1975: 5-15)
c) if there are more than two authors (Janssens et al., 1975: 5-15).
(10) Reference list. All text references should be listed at the end of the article, in alphabetical order of the authors and, for the same author (or group of authors), in chronological order.
The bibliographical references should read as follows:
- In case of an article from a journal:
Last name of the author, First name (date). Title of the article. Title of the journal, Volume (number): Pages.
- In case of an article from a book:
Last name of the author, First name (date). Title of the article. In A. Editor (ed.), Title of the book, pp. x-x. Place of publication: Publisher.
- In case of a book:
Last name of the author, First name (date). Title of the book. Place of publication: Publisher, Pages.
- In case of proceedings (conference, symposium, etc...):
Last name of the author, First name (date). Title of the article. In: Title of the proceedings, pp. x-x. Place, Date.
(11) Offprints. Each author will receive a final PDF of his/her article.
(12) Suggesting reviewers. Authors can submit a list of up to 6 persons (connected to research institutions) eligible to review their article. The editors are not obliged to comply with these suggestions, but they will respect requests regarding the exclusion of certain reviewers.
(13) Submission. The manuscript should be submitted digitally to the editorial secretariat, as a Word document attached to an email. The author will receive confirmation of the receipt of the manuscript.
EDITORIAL OFFICE AFRIKA FOCUS
Dr. Annelies Verdoolaege
Coordinator Africa Platform Ghent University Association
Editor-in-chief Afrika Focus
Onderbergen 1 - B-9000 Ghent
+32 9 264 83 73
+32 486 65 40 46
Annelies.Verdoolaege@UGent.be
Peer Review
This journal operates a open/single anonymous/double anonymous, peer review policy.Licences
Afrika Focus allows the following licences for submission:
- Copyright
© the author(s). All rights reserved. - CC BY 4.0
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits. - CC BY-ND 4.0
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. NoDerivatives — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material. No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits. - CC BY-NC 4.0
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes. No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits. - CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes. NoDerivatives — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material. No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits. - CC BY-SA 4.0
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original. No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
Publication Fees
If this paper is accepted for publication, you will be asked to pay an Article Publication Fee to cover publications costs.Publication Cycle
This journal published continuously all year round/publishes in issues every x months.Sections
Public Submissions
Peer Reviewed
Indexed
Editorial
Reports - Rapports
Theses -Doctorates
Visual Essay
Articles
Reviews - Comptes Rendus