Journal of African Humanities and Research Development (JAHRD)

The African Humanities Research and Development Circle (AHRDC) announces its flagship scholarly journal, Journal of African Humanities and Research Development (JAHRD), an open access, peer-reviewed journal. The journal promises unique, ground-breaking, and innovative perspectives and approaches to interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary study of historical and contemporary issues on African Humanities, African Studies, the African Diaspora, Development and Policy Studies, Africa in Global Politics and Economy, Religions, African Philosophy, Arts, and Culture, and Methodologies in African Studies. The journal will publish well-researched scholarly articles in a vast array of topics on Africa.

JAHRD will publish two volumes annually, in June and December. For our first volume coming out in December 2023, papers will be drawn from the African Humanities Research and Development Circle (AHRDC) 2023 Conference, scheduled to hold on 20-22 February 2023, on the theme “Navigating Archives in Nigeria: Experiences, Opportunities, and Advancements.” Thus, the focus of this inaugural volume will be on Methodologies in African Studies.

The June issues will be randomly dedicated to papers from our conferences, seminars, workshops, public lectures, and other fora. Papers not selected for publication in the journal will be considered for our book volumes if the authors so wish.

Author Guidelines for Submitting Manuscripts to the Journal of African Humanities and Research Development (JAHRD)

1. All manuscripts should be emailed to the editor at editor.jahrd@ahrdc.academy & jahrd@ ahrdc.academy as attachments in Microsoft Word.
2. JAHRD will neither consider nor accept manuscripts concurrently under consideration by another journal or press or manuscripts previously published, or in submission under contract, or in press with another journal or publisher. The Editorial Board of JAHRD expect that the publication of any manuscript accepted by the journal shall precede republication of the same in part or whole elsewhere.
3. The Editor of JAHRD reserves the right to make final decision on the publication of any manuscript.
4. In evaluating the suitability of manuscripts to the goal of JAHRD, the Editorial Board privileges articles that are new in content, idea, and argument, and make novel contributions to scholarship on the study of Africa. JAHRD emphasizes articles that appeal to our vast and diverse audience and go beyond the specialist circle of the author’s field.
5. Article length should be between 25-30 pages (no more than 8000 words including citations).
6. All Manuscripts are subjected to a double-blind redacted anonymous peer-review. Author’s name, institutional affiliation, contact details, and the title of the manuscript should be provided on a separate page. We strive to endeavor the full anonymity of the author to reviewers to maintain maximum standard and quality scholarship. The title of the essay should be repeated on the first page of the (centered). Paper formatting should follow the recommended order: Title of paper, author(s) name [all authors should write their full name in this order: first name, Middle name/initial(s) if you use those, and last name underlined], institutional affiliation, email address, and working phone number. Again, information identifying the author(s)—author(s) name(s) and contact details—and/or their institutional affiliation should not appear on the paper. They should be provided (alongside the title of your manuscript) on a separate page (preferably the first page of your paper).
7. All Manuscripts must include the following sections, abstract, introduction, discussion of relevant literature and scholarship on your research, detailed methodology explaining sources, research activities, and their relevance to your research, the remainder of the essay—presentation and analysis of data, and a conclusion highlighting the major results of the research. Discipline-specific/uncommon concepts and terminologies must be exhaustively explained. Authors are not mandated to use the sections in exactly the same way they are coined here. Excluding introduction and conclusion, author(s) may choose to phrase their headings and subheadings to suit their research, section content, and taste. However, such phrases must reflect the sections suggested above. Please use conclusion not summary or recommendations. Well-structured papers make it easier for the editors and reviewers to review and evaluate the quality of arguments and analysis.
8. All spelling (except for direct quotations) must be in British English.
9. Manuscript title and Major section headings should be centered on the page, while sub-titles should be justified left.
10. The Journal of African Humanities and Research Development (JAHRD) uses The Chicago Manual of Style 16^th ed. footnotes. Please, carefully comply with all the guidelines in The Chicago Manual of Style as non-compliance will result in your paper being returned and a slow review process. Use the insert footnote feature on Microsoft Word to create automatic footnotes. Do not insert them manually. Click here to download an abridged pdf version of CMS to guide you in preparing your manuscript.
11. Citations should be numbered sequentially in the text using superscripted digits, in accordance with Chicago Manual of Style guidelines. The first citation of a reference should include full bibliographic information. A shortened bibliographic form, including author name, title, and page number, should be used for subsequent citations. When consecutive citations refer to the same work, “Ibid.” should replace the bibliographical information in citations after the first, with page number(s) added if the cited page(s) differ from those included in the immediately preceding citation.
12. Papers should be submitted in a standard Microsoft Word file format. Your submission should be double-spaced, with one-inch margins on all side, and all pages should be numbered consecutively. Text should appear in 12-point Times New Roman. Submissions should be no more than 8000 words including footnotes and bibliography. Please do not save your submission in re-only mode.
13. The title of the paper should be in bold block letters. Main section headings should be centered on the page, and the minor sub-headings or sub-sections should be justified on the left-hand side of the page. This will make it easier for the editors and reviewers to know that a sub-heading is under a major section.
14. Short Bio: Submissions should be accompanied by a short bio of each author (200 words) saved as a separate document.
15. Clarity: keep sentences short, simple, and straight to the point. The power of writing is in clarity. So, do not delay the review process by using complex words and constructions that make the flow and understanding of your work difficult.

Specific Guidelines Aimed at Standardizing Certain Stylistic and Punctuation Elements

• Italicize foreign words and phrases (the first time), with the translation in roman in parentheses—for example, dawa (call)—unless they are proper nouns.
• Centuries should be written out in full: eighteenth century (not 18th century or XVIIIth century, 18^th century, or 18^th c.).
• Decades must be written as numerals: the 1970s (without an apostrophe between the number and ‘‘s’’).
• Numbers. Please spell out all numbers to one hundred. Numbers such as 101 should always appear in numeral form, except for large round numbers, such as 6.5 million.
• Ellipses should consist of three spaced dots with a space on either side. Also, when the last part of a quoted sentence is omitted and what remains is still a grammatically complete sentence, a period followed by three spaced ellipsis dots may be used.
• Use double quotation marks for quotes, single marks for quotes within quotes, and double again for quotes within quotes within quotes.
• End punctuation should fall within quotation marks in the case of commas and periods, and outside quotation marks in the case of colons and semicolons.
• Direct quotations (indents) set off from the main text do not need quotation marks. When you wish to interpolate your own words within a quotation, place them in square brackets [].
• Direct quotations should not be changed to conform to these stylistic guidelines but should appear as in the original. However, when doing your own translating, you should match the present guidelines.
• Acronyms consisting of capital initial letters should be spelled out in full on the first mention in each article and put in parenthesis, with the next mention as abbreviation only; for example, World Trade Organization (WTO).
• Common abbreviations such as etc., i.e., and e.g., are acceptable in parentheses or in the notes, but in the text, please spell out as et cetera, that is, and for example.
• Percent should be spelled out in full in the text; use numerals in conjunction with the spelled-out form (e.g., 50 percent). In tables or figures the % symbol should be used.
• Number Tables and Figures according to figure or table number (e.g., Table 1, and so on). In the text, please refer readers to Table 1 (or Figure 2) rather than giving page numbers or using general terms such as ‘‘above’’ or ‘‘below.’’

Author Guidelines for Book Review for the Journal of African Humanities and Research Development (JAHRD)

1. Please send your review to the Book Reviews Editor at ,editor.jahrd@ahrdc.academy, jahrd@ ahrdc.academy & bookreviews.jahrd@ ahrdc.academy  as attachments in Microsoft Word.
2. Book reviews of 1-4 pages (1000 words maximum) will be considered.
3. Books for review must be published within the past three years.
4. The header of the review should include: author(s) or editor(s) name as they appear on the book jacket; title of the book in italics, place of publication; publisher; and year of publication. At the end of the review, include your first and last name (without titles or job status) along with institutional affiliation. Retired faculty may be identified as emeritus of the university where they retired. Non-academics should identify as Independent Scholar.
5. All spelling must be in British English.
6. References should comply with The Chicago Manual of Style.

Click here to download the Author Guidelines