Focus and Scope

West Africa Review [WAR] is an interdisciplinary peer-reviewed journal, devoted to research on the countries, societies, and peoples from Cape Verde to Cameroun. It provides a much-needed forum for original work and works of synthesis being done by scholars of West Africa in and outside of the region. West Africa Review facilitates productive exchanges among scholars of the region wherever they may be.

Notables

West Africa Review was selected as a Scout Report by the Internet Scout Project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in their July 6, 2001 issue.

Reviews:

West Africa Review was recently reviewed by Intute in United Kingdom, an organization dedicated to finding the best websites for study and research. Their subject specialist's hand-picks Web resources to support education, here.

Section Policies

Editorial

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Articles

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Interviews

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Topical Issues

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Book Reviews

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Research Note

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Commentary

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Archive

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Reviews

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Review Essays

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

In Focus

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Re-Publications

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Research Focus

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Podicles

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Poetry

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Peer Review Process

West Africa Review peer reviews all scholarly articles published in this journal. Generally, evaluations are elicited from one or two reviewers depending on the initial assessment of the article by the co-editors.

Reviewing Your Paper Submission (Publishing your manuscript)

Once you have submitted your paper for a review, you must email us to indicate your copyright option. The review will not start until an email notification has been sent and acknowledged.

• Copyright conferment for your submission
• If non-exclusive or open-access is chosen, payment of the article is required prior to publication

All authors must email their decision of copyright conferment prior to the review of their articles. A confirmation email will be sent to your account email address.

Peer Review Process

The journal editor(s) make an initial appraisal of each submission. If the topic and treatment seem potentially appropriate for the journal, the manuscript is sent out to 2 reviewers.

ARC Journals has a "double blind" peer review process. Authors are not told who reviewed their paper and reviewers are not told who wrote the paper. Peer reviewers become aware of the identity of the authors after the article is published.

A decision on the manuscript may take 2 months depending on delays in obtaining reviewers. Manuscripts are sent out for review electronically, and all correspondence takes place on the Africa Resource Knowledge Project system. Although the peer review process is accelerated by the use of electronic communication, traditional high-quality, peer-review standards are applied to all submission to Africa Resource Knowledge Project.

Publication Frequency

The journal is published two times a year in April and October. Issues are published as articles are accepted and processed for publication. Special issues are coordinated by Guest Editors and published separately.

Subscription

Subscribers to West Africa Review (WAR) receive a Table of Content via electronic mail when a new issue of the journal is published. The journal is published twice a year and is available only in electronic format to paid subscribers. There is no print version of the journal. Subscriptions require payment.

Article Purchase

Readers without a subscription may still purchase individual articles. The following payment options and fees are available.

Purchase Article: 17.98 (USD)

The payment of this fee will enable you to view, download, and print this article.

Please note the the article download is a one-time use. This means it should only be used by you, and if you are a librarian, by the user who requested the article. The article should not be held in digital storage, distributed, or made available to any other user. The article should not be included in any personal or institutional repository, course packs, online teaching systems (Blackboard, WebCT, Moodle, etc) or in any collection by the institution or the user.

Part of becoming a paid institutional subscriber to the journal is to provide means for all students, faculty, and individuals at the institution access to a wealth of relevant and scholarly research on Africa and African Diaspora. Institutional subscription is on a calendar year (Jan 1 to December 31), and institutional access is by IP authentication. Please, put a request with your librarian to purchase annual institutional subscription to the journal.

If you choose, you may also pay for an individual subscription. Rates are available here. Please scroll down to view the the individual rate: http://www.africaknowledgeproject.org/index.php/war/user/subscriptions

Editorial Board

A. G. Adebayo, Kennesau State University, USA
Kofi Anyidoho, University of Ghana, Ghana
Kandioura Drame, University of Virginia, USA
Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin, USA
Oladipo Fashina, Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria
Mohamed Mbodj, Columbia University, USA
Juliana Nfah-Abbenyi, University of Southern Mississippi, USA
Ikem Okoye, University of Delaware, USA
Olatunde B. Olawuyi, University of Transkei, South Africa
Jacob Olupona, Harvard University, USA
Oyeronke Oyewumi, State University of New York at Stonybrook, USA
Ibitola Pearce, University of Missouri, USA
Ato Quayson, University of Toronto, Canada
N. Frank Ukadike, Tulane University, USA
Olabiyi B. Yai, Republic of Bene
Kwesi Yankah, University of Ghana

In Spirit
John Conteh-Morgan
Tejumola Olaniyan

Special Issue Guidelines

Guidelines for Proposals

Special issues cover a similar topic, and are solicited, collected and edited by a Guest Editor. The guest editor may add additional papers that are relevant to the special issue at their discretion.

If you are interested in submitting a proposal for a special issue, please email the following information to the Editor.

• Define the focus and objectives of the special issue;
• Identify the Guest Editor(s);
• List the set of papers to be submitted as part of the special issue (minimum of 5 papers and 1 editorial); and
• Indicate the publishing copyright conferment for each article. Authors that require non-exclusive and open-access right must pay an article fee.

Guest Editor Role and Responsibilities

A Guest Editor is a Subject Editor selected by the Journal Editors to oversee a special issue. The responsibilities of a Guest Editor include:

• Finalizing the focus and objectives of the special issue, together with the journal Editors;
• Deciding upon a deadline for manuscript submissions to the special issue, with the help of the managing editor;
• Guest Editors must collect and submit a minimum of 5 high quality papers to trigger the review process; and
• Indicate the publishing copyright conferment for each article from each author. Authors that require non-exclusive and open-access right must pay article fee.

Publication, Policy and Fees

In light of the high cost of production, ARC is now focusing on the viability of the journals, the following are the new guidelines in place with the new journal management and submission system.

Publication and Production Fee

The full complement of options is presented to authors at the time of submission of their article. These are:

1. $0 per article if exclusive copyright is given to ARC.
Contributors will always have access to their papers through their login registration. In addition, they will be given a one-month courtesy subscription to the issue to which they contributed, to the other issues of the journal to which they contributed, and to other ARC journals and databases. They can always download their own article for free. Furthermore, the title and abstract of the articles will always be open access, and will come up on search queries on a number of platforms--the journal site, africaresource.com, Google, RSS feeds, and other search engines, establishing to any independent professional reviewer that the article is actually in print.

2.  $2,500 per article if a nonexclusive copyright is given to ARC (such a license will allow ARC to reproduce the article for its own projects such as edited books or anthologies). This fee enables ARC to recoup part of its production costs and to perpetually host the article. Contributors will have a one-month courtesy subscription to ARC journals. In addition, the title and abstract of the articles will come up on search queries on a number of platforms--the journal site, africaresource.com, Google, RSS feeds, and other search engines, establishing to any independent professional reviewer that the article is actually in print.

3. Open access option: a one-time payment of $4,500 per article if authors want their articles to be freely available under the Creative Common Attribution-Noncommercial license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/).
With this license, authors retain ownership of their article, but anyone can download, reuse, reprint, distribute, and/or copy articles for non-commercial purposes, so long as the author and source are cited. No permission is required from the author or the publisher. These open access articles will be freely available on the journal website immediately after publication. All applicable fees are charged after an article is accepted for publication to ensure that monetary consideration does not determine the acceptance/rejection of an article and that acceptance is solely based on merit.

Copyright

Copyright control has become crucial to the survival of ARC journals, given that it is the only way to grow the journals. Submission of article for review and possible publication cannot occur unless an author indicates that she/he gives ARC either exclusive copyright to an essay with no fee, or nonexclusive copyright with half the production fee of $2,500, or they agree to pay the full production fee of $4,500 for their works to be freely available. For those essays that ARC receives copyright control, an author will automatically receive permission to use the published article in her/his own book if approached. A percentage of permission fee will also be paid to the author after publication, technology, administrative, and overhead costs have been deducted. For those who opt to pay the $2,500 production cost of nonexclusive copyright articles or the $4,500 production cost for open access, if they fail to do so immediately upon being informed of the acceptance of their article, of if they try to withdraw their paper after being informed of its acceptance, the zero dollar production cost option will automatically apply and ARC will become the copyright holder.

Authors and Professional Editing

All manuscripts must meet professional standards before submission to ARC. Poorly written quality essays with grammatical errors will not be sent out for peer reviews. All accepted papers must be professionally edited by contributors before they will be processed and prepared for publication. There are many online professional editing services that maintain rapid electronic submission and turn-around times. Quality editorial services in house, but at a cost. A list of other professional editors will be available on the site. Authors may use these services to improve their paper’s English and its overall quality. They should contact these editing services and pay them directly for their services. Those who prefer to use the services of editors in their cities can do so provided the edited work meets professional standards and journal editors’ approval. If you would like to add the firm of your favorite editor listed, please send it along.

ARC Publishing Agreement

By submitting this Publishing Agreement, you grant to Africa Resource Center, Inc., the sole and exclusive, irrevocable royalty-free, right to publish, reproduce, distribute, transmit, display, store, translate, perform, create derivative works from and otherwise use your Article or Contribution in any form, manner, format, platform, or medium, whether now known or hereafter developed, throughout the world and in any language, for the entire term of any such right and any renewal or extension thereof and to permit/sub-license to others any or all of the foregoing as well.

The rights of Africa Resource Center, Inc. include but are not limited to the following: (1) to publish the Article or Contribution in any media, whether paper or electronic; (2) to license abstracts, quotations, extracts, reprints, and/or translations of the Article or Contribution for publication; (3) to license reprints of the Article or Contribution to third persons; (4) to license others to create abstracts of the Article or Contribution and to index the Article or Contribution; (5) to license secondary publishers to reproduce the Article or Contribution in print, microfilm, or any computer-readable form, including electronic online databases; and (6) to license the Article or Contribution for document delivery.

You warrant and represent that:

1. Your Article or Contribution is original, and that you have not previously published, or agreed to publish, your Article or Contribution in whole or in part elsewhere.

2. The contents or facts of the Article or Contribution are true and accurate to the best of your knowledge.

3. None of the data or other contents have been fabricated, manipulated, falsified, or altered in any way that would misrepresent the actual findings.

4. All authors take responsibility for the accuracy and interpretations of the findings.

5. The Article or Contribution is free of plagiarism or other scientific misconduct.

6. The Article or Contribution does not, to the best of your knowledge, contain anything which is libelous, illegal, or infringes anyone's copyright or other rights.

7. If the Article or Contribution includes any materials owned by or regulated by a third party, you have gained permission of the owners of the copyright in all such materials to enable them to grant the rights contained herein.

8. You warrant and represent that you have the full right, power and authority to enter into this agreement on behalf of the authors.

9. This agreement shall remain in effect for the duration of the copyright and may not be revoked without the express written agreement of both parties.

10. This agreement shall be governed and construed, in accordance with the laws of the state of New York, USA, without resort to the conflicts of laws principles thereof.

11. The authors shall for all purposes be considered an independent contractor and nothing in this Agreement shall be deemed to place the parties in the relationship of employer-employee, principal-agent, partners or joint ventures.

12. The purpose of this document is to transfer the copyright of your Article or Contribution and all portions thereof (whether in printed, electronic or any other form now known or hereafter developed to Africa Resource Center, Inc., the publisher. The completion and submission of this Publishing Agreement constitutes your acceptance of the terms of this Agreement.

General Policies

Africa Resource Knowledge Project and its content are copyrighted by Africa Resource Center, Inc.  The journals and databases, and their content, including abstracts, are copyrighted to Africa Resource Center, Inc, and as indicated within the journal and database. Africa Resource Knowledge Project is subject to all applicable copyright, database protection and other rights of the stated owner and publisher under the laws of the United States and other countries.

Copyright notices in ARC Knowledge Project may not be removed, obscured, or modified in any way. Unauthorized copying or redistribution of any of ARC Knowledge Project content is a violation of copyright laws.

Limited license is granted to individuals (subscribers) accessing this document and its component documents and/or files for the following personal, noncommercial uses:

1. Retrieving or printing a copy of any document or file mounted on this server
2. Establishing a link or links to any document or file mounted on this server

Individuals accessing this document and its component documents and/or files are not granted license to:

1. Alter a copy of any retrieved or printed document or file from this server
2. Distribute a copy (electronic or otherwise) of any document or file from this server without permission from Africa Resource Knowledge Project (direct requests to editor at africaknowledgeproject)
3. Charge for a copy (electronic or otherwise) of any document or file from this server

General Disclaimer

Africa Resource Knowledge Project accepts content from journals in good faith, with the understanding that the material to be placed on the website contains nothing that is libelous, illegal, or an infringement of anyone’s copyright or other rights. Africa Resource Knowledge Project retains the right to refuse to place any content on the website, and to remove anything that it considers to be either unsuitable or could lead to legal action.

Permission to Use Previously Published Material

If your article contains material (e.g., table, graph, diagram, illustration, photo, or section of text) that was previously published by someone else (or published by you in a publication that does not give authors the right to republish materials from their own articles without obtaining permission), you must obtain written permission from the copyright-holder to republish that material. This applies not only to material that you intend to reproduce in its original form, but also, for example, to modified artwork or graphs. The written permission must be sent by email to the copyright division of Africa Resource Knowledge Project prior to your submission, and before acceptance of your article for publication. It is important to note that your paper or article will not be published until permission has been obtained. Make sure you secure rights before submitting the article to Africa Resource Knowledge Project, and provide an email to document that copyright has been secured. A confirmation email will be sent to your account email address.  Please note that permission MUST be unrestricted, which means that the material can be used without restriction to a particular form of publication. If permission is denied, then the material in question will have to be removed from the article.

User License

Africa Resource Center, Inc (ARC) grants to the Subscriber online access to the ARC Knowledge Project, including each Online Journal and Database for which the Subscriber maintains a current subscription to the print or online version thereof. This grant extends only to the Subscriber individually and may not be transferred to, or extended to, others. You agree to maintain your User ID and Password as private and confidential information. Unauthorized use of your User ID and Password for online access with or without your knowledge is a breach of this License and a violation of Africa Resource Center, Inc.

Permitted Use (Institutional Single-Site User License)

The Subscriber and Authorized Users are permitted online access to ARC Knowledge Project and the Online Journals and Databases, and may download, save, or print text, search results, or other information from ARC Knowledge Project solely for the private use or research of the Subscriber and the Authorized Users. The Subscriber and Authorized Users may only use this online access in a way that conforms to all applicable laws and regulations.  The copyright owner of each Online Journal and Database grants the Subscriber and Authorized Users permission for brief quotations from the content of Online Journal articles with the customary acknowledgment of the source, and to copy and transmit content from individual Online Journal and Databases articles in "person-to-person" and non-systematic scholarly exchanges of information between Authorized Users and specific individuals. The Subscriber specifically agrees that use by the Subscriber or Authorized Users other than indicated above is a violation of the terms of this License. Interlibrary loan: ARC Knowledge Project prepared electronic article files may not be transmitted in their original digital form to any other institution or to a non-Authorized user. A hard copy printed from the electronic files of the journal(s) may not be supplied to another institution by mail or fax or secure transmission.

Prohibitions on Certain Uses (Institutional Single-Site User License)

Altering, recompiling, systematic or programmatic copying, reselling, redistributing, publishing or republishing (beyond the brief quotations permitted under Section 4) of any journal text, output, search results, or other information from ARC Knowledge Project, or any portion thereof, including without limitation, copyright, proprietary and/or other legal notices contained therein, in any form or medium is prohibited. Systematic or programmatic downloading (e.g., the use of automated "robots" or otherwise downloading or attempting to download in a short time period large amounts of subscribed-to or unsubscribed-to ARC Knowledge Project material such as all abstracts and/or full text articles from entire journal issues or extensive search results), service bureau redistribution services, printing for fee-for-service purposes and/or the systematic making of print or electronic copies for transmission to non-subscribers or non-subscribing institutions are prohibited. For example, the use of the online journals or databases for document delivery services other than "interlibrary loan," as described above, is prohibited. Downloading portions of ARC Knowledge Project or Online Journals and Databases for the purpose of creating pre-loaded systematic and persistent local copies (not including transient, dynamic caches of individually requested material) for redistribution is prohibited. All rights not expressly granted are reserved to the stated copyright holder of the Online Journal and Database. The Subscriber and Authorized Users may not circumvent ARC Knowledge Project access control systems or use ARC Knowledge Project systems or services to make any attempt to gain unauthorized access to any other system or network. ARC Knowledge Project shall not be required to distribute, and Subscriber shall not redistribute, ARC Knowledge Project or any Online Journal and Database included therein to a country where the export thereof is prohibited by U.S. law or regulation.

Permission for Other Use

Permission is granted to quote from the journal or database with the customary acknowledgment of the source. Republication of an article or portions thereof (e.g., extensive excerpts, figures, tables, etc.) in original form or in translation, as well as other types of reuse (e.g., in course packs) require formal permission from Africa Resource Center, Inc, and may be subject to fees. As a courtesy, the author of the original journal article should be informed of any request for republication/reuse.

Failure of Performance

Following online access approval, the Subscriber will be permitted to attempt online access to ARC Knowledge Project at any time. ARC, however, will not be liable for any delay, downtime, transmission error, software or equipment incompatibilities, force majeure or other failure of performance. ARC will use commercially reasonable efforts to correct any material performance problem brought to its attention and may suspend performance pending such correction.

Disclaimer of Warranties; Limitation of Liability; Indemnification

ARC warrants that it is entitled to grant the licenses granted in this License, and is authorized to execute this License on behalf of the publishing customers and subscribers. EXCEPT AS SET FORTH IN THE PRECEDING SENTENCE, ARC MAKES NO WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, WITH RESPECT TO THE ONLINE JOURNALS AND DATABASES, INCLUDING THEIR QUALITY, ORIGINALITY, SUITABILITY, SEARCHABILITY, OPERATION, PERFORMANCE, COMPLIANCE WITH ANY COMPUTATIONAL PROCESS, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. ARC SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR: EXEMPLARY, SPECIAL, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR OTHER DAMAGES, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SUBSCRIPTION OR LICENSES GRANTED HEREUNDER, THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE ANY ARC ONLINE JOURNAL AND DATABASE, ARC’S PERFORMANCE UNDER THIS LICENSE, TERMINATION OF THIS LICENSE BY ARC OR THE LOSS OF DATA, BUSINESS OR GOODWILL, EVEN IF ARC IS ADVISED OR AWARE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY OF ARC FOR ANY CLAIMS, LOSSES OR DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF ANY BREACH OR TERMINATION OF THIS LICENSE EXCEED THE TOTAL AMOUNT PAID BY THE SUBSCRIBER TO ARC FOR THE ONLINE JOURNAL AND DATABASE SUBSCRIPTION, BUT NOT LESS THAN TWENTY-FIVE DOLLARS ($25.00), FOR THE CURRENT SUBSCRIPTION YEAR IN WHICH SUCH CLAIM, LOSS OR DAMAGE OCCURRED, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT, OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION DUE TO NEGLIGENCE. The foregoing limitation of liability and exclusion of certain damages shall apply regardless of the success or effectiveness of other remedies. No claim may be made against ARC unless suit is filed thereon within one (1) year after the event giving rise to the claim. The Subscriber assumes sole responsibility for all use of ARC Knowledge Project and the Online Journals and Databases by the Subscriber. In the event of a breach of this License by the Subscriber, the Subscriber agrees to indemnify and hold ARC harmless from and against any and all claims, liabilities, damages, expenses (including attorneys’ fees and experts’ costs, penalties and fees, if any, for the enforcement of this License and otherwise for ARC defense of indemnified claims), losses and threatened losses arising from, or in connection with, that breach, including without limitation, claims of unauthorized use.

Notification of Changes

If we make material changes to our copyright and general policy, these changes will be posted to our copyright and general policy page. You should review this page regularly for updates.

Indexed and Abstracted History

CSA
P A I S International
Sociological Abstracts

Chadwyck-Healey
International Index to Black Periodicals

EBSCOhost
Current Abstracts
Humanities International Complete
Humanities International Index
TOC Premier (Table of Contents)

H.W. Wilson
Biography Index
Book Review Digest Plus
Humanities Abstracts
Humanities Full Text
Humanities Index
Wilson OmniFile: Full Text Mega Edition
Wilson OmniFile: Full Text Select

OCLC
Biography Index
Humanities Abstracts
Humanities Index
P A I S International
Sociological Abstracts

Book Listing

All books that authors, publishers, and presses want to have reviewed will need to be posted in the "Books for Review" section of the journal. Listed books will be announced to journal reviewers for interest. The journal no longer handles or review materials.

We do not accept unsolicited book reviews for books that have not be posted in the "Books for Review" section of the journal.