Author Guidelines
Articles must be sent to the editor through the online submission system. No email submission will be accepted or acknowledged. Submissions are invited of original manuscripts, book reviews, and critical commentaries on any topic on African women. Unless solicited, all submissions should be original, previously unpublished in English, and not posted online. Authors must submit their title, keywords, abstracts, a brief biographical description, and paper in Microsoft Word or OpenOffice using the online submission system. All publication decisions will be made by blind review - make sure your name does not appear on any page of the paper. The author must prepare and submit a keyword list, bibliography/works cited, and take note of our copyright policy.
For Contributors
Please consult the AKP Stylesheet for Authors for citation, reference, and bibliographic guideline.
Guidelines for Contributors
1. Contributors should strive as much as possible to refrain from using sexist, racist, and similar language that may suggest prejudice of any kind.
2. There are many usages in writings about Africa generally that we believe need to be deployed with more circumspection if clarity and genuine illumination are to be achieved. JENdA aims to provide in this regard. Examples of such usages include but are not limited to the following:
- Referring to all of Africa as if it were one undifferentiated entity.
- Periodizing the history of all things African by subdividing them into “precolonial”, “colonial”, and “post-colonial”. We are asking contributors to strive for greater precision and more respect for the complexity of all things African.
- Presenting culturally-specific ideas as if they are marked by unanimity in the culture in which they occur as in, for example, “The Yoruba believe …”
- Giving the reader the geographical coordinates of where any African people could be found: e.g., “The Yoruba are to be found in an area bounded by …”
- Nebulous references to “traditional society”, “traditional values”, “traditional culture”, and so on without any serious attempt to historicize what is being described and in what consists its traditionality.
- Intellectually meaningless ascriptions such as “Africa South of the Sahara”, “Black Africa”, “Sub-Saharan Africa”, should be discontinued.
3. Formatting guidelines [See below].
4. No piece will be rejected on account of its not meeting all the above. At the same time no piece will be published that does not strive to meet most of them. The editor and the referees for submitted pieces will work with contributors to meet this challenge.
Courtesy Access for Contributors
Contributors whose papers are accepted and published will have one-month courtesy subscription to the issue to which they contributed, to the past issues of the journal to which they contributed, and to other ARC journals and databases within the Africa Resource Knowledge Project.
Recommended Guide Style For Submission
It is the author's responsibility to prepare his or her document for conversion by adhering to the following Word document style formatting. Failure to follow the direction will result in delay.
- Use heading level one (H1) only for titles.
- Use heading level two (H2) for the first level of heading used in the text as well as for endnotes, references/works and cited/bibliography.
- Use heading levels 3 through 6 (H3 – H6) for abstracts and all other subsequent levels under H2.
- Use paragraph tabs for basic paragraph text.
- Use indent tab for all quotes and indented text.
- Use title case for article titles.
- All articles and editorials must have an abstract. If you do not have an abstract, use the first 3 sentences as one, or write one. Make sure there are no typographical, grammar, and spelling errors. Proofread it carefully. Never use N/A for abstracts.
- All articles and topical issues must have an Author (First and Last Name). Email the website to get the information if one is not listed, use “No listed Author.” Make sure to list the name of the organization or website in the organization box. For example, you can use Cable News Network (not CNN OR CNN.com). Always write out the name of the organization or website. Never use "N/A" for author's name (first, middle, last).
- Always write the full link of the website. These include links to topical issues or other resources included in the issue. For example: http://www.africaknowledgeproject.org (always put "http://www" in front of links). Do not use the domain name only: africaknowledgeproject.org OR http://africaknowledgeproject.org.
- All materials in an issue must have index information. All articles in an issue must always have keywords. When filling out the index for each submission, make sure you fill as much information as possible. This will increase the visibility of articles in search engines. Not all index fields will apply to your article or need to be filled. Keyword is a must.
- You can upload supplementary file for each submission. Supplementary files include pictures, maps, or any instruments that would enhance reading the original article. To add supplementary file after you submitted your paper, visit your submission page and click on “Article Summary.”
Jenda: A Journal of Culture and African Women Studies does not have a preferred form for citation and referencing. The style is left up to the author but must conform to accepted publishing practices. The only requirement is that the author be consistent throughout the text.
Author Submissions Guidelines (Follow Carefully to Avoid Delay)
Papers submitted to any of ARC Knowledge Project Journals and Database must be divided into separate files to allow for faster processing. Authors with embedded figures and images in their papers must submit their figures, tables and images as supplementary files.
** For your protection, you will be required to visit the URL included in the confirmation email to activate your subscription. If you fail to do so, you will not have access to your account.
Abstract, Acknowledgments and Keywords
Please have your abstract, acknowledgments and keywords prepared and ready to input directly into the submission interface, either by typing them in or cut-and-paste. Do not include them in the body text of your manuscript.
Paper Body Text
- All papers must be in English.
- Write with precision, clarity, and economy.
- Use the active voice and first person whenever appropriate. If at all possible, avoid the use of parenthetical comments and italics or bold for emphasis.
- Africa Resource Knowledge Project discourages the use of quotation marks except for direct quotations, words defined by the author, and words used in unusual contexts.
- Short quotations should be embedded in the text and enclosed in double quotation marks (").
- Long quotations should be on a separate line, indented, but without quotation marks.
- Single quotation marks are to be used only for word; or a quotation that occurs within another quotation.
- Use American spellings (e.g., behavior, not behaviour) except for titles and articles in books and journals published in British/Commonwealth English.
Spacing, Fonts, and Page Numbering
Double-space all material (text, quotations, figure legends, tables, references, etc.). Use a 12-point font (preferably Times Roman).
Italicization
Please italicize title of books. Do not underline text. Italics should rarely be used for emphasis.
Endnotes
Limit endnotes only to materials that cannot be incorporated in the text.
Web Links
Authors may include links to other Internet resources in their article [(e.g., Africa Knowledge Project (http://www.africaknowledgeproject.org/)]. This is especially encouraged in the reference section. When inserting a reference to a webpage, please include “http://www” before the portion of the address.
Headings and Subheadings
The body text of the paper should be subdivided into different sections with appropriate headings. These headings must appear on a single line by themselves with title case. Please do not number headings or subheadings.
Bibliography and Citation
Before submitting your paper, check each referenced citation in the text against the bibliography to ensure they match exactly. Delete unused citations that are not cited in your paper.
Formatting References
All journal titles should be spelled out completely. In the titles of articles, the spellings of all words should agree exactly with that used in the original publication. Provide the publisher's name and location when you cite symposia or conference proceedings; distinguish between the conference date and the publication dates if both are given.
Supplementary Files
All tables, figures, text appendices, videos and audios may be uploaded as supplementary file during submission. You can submit as much supplementary files needed for your paper. You will be required to submit description for each file.
Images
Figures must be supplied as graphic files (in GIF, JPG, or PNG formats). For papers in review, images should be supplied at 72 dpi and no wider than 700 pixels (unless given explicit permission by the managing editor). Should your manuscript be accepted for publication, we will ask you to supply high resolution, print-quality versions of your images. All title and caption information are entered separately during the submission process and should not appear in the image file.
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.
