The African Studies Review aims to feature the best disciplinary and interdisciplinary work on Africa, to publish disciplinary work that is contextualized in and/or draws connections to other disciplines, and to showcase work that is readable "across the disciplines" that contribute to African Studies. Authors should keep in mind that peer-reviewers from cognate disciplines or interdisciplinary backgrounds are likely to be among those asked to assess the originality, significance, rigor, and accessibility of their work. 

What is interdisciplinary work? It is work that draws knowledge, methods, perspectives, concepts, or theory from more than one discipline. Interdisciplinary work may combine knowledge across the academic disciplines, examine common ground or tensions between the disciplines, or deal with problems of concern across disciplines.

The goal of the African Studies Review is to produce new knowledge informed by self-critical interaction among Africanists about what we study, our methods, and our conclusions. Investigations of theoretical issues within and among the disciplines are also welcome.

Part 1: General Guidelines for Manuscripts

The African Studies Review (ASR) is the flagship scholarly journal of the African Studies Association (USA). The ASR publishes the highest quality African studies scholarship in all academic disciplines. The ASR’s rigorous interdisciplinary peer review seeks to contribute to the development of scholarly conversations of interest to the diverse audience of the Association’s membership and to the growth of African studies in North America, on the African continent, and in a global comparative context.

All manuscripts should be submitted through the ScholarOne site for the African Studies Review. Prior to submitting the manuscript, the author should ensure that the manuscript complies with the following guidelines:

1. 1) Length: a manuscript should be between 8,000 and 10,000 words (INCLUDING ALL NOTES/REFERENCES). Manuscripts that are slightly over or under these guidelines may be considered, but the editors may require that the manuscripts be edited to bring them into this range in order to be published.

1. 2) All manuscripts are subjected to double-masked redacted anonymous peer-review.  The manuscript itself may not contain the author(s)’s name or affiliation, anywhere in the text, notes, or references. To assist with this process the key items that need to be observed are as follows:

• Use the third person to refer to work the Author(s) has/have previously undertaken, e.g. replace any phrases like “as we have shown before” with “… has been shown before [Anonymous, 2007]”.
• Make sure figures do not contain any affiliation related identifier
• Do not eliminate essential self-references or other references but limit self-references only to papers that are relevant for those reviewing the submitted paper and cited anonymously.
• Cite papers published by the Author in the text as follows: ‘[Anonymous, 2007]’.
• For masking in the reference list: ‘[Anonymous 2007] Details omitted for double-masked redacted anonymous reviewing.’
• Remove references to funding sources
• Do not include acknowledgements
• Remove any identifying information, including author names, from file names and ensure document properties are also redacted entirely and anonymized. 

Manuscripts that do not meet all these criteria will be returned to the author without review.

1. 3) An English-language 100 word abstract concisely describing the topic of the manuscript and its scholarly significance must accompany all submissions. Authors are encouraged to also submit an abstract in French and/or Portuguese.

1. 4) Sole Source: any article submitted must not have been published elsewhere, in any language, and it may not be under simultaneous consideration at any other journal. If you have any questions about this requirement, please contact one of the editors directly via email before submitting the manuscript.

1. 5) The African Studies Review is a journal of the African Studies Association, and the Editors prioritize submissions that appeal to a diverse and interdisciplinary African studies audience. One way to become familiar with the language and framing of interdisciplinary African studies is to read multiple articles from different issues of the ASR. 

Specific style and formatting guidelines for manuscripts appear in Part 4, below.

Part 2: Proposing a Forum for the African Studies Review

As part of the ASR’s mission to publish the best new scholarship in the social sciences, arts, and humanities and engage our multi-disciplinary audience of African studies scholars and students, the African Studies Review periodically publishes clusters of three to five articles together as a forum. The publication of a forum as part of a regular issue of the journal allows our readers to explore a topic in greater depth and from multiple disciplinary, regional, and/or (trans)national perspectives. Because of the expansive disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and continent-wide remit, the ASR does NOT accept proposals for special issues.

A forum of three to five articles may be accompanied by either an introductory review essay (of 7,000 words) or a brief (3,000-word) introductory foreword by the forum sub-editor(s). If the introduction is proposed as a scholarly article, it will be sent out for peer review and must be submitted at the same time as the other articles. Alternatively, if it is a shorter foreword, it may not be peer-reviewed, and may be submitted via ScholarOne after all of the revised articles have been submitted and the editors have made final decisions about publication. The number of contributions is capped at 5 plus a short 2,000 to 3,000-word introductory foreword, or 4 plus a comprehensive review essay. Alternative frameworks may be entertained, but may not exceed a total of 50,000-60,000 words including all notes and bibliography.

All forum proposals will be assessed by the editors using various rubrics, but attention will be paid to the diversity of backgrounds and origins of contributors. Sub-editors proposing forums are strongly encouraged to ensure African and/or Africa-based authorship is a central element to any proposal. Forums excluding African authorship will NOT be considered.

The ASR is eager to work with sub-editors to produce compelling forums, and may entertain adjustments to requirements if a compelling rationale is offered. Forums, however, should not be viewed as a substitute for special issues or edited anthologies.

If you would like to propose a forum with the role of “sub-editor,” follow these steps:

1. PRELIMINARY RESEARCH: Thoroughly read three or four recent forums in the African Studies Review. Reflect on what works well and what does not. Consider how your proposed contributions speak to one another. Reflect on what advice you might give potential contributors to your forum.

2. EXPLORATORY PROPOSAL: Prepare a Word or PDF document consisting of a forum abstract of 300-500 words, along with a list all authors, affiliations, and titles. Please note, all listed authors must have consented to be included and committed verbally or in writing with the forum sub-editor.

3. SUBMISSION TO EIC: Email the Editor-in-Chief (Cajetan Iheka, [email protected]) and explain what you have in mind as a topic and provide the document listed above. This Exploratory Proposal may be shared with and considered by the editors. Within approximately one month, you will receive an initial decision of accept or decline.

4. FULL PROPOSAL SUBMISSION: Upon receipt of a positive reply, please prepare a complete formal proposal as “sub-editor” for consideration by the entire editorial team and members of the Editorial Review Board, as appropriate. In drafting your forum proposal, begin each subsection on a new page, and provide the following in one single document as Word or PDF file:

• Forum Title and Abstract: forum title and forum abstract of 500 words that indicates the common thread or thematic focus that unites all of the proposed articles, and the appeal of the topic to the ASR’s cross-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary readership, along with forum sub-editor(s)’ name, academic affiliation, and complete contact details;
• Contributors: Complete details of the individual contributing authors’ names, titles, contact information and article titles, accompanied by 100-word English abstracts (and 120-word French or Portuguese if possible), a list of all images, maps, and video or audio files, and statement about the current status of each individual contribution (including any previous rounds of revision);
• Compliance: A statement of compliance that the entire forum consists of original, previously unpublished work, not under consideration elsewhere, and that all submissions conform entirely to the manuscript submission requirements on the journal website;
• Publicity: an agreement that you will draft a blog-post of 700-1000 words accompanied by appropriate images no later than four months prior to publication, as part of a social media outreach and publicity strategy. In your complete strategy detail, outline how, when, and where you will promote your forum, and include deadlines (if the proposal is accepted, this will be further developed with Cambridge University Press); and,
• Sub-Editor(s): a description of the precise role of the proposed forum’s sub-editor(s) vis-à-vis coordination of submissions, reading, revision, feedback, and other editorial work, and all relationships with contributors, and competing interest statements.

5. DECISION: Editors will evaluate complete proposals and provide a decision within approximately one month, or as capacity permits, in consultation with the Editorial Review Board, as necessary. Editorial decisions are based on an assessment of the relevance of the topic/theme for the ASR readership, the diversity of the contributors, and current production constraints.

6. COMPLETE PROPOSAL SUBMISSION: If the proposal is accepted for review, the sub-editor(s) coordinate the submission of all submissions with respective authors, but authors must submit articles individually via ScholarOne. All articles must be submitted simultaneously, meaning within a one-week period. The sub-editor is responsible for ensuring each individual manuscript conforms to ASR requirements, outlined on the webpage.

7. MANUSCRIPT EVALUATION: Each manuscript will be evaluated independently by the editors to determine its suitability for the ASR. Decisions regarding whether to send individual articles out for double-masked redacted anonymous peer review rest with the editors. Sub-editors may propose names for potential peer reviewers, but reviewer selection is exclusively the remit of editors. Decisions about manuscripts generally require three reviews. Reviews are shared with authors and sub-editors. Decisions regarding individual manuscripts (accept, revise & resubmit, or reject) rest with the editors. Revised manuscripts will be evaluated by the editors and, may be sent for further review, accepted, or rejected. Accepted manuscripts may be subject to additional editing and revision and in-house copy-editing.

8. DEADLINES AND PRODUCTION: Deadlines for submission of revised manuscripts are generally sixty days from the date of decision letters. Tentative volume placement publication dates are provisional only. Please note that publication dates can shift as a result of a number of external factors as well as factors relating to the particular forum itself.

Part 3: Neglected Voices in African Studies Series

ASR invites brief proposals (500 words) for a new series, Neglected Voices in African Studies. With this initiative, the journal seeks to provide a space to highlight important, neglected or understudied works by African and African diasporic thinkers whose contributions have broadened the horizons of their respective fields. Many such scholars worked on the continent in the mid to late 20th century, where they developed theories and ideas drawn from African epistemes and experiences. Nonetheless, their work has not been adequately examined or received the attention it merits.  Now is the time to recuperate these important voices by bringing together articles and forums to highlight these scholars’ contributions to African studies. We aim to generate renewed attention to the epistemological richness of African scholarship while also contributing to the urgent, ongoing decolonizing efforts in academic scholarship.

Potential contributors can propose a standalone article or a forum (2-3 articles) examining the contribution and significance of the proposed thinker’s scholarship and its continuing relevance for African studies. Articles should be 7000-10000 words in length (including notes and bibliography) and will be subject to the journal’s peer review process.

PROCESS: Submit a 500-word proposal to [email protected]. The proposal should explain the rationale for studying the identified scholar/thinker and offer a timeline for completing the essay(s). If proposing a forum, include the names of contributors and brief abstracts of their essays. The proposal will be reviewed by the editorial collective and if approved, the author(s) will be invited to write and submit the manuscript for review following the journal’s guidelines. Accepted essays will appear in the journal at the completion of the production process.

Part 4: Book and Film Reviews

All book reviews and film reviews are solicited by the Review Editors.

Guidelines for Single/Double Book Reviews (for Book Review Essays — see Supplement below)

We have limited space for reviews in the journal: reviews should be between 700 to 900 words.

Please include all bibliographical information at the head of the review: Author. Title. City: Publisher, date. Number of Pages. (If present) Maps. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Price. Cloth. (and/or) Paper. Price (or "No Price Reported")

Here is a sample:

Chris Abotchie. Social Control in Traditional Southern Eweland of Ghana. Relevance for Modern Crime Prevention. Legon: Ghana Universities Press, 1997. Distributed by African Books Collective Ltd., Unit 13 Kings Meadow, Ferry Hinksey Rd., Oxford OX2 0DP. vi + 154 pp. Photographs. Bibliography. Index. $18.00. Paper.

At the end of the review, please note your name, your institution (if affiliated) and city, and your email address.

Format Requirements:

Reviews should be double-spaced, aligned left, with all margins at least 1 inch (2.5cm) and should be submitted as an MS Word Document.

From 2017, all book reviews will be commissioned by the Book Review Editors and an invitation will be sent via ScholarOne, a web-based digital portal for scholarly publication management. All reviewers will need a ScholarOne account. Final reviews may only be uploaded along with the copyright permission. Reviews not accompanied by the copyright permission will not move into production.

Include page references for all quotations. In general, for production reasons we ask you to avoid footnotes or endnotes and references to other sources in your book review. If, however, citation of a source is necessary, please cite the author and title of the source in the text of the review, and include the publisher and date of publication in parentheses. e.g., scholars champion other data sources (Milanovic, Worlds Apart [Princeton, 2005]).

*****

For a review essay, citation of references should follow the ASR Style Guide, available at /journals/african-studies-review/information/style-guide

Review essays may include occasional notes, but please be parsimonious; in such cases do not use footnote programs but type notes in at the end manually.

The Copyright Release form to return with your review, which cannot be published without the release, is found here. Please don't be afraid to make reviews lively and provocative: African Studies need not be a "dismal science"! ASR encourages engaged writers and readers. Many thanks for taking the time for this important service; the ASR and the profession generally are in your debt. We all rely on thoughtful and informed reviews to keep up with current scholarship.

Book Review Editors

Dawne Curry

Christopher Day

EC Ejiogu

Bruno Ferraz

Tamba M'bayo

Kara Moskowitz

Mickie Mwanzia

Aïssatou Mbodj-Pouye

Paul Ocobock

James Yeku

rev. August 2023

ASR Reviewer Guidelines — Review Essay Supplement

THE SUDANS IN THE 21^st CENTURY (from 55:1 April 2012; 205-210)

M.W. Daly Poughkeepsie, NY [email protected]

Joseph O. Abulemoi. The Fragility of Sudan: A Study of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. London: Janus, 2011. xxvi + 340 pp. Acknowledgments. Abstract. Maps. Bibliography. Apendixes. £16.95. Paper.

J. Millar Burr and Robert O. Collins. Sudan in Turmoil: Hasan al-Turabi and the Islamist State. Princeton: Markus Wiener, 2010. vxiii + 340 pp. Map. Abbreviations. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $89.95. Cloth. $28.95. Paper.

Elke Grawert, ed. After the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Sudan. Woodbridge, Suffolk and Rochester, New York: James Currey, 2010. xvi + 293 pp. Tables. Figures. Maps. Editor's Preface. Notes on Contributors. Bibliography. Index. $70.00. Cloth.

Many recent books on Sudanese history and politics have fallen into two broad categories: analyses of the Sudan's problems (what may be called Failed State Studies) and, more specifically, accounts of the civil war . . . .

[as needed]

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

REFERENCES

NOTES

Other examples:

Barry Riddell, "Working to Survive; Africans Coping and Organizing in Crumbling Economies" (54:3 December 2011; 175-177)

Sandra E. Greene, "The Slave Trade and Abolition Revisited" (54:2 September 2011; 195-99)

Guidelines for Film Reviews and Film Review Essays

The African Studies Review (ASR) commissions film reviews for publication in the journal. Expressions of interest can be sent to: [email protected]

We have limited space in the journal for reviews; please stay within the range of 700 to 900 words. In your review, describe what is significant about the film with respect to style, themes, production history, etc. and assess the film’s importance within African and/or global film and media genres and histories. Reviews should be accessible and lively and accessible; we understand reviews to be different from scholarly articles.

Many thanks for taking the time for this important service; the ASR and the profession more generally are in your debt.

Format Requirements:

Film Reviews

Reviews should be double-spaced, aligned left, with all margins at least 1 inch (2.5cm). Please submit your review using the link you received from the journal’s Managing Editor.

In general, we ask you to avoid footnotes or endnotes and references to other sources in your film review. If, however, citation of a source is necessary, please cite the author and title of the source in the text of the review, and include the publisher and date of publication in parentheses. e.g., scholars champion other data sources (Milanovic, Worlds Apart [Princeton, 2005]).

Please include all bibliographical information at the head of the review: Director. Title. Date. Length, language, country, distributor. Please include price for institutional and/or home DVD purchase and VOD purchase and/or rental and/or streaming service, where available. At the end of the review, write your name, your institution (if affiliated) and city, and your email address.

Sample reviews:

Babatunde Onikoyi and Sunday Ayodabo. Akinwumi Isola and the Rest of Us. 2017.

 Suzanne Gauch, In Mansourah, You Separated Us. 2019.

Film Review Essays:

Review essays should address two or more films, a television or web series, a film festival, etc. Please stay within the range of 1,500 to 3,000 words.

Review essays, like individual film reviews, are distinct from scholarly articles, and we ask that you avoid or minimize footnotes or endnotes and references to other sources. If citation of a source is necessary, please follow the ASR Style Guide, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/african-studies-review/information/style-guide.

Sample Review Essays:

Connor Ryan, “Diversity within Yoruba-Language Video Films: Olu Olowogemo's Bosum Omo Yankee (2011), Funke Akindele and Abbey Lanre's Omo Getto (2011), and Tunde Kelani's Ma'ami (2011).”

Sheila Petty, “Mostra de Cinemas Africanos 2021.”

 

Part 5: Requirements for the Formatting of Manuscripts Submitted to the ASR

All submissions are made via ScholarOne. Authors must answer all questions before final submission is accepted. Submissions that do not conform to all style and format requirements, stipulated below, will be returned by the Managing Editor. Please consult any recent issue of ASR for examples of correct style.

The manuscripts should be prepared as an MS WORD document (.docx). Manuscript text should be single-spaced throughout.

Please include the following sections in the following order:

• MS title (in boldface). Please note that for the sake of search-engine visibility, it is preferable to place the main clause of the title first, with any subtitle (e.g., the “poetic” or evocative phrase) following, rather than preceding, a colon.
• A short bio (50 words maximum) for each author, including institutional affiliation, e-mail address, and other relevant information (e.g., recent publications, ongoing research interests, etc.)
• A short abstract (100 words) that summarizes the essential points of the paper (it is not meant to be an introduction or a mere list of topics). This should 'stand alone' and should not use the words 'this article' or similar.
• Key Words (a short list, 5-10 words or short phrases)
• Text (please do not number the pages or include any headers or footers)
• References (please note that this is essentially a works cited section; it should contain only references to works that have been cited in the text)
• Notes
• Tables or figures (each on a separate page). Please make sure that all such graphic elements are referred to parenthetically in the text (e.g., “see table 1”). Any images should be uploaded in either PNG, TIFF or EPS format.
• Acknowledgements (if desired)

Textual Elements

PARAGRAPHS The first sentence of the article (or the first sentence after a subheading) is placed flush left. All other paragraphs are indented (you can use the .5 setting of the paragraph indentation setting in MS WORD). Do not leave a blank line between paragraphs. Text should be left-justified throughout except for block quotations, which are indented. Insert only one space between sentences. Use the New Times Roman 12 font.

SPELLING The primary spelling authority for the ASR is Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary ; the spell check function of MS WORD (set for U.S. English) will also suffice. In general, please use U.S. rather than U.K. spelling, except for direct quotations. When abbreviations are used, they carry periods (i.e., e.g.) except for the most familiar acronyms (such as UNESCO). Abbreviations for phrases such as “such as” or “for example” are acceptable only within parentheses; if they appear in the sentence itself, they should be written out. For state names, ASR prefers the conventional abbreviation rather than the postal code (Mass., not MA). All names and titles must be spelled out the first time they are introduced in the text, with the acronym placed in parentheses: for example, African Studies Association (ASA).

TEXTUAL EMPHASIS The only forms of textual emphasis used in ASR production are italics and bold (for section headings). Please do not format any text by underlining. Please note, however, that italics for emphasis within a sentence should be used sparingly, and mostly for the sake of disambiguating the meaning.

ITALICS Words in languages other than English are italicized at the first occurrence only; use appropriate orthography, including diacritical marks and accents. Subsequent occurrences of these words should not be italicized. Please note that italics are not needed for non-English names of organizations. Titles of published works (books, newspapers, journals) and of films are italicized. Foreign words and phrases in common usage (and found in an English dictionary) should not be in italics.

BOLDING is only used in the following contexts:

• The title of the article
• The word Abstract that precedes the abstract text
• Section and subsection headings

HEADINGS If you wish to divide your article into sections, section headings may be used. Please do so sparingly, however—normally, only first-level headings (Head 1s) are needed. Head 1s should be placed flush left and in boldface. If Head 2s seem necessary, they should be formatted in boldface and italics. Do not use numbers as part of the section headings.

NUMBERS Numbers from one to one hundred are spelled out in the text, unless part of an enumeration that contains a number larger than one hundred (“67 infants, 114 children, and 50 adults”), in an arithmetical expression (“a frequency of 1 in 18”), or in a vote (“the bill passed, 76–69). Numbers from 101 upward are written as numerals, except for round numbers: three hundred, fifteen hundred, six thousand. Percentages are expressed in figures, with the word spelled out (98 percent). In reference to parts of books, numerals are not spelled out (“chapter 6,” “page 5”). Century designations are spelled out: “seventeenth century,” “nineteenth-century labor practices.” A decade is referred to as “the 1960s” or “the sixties” (not “the 1960's”). When inclusive pages are cited, digits are elided in the following manner: pages 100–103, 103-4 (not 103–04), 174–76. A span of years cited within a single century should appear as “1978–79” (not “1978–1979”). Please note that inclusive numbers or a span of numbers in a date (June 6–8) are separated by a one-en dash, not a hyphen. Dates should be written as June 14, 1980 (not 14 June 1980 or June 14th, 1980). Ordinal numbers, where necessary, should not be written in superscript (14th, not 14th; 2nd, not 2nd). Hours of the day are written as, e.g., 2:00 a.m., 6:00 p.m. Currencies are written with international currency codes with no space between code and amount as, e.g. USD200, GHS50, ZAR100 (not $200, or USD 200).

PUNCTUATION Use American-style punctuation: double quotation marks (but single quotation marks for quotes within quotes), periods and commas inside quotation marks, colons and semi-colons outside quotation marks. ASRuses the serial comma (“There were three children, thirteen adults, and six pets.”) A parenthetic dash should appear as a one-em dash with no space before or after the dash.

QUOTATIONS Direct quotations exceeding four manuscript lines of type should be set off from the text by indenting the entire quotation one stop from the left (i.e., .5 inches). No further indentation is necessary for the first quoted paragraph; the first line of subsequent paragraphs in the same block quote should have an additional paragraph indent. Any clarifying material added by the author within the quoted portion should be enclosed in square brackets. (However, minor syntactical changes do not require brackets around a single letter, as with an initial capitalization.) If the source of the citation is not clear from the text immediately preceding the quotation, it should be provided in parentheses at the end of the block quote, after the period. Omissions in a quotation are indicated by an ellipsis: three periods (each separated by a space) where one or more words have been omitted. If the omission occurs at the end of a sentence, an initial period after the last word precedes the ellipsis.

CITATIONS IN TEXT Parenthetic citations should be used in the text sparingly, and mostly for the sake of identifying the source of a quotation. They may also be used to point readers to important sources on a certain topic (e.g.: “see Smith 1996”). Please note that in-text citations are not needed for purely factual material (although important sources on a particular topic can be cited with a “see” note, as above, or explained in the body of an endnote). Please use self-citations (i.e., an author’s citation to him- or herself) sparingly; citations to the author’s previous work can also be explained in an endnote. Parenthetic citations should contain the name of the author and the date (no comma is used), and the page number of the quotation (please note the ASR does not use ibid):

(Smith 1996:132); or Smith (1996:132) if the citation is included as part of a sentence in the text.

(Bascom & Herskovits 1970); or Bascom and Herskovits (1970) in the body of the text. (Please note the use of the ampersand [&] in the former case.

For three or more authors use the abbreviation “et al. (Greene et al. 1991) or Greene et al. (1991)

Citations to several different authors (e.g., as important sources for the subject matter of the article) should be separated by semi-colons. Please note, however, that very long strings of parenthetic citations tend to be unpleasing cosmetically; in many cases, they should be moved to the endnotes section.

(Jones 1991; Smith 1982; Wilson 1986); or Smith (1982), Jones (1991), and Wilson (1986)

Citations to several references by the same author are separated by commas.

(Green 1985, 1990, 1996) or Green (1985, 1990, 1996)

If no author is specified, cite the issuing group or the publisher of the report.

(United Nations 1993), (Committee on Ethics 1991)

Interviews and personal communications should be cited in the text but not in the References section. Include the location andthe date of the interview or conversation.

Jane Doe (interview, Nairobi, August 21, 1998).

REFERENCES The References section is essentially a “works cited” section. Except for personal communications (which are only cited in the text proper), em###ll references cited in text must appear here. However, do not include any references that do not appear as citations in the text. Most Reference sections list only books and articles. In some cases (especially for manuscripts that contain a great deal of ethnographic data), it is useful to provide a list of quoted interviewees, along with relevant identifying information. Manuscripts that cite archival data also will need to include a separate subsection for archival references. In such cases, the copy editor will communicate with the author to request specific modifications to the usual References section.

Alphabetize the reference list by author’s last name. Two or more works by the same author or authors should be listed chronologically; two or more by the same author or authors in the same year should be alphabetized by the first significant word in the title and differentiated by lowercase letters following the date (e.g., 1977a, 1977b).

The following are examples of references. Please note the hanging indent form. Also note that inclusive pages (e.g., 1–35) are separated by an en-dash rather than a hyphen.

1. Book, single author.

Ainsworth, Mary D. S. 1967. Infancy in Uganda. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Note. Full first name(s) of author(s) should be included if possible. If a publisher has offices in two cities, only the first city named in the book should be included.

2. Book, multiple authors.

Hammond, Dorothy, and Alta Jablow. 1992. The Africa That Never Was: Four Centuries of British Writing About

Africa. 2nd edition Prospect Heights, Ill.: Waveland Press.

Note. Place only the first author’s name in reverse order. For name of publisher, do not include "and Company," “Inc.,” “Publishers,” “Publishing Company,” and so forth. If the city is not well known, include state name or country with place of publication unless the location is clear from the name of the publisher (e.g., a state university press). “Cambridge” should be differentiated as “Cambridge, Mass” or “Cambridge, U.K.”

3. References with more than one entry for an author.

Mudimbe, V. Y. 1988. The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy and the Order of Knowledge. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

_________.1991. Parables and Fables: Exegesis, Textuality, and Politics in Central Africa. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

Note. A three-em dash followed by a period takes the place of the author's name in the second entry.

4. Edited book, listed by editor(s).

Douglas, Mary, and Phyllis Kaberry, eds. 1971. Man in Africa. Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Books.

5. Article in edited book.

Werbner, Richard. 1996. “Introduction: Multiple Identities, Plural Arenas.” In Postcolonial Identities in Africa, edited by Richard Werbner and Terence Ranger, 1–28. London: Zed Books.

Note. Full first name(s) of editor(s) should be included if possible. The “pp.” abbreviation is unnecessary before the page numbers.

6. Dissertation.

Ciekawy, Diane Marie. 1992. Witchcraft Eradication as Political Process in Kilifi District, Kenya, 1955–1988. Ph.D. diss., Columbia University.

7. Article in journal.

Geschiere, Peter. 1988a. “Sorcery and the State: Popular Modes of Political Action among the Maka.” Critique of Anthropology 8 (l): 35–63.

8. Manuscript in press.

Mamdani, M., and Achille Mbembe. In press. “CODESRIA and Neocolonialism.” In Comparative Approaches in Development Economics, ed. Jonathan Jones, Jennifer Flowers, and William J. Clinton. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.

Note. Use this form only if the manuscript has been accepted for publication.

9. Unpublished manuscript. Note that the very absence of publication information indicates that a manuscript is unpublished (there is no need to note “unpublished”). Both the title of an article and the title of an unpublished a book-length monograph appears in quotation marks (rather than italic font for the latter).

Munroe, Ruth H., and Robert L. Munroe. 1971. “Quantified Descriptive Data on Infant Care in an East African Society.”

10. Paper presented at meeting.

Onuegeogwu, M. 1978. “Urbanization in the Kano Close Settlement Zone.” Paper presented at the 7th Annual Meeting of the Nigerian Sociological and Anthropological Association, Ibadan, November 15–19.

11. Foreign publication.

Laburthe-Tolra, P. 1988. Initiations et sociétés secrètes au Cameroun. Paris: Karthala.

Note. The city name is anglicized, but the publisher's name is not. It is the author's responsibility to provide the correct form of names (“Alvarez Garcia, Manuel," not “Alvarez, Manuel Garcia"). Capitalization of non-English titles is in sentence style (only the first word of the title and any words always capitalized in the language are capitalized).

12. Translated publications.

Bourdieu, Pierre. 1977. Outline of a Theory of Practice. Translated by Richard Nice. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.

13. Internet sources.

References to Web pages should contain the website address instead of publication information. In general, the Internet address can be shortened to provide just the general address of the site. Please delete any automatically generated hyperlink.

NOTES All notes should be formatted as endnotes following the References section. Note numbers should be inserted manually as superscript numbers in the text. Please do not use the “Insert Endnote” function of MS WORD; in other words, the notes should not be “embedded” in the document. In most cases, superscript note numbers can appear at the end of the sentence in the text; avoid placing note numbers in the middle of a sentence. Note numbers should never be attached to display material (the title or subheadings).

Where possible, combine notes within a paragraph; generally, one composite note at the end of the paragraph is sufficient.

Endnotes are useful mostly for added discursive material that cannot be included conveniently in the text or that is somewhat peripheral or inessential to the main argument. Particularly long strings of citations can also be moved from the text to the Notes section.

TABLES, MAPS, FIGURES, GRAPHS, PHOTOS, ETC. For articles containing graphic elements, the copyeditor will consult with the publisher, Cambridge University Press, and with the author regarding the adequacy of the images provided and any modifications that are needed. Please note that only black-and-white images can be reproduced in print, although color images can appear in the online version of the article. Graphics can be used only with the permission of the original source (which must be obtained in writing) and source information must be provided in a caption.

Language Editing Services

Contributions written in English are welcomed from all countries. Authors, particularly those whose first language is not English, may wish to have their English-language manuscripts checked by a native speaker before submission. This is optional, but may help to ensure that the academic content of the paper is fully understood by the editor and any reviewers. Cambridge offers a service which authors can learn about ###a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/authors/language-services">here. Please note that the use of any of these services is voluntary, and at the author's own expense. Use of these services does not guarantee that the manuscript will be accepted for publication, nor does it restrict the author to submitting to a Cambridge published journal.

AFRICAN STUDIES REVIEW – STATEMENT REGARDING AUTHORSHIP

1)              THE ETHICS OF AUTHORSHIP

The African Studies Review (ASR) recognizes its role in the publication, dissemination, and promotion of African scholars writing about African studies. Whereas resource inequalities alone cannot explain the exclusion of Africa-based scholars, and hegemonic academic standards undervalue the research orientations of African universities-based publication, the ASR is committed to ensuring that articles appearing within its cover cite, engage with, and credit Africa-originating research. Furthermore, the ASR’s editorial policy provides for the explicit rejection of contributions that do not appropriately cite, engage with, and credit Africa-based scholars.

Power dynamics are also at play in the relationships between supervisors and students, researchers of different ages and genders, African and non-African collaborators, among others. In terms of the relationship between supervisors and students in authorship with respect to graduate work, special attention is required. Frequently, students are the sole or first authors of graduate-related research and supervisors and committee members are second authors or acknowledged for the supervision and mentorship that they have provided to the student author(s).

If you want to read more, the ASR publishes in accordance with Cambridge University Press’s publishing ethics guidelines, which apply to authors, peer reviewers, the editorial office and the journal as a whole. Anyone who believes that these guidelines have not been followed should raise their concern with the editor or email [email protected]. 

2)              DEFINITION OF AUTHOR/AUTHORSHIP

Authorship conveys significant privileges, responsibilities, and legal rights; in the scholarly arena, it may also form the basis for rewards, recognition, and career advancement. Interdisciplinary journals, such as the ASR, embrace multiple and overlapping disciplinary norms, guidelines, and rules governing authorship.

The ASR employs the terms “author” and “authorship” to refer to the creator or originator of an idea (e.g., the author of the theory of necropolitics) or the individual or individuals who develop and bring to fruition the product that disseminates intellectual and/or creative works (e.g., the author(s) of a scholarly article).

Whereas various disciplines have norms, guidelines, and rules governing authorship, the ASR employs the aforementioned definition. While some of disciplinary rules preserve lineage of ideas or works, conception and production of studies or experiments to validate theory, analysis of outcomes, and the actual writing of work to disseminate knowledge, the ASR requires that all contributors comply with this definition.

3)              CORRESPONDING AUTHOR

The term “Corresponding author” is used in two ways. It is used for editorial and administrative purposes to identify individual contributions at various stages of submission, editing, and production. It is also used post-production for the purpose of organizing citations, further correspondence, author feedback, and other related activities.

The corresponding author may be listed as a first or subsequent author.

The corresponding author is often, but not always, the individual who submits the contribution and the primary point of contact between author(s) and the ASR editorial team.

4)              WHO RECEIVES RECOGNITION AS AN AUTHOR?

For contributions with more than one author, the ASR does not employ or advocate for an order for authorship. Authors may be listed alphabetically, ordered in terms of responsibility, or follow another order.

Authors are listed in the pre-publication production version (known as a “proof”) in a certain order, and if the authors themselves do not request changes to the order, the ASR will not alter them

Authors are individuals who have made substantial contributions to a reported work and agree to be accountable for these contributions. In addition to being accountable for the parts of the work he or she has done, an author should be able to identify which of their coauthors are responsible for specific other parts of the work. In addition, an author should have confidence in the integrity of the contributions of their co-authors. All authors should review and approve the final manuscript.

All persons designated as authors qualify for authorship, and all those who qualify shall be recognized and identified as such. Each author shall participate sufficiently in a work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of its content. One or more authors may take responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole, from inception to published article.

Authorship credit is based on the following conditions:

1. 1) substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data;
2. 2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and,
3. 3) final approval of the version to be published.

Conditions 3 and then 1 and/or 2 must be met, regardless of whether any of the authors received payment for their work.

Acquisition of funding, the collection of data, or general supervision of a research group, by themselves, do not justify authorship.

Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the manuscript.

Where no contributor has made a dominant contribution, the authors should be named as joint first authors. In such instances, the ASR convention is to list authors in alphabetical order with an explanatory note on equal authorship.

Any other form of contribution such as generation of ideas, commenting on a draft, or technical assistance shall be listed in the Acknowledgments.

All individuals identified as authors shall sign an exclusive license to publish with the ASR and our publisher (Cambridge University Press). No one shall claim authorship who has not also signed such an exclusive license.

5) SUBMISSION PROCESS: COVER LETTER & USE OF ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

When submitting to the ASR, the corresponding author (the submitter of the manuscript) shall provide in the accompanying letter a description of what each author contributed. ASR editors reserve the right to publish that information if the contribution moves into publication.

All others who contributed to the work, but who do not meet the authorship definition of the ASR, shall be named in the Acknowledgments, and what they contributed shall be described.

Writing an Effective Abstract

A well-composed abstract is key to the effective dissemination of your research. Many articles are only ever read in abstract form. Anonymous peer-reviewers of your scholarship will read the abstract first. The African Studies Review (ASR) provides abstracts in English, French, and Portuguese, in order to reach the widest possible global audience. You need to provide one 100-word version in at least one language.

The abstract is not the first paragraph of an article. An abstract is a complete version or form of your article. It is the entire article epitomized, covering the major points, content and scope of your argument, the theoretical framework or scholarly point of departure, as well as the methodology, and type of evidentiary basis. It should be able to stand alone.

The abstract can be described as the “elevator pitch” for a possible publication: imagine you’re stuck in the elevator at the ASA Annual Meeting with one of the editors of the ASR. You need to provide an overview that hits the high points in about one minute and convinces the editor that it’s worthy of further consideration. It should very concisely summarize the topic, how it fits into the broader literature, the contribution, the research strategy, the key findings, and the broader implications.

All ASR articles are available via multiple digital platforms, so your abstract must be searchable online. We suggest you engage the follow two prevailing ways to optimize your abstracts for search engines. This will greatly increase the chance it will viewed widely and shared.

First, construct a descriptive title for your article. In search engine terms, the title of each article abstract is crucial. The search engine assumes that the title contains the words most relevant to the article. This is why it is important to choose a descriptive, unambiguous, and accurate title. While it may be tempting to use a quote from an informant or sources, think about how search terms draw in a potential reader who may be looking for your article or your subject area, community, or country of study, and help them by constructing a title to include those terms. Remember that people search for key phrases, not just single words.  

 Second, reiterate key title phrases in the abstract. You should reiterate the key phrases in the article title within the abstract itself. Although search engines use proprietary algorithms, the number of times that certain words and phrases appear on a webpage has a significant impact in how they are ranked in searches.

 Things You Should Do:

• Draft the abstract AFTER you have finished the article
• Construct a simple, descriptive and accurate title, containing all the important key terms and phrases that relate to the topic, theme, or argument
• Repeat key phrases and incorporate them smoothly - remember that the primary audience is a potential reader and not a search engine
• Use synonyms or related key phrases
• Provide a clear and concise summary of the content of the chapter
• Describe your methodology and/or data
• Write in the third-person present tense
• Review and revise the abstract before you submit your article for review
• Revise the abstract every time you revise your article

Things You Should Not Do: 

• Write the abstract BEFORE the article
• Construct an ambiguous and elaborate title
• Provide general facts - be sure to focus on the core discussions/findings
• Write in the first person
• Forget to proof-read for typos
• Review the entire literature
• Write in the past or future tense
• Employ undefined abbreviations or acronyms
• Include citations or references
• Use overly technical language
• Use speculative phraseology

Example of a strong abstract:

 “States at War: Confronting Conflict in Africa”

Catharine Newbury

 In the early 1990s, democratization dominated discourse on African politics. However fraught with contradictions, processes of political liberalization held out hope for more responsive, accountable government—and some African countries achieved impressive gains. But in many parts of the continent the outlook at the beginning of the twenty-first century is decidedly more somber. An increase in violence and war has had devastating consequences for people and their communities. Newbury examines several approaches to confronting these conflicts and highlights three lessons that emerge. In some situations, international involvement is essential to end a war, and doing this successfully requires enormous resources. But external assistance cannot follow a single template; it must be adapted to different local dynamics and coordinated with efforts of peace-builders within. Newbury argues that greater support is needed for efforts to alleviate the conditions that spawn wars and violence.

Example of a weak abstract:

“Conflict and Chaos: Understanding War, Rethinking Violence”

Catharine Newbury

This article argues that in the early 1990s democratization dominated African political discourse. I explore the processes of political liberalization and how they were fraught with contradictions, although they held out hope for more responsive, accountable government. I identify some African countries that achieved impressive gains. But it has been argued by other scholars (Schmidt 2007; Jones 2005; Asante 1996) that the outlook at the beginning of the twenty-first century will be decidedly more somber. An increase in violence and war has had overdetermining ramifications broadly. I will examine several approaches to confronting these conflicts and I will highlight three lessons that emerge. In some situations, international involvement may be essential to end a war, and doing this successfully may require enormous resources. But external assistance cannot follow a single template; it must be adapted to different local dynamics and coordinated with efforts of peace-builders within. The author cites various data to argue that greater support is needed for efforts to alleviate the conditions that spawn wars and violence.

ORCID

African Studies Review now requires that all corresponding authors identify themselves using their ORCID iD when submitting a manuscript to the journal. ORCID provides a unique identifier for researchers and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript submission and grant applications, provides the following benefits:

• Discoverability: ORCID increases the discoverability of your publications, by enabling smarter publisher systems and by helping readers to reliably find work that you’ve authored.
• Convenience: As more organisations use ORCID, providing your iD or using it to register for services will automatically link activities to your ORCID record, and will enable you to share this information with other systems and platforms you use, saving you re-keying information multiple times.
• Keeping track: Your ORCID record is a neat place to store and (if you choose) share validated information about your research activities and affiliations.

If you don’t already have an iD, you’ll need to create one if you decide to submit a manuscript to African Studies Review. You can register for one directly from your user account on Scholar One or via https://ORCID.org/register.

If you already have an iD, please use this when submitting, either by linking it to your Scholar One account or supplying it during submission by using the “Associate your existing ORCID ID” button.