Thank you for choosing to submit your paper to us. These instructions will ensure we have everything required so your paper can move through peer review, production and publication smoothly. Please take the time to read and follow them as closely as possible, as doing so will ensure your paper matches the journal’s requirements.
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Notes for Contributors
Open Access
You have the option to publish open access in this journal via our Open Select publishing program. Publishing open access means that your article will be free to access online immediately on publication, increasing the visibility, readership and impact of your research. Articles published Open Select with Taylor & Francis typically receive 45% more citations* and over 6 times as many downloads** compared to those that are not published Open Select.
Your research funder or your institution may require you to publish your article open access. Visit our Author Services website to find out more about open access policies and how you can comply with these.
You will be asked to pay an article publishing charge (APC) to make your article open access and this cost can often be covered by your institution or funder. Use our APC finder to view the APC for this journal.
Please visit our Author Services website if you would like more information about our Open Select Program.
*Citations received up to 9th June 2021 for articles published in 2016-2020 in journals listed in Web of Science®. Data obtained on 9th June 2021, from Digital Science’s Dimensions platform, available at https://app.dimensions.ai
**Usage in 2018-2020 for articles published in 2016-2020.
*Citations received up to Jan 31st 2020 for articles published in 2015-2019 in journals listed in Web of Science®.
**Usage in 2017-2019 for articles published in 2015-2019.
1. The editors welcome original contributions. By submission of a manuscript, an author certifies that the work is original and is not being considered simultaneously by another publisher. In order to safeguard authors’ rights, the copyright of all material published is vested in the Journal of Southern African Studies .
2. The journal welcomes papers that fall within our aims and scope:
a. The region covered embraces Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
b. Academic subjects covered include history, economics, sociology, demography, social and cultural anthropology, geography, development studies, administration, law, political science, political economy, international relations, literature, cultural studies, and the natural sciences in so far as they relate to the human condition.
c. We seek to encourage inter-disciplinary analysis, strong comparative perspectives and original research that reflects new theoretical or methodological approaches.
d. We do not normally publish papers that are primarily policy recommendations or reports of research that are not firmly grounded in academic literature.
3. Submissions: should be sent by e-mail attachment (ideally as a Word file) to jsas.editorial@gmail.com. All submissions will be acknowledged on receipt, and will be refereed if they fall within our remit. Only those receiving favourable recommendation will be accepted for publication. Please follow the stylistic guidelines below closely for your submission. Note in particular the referencing system we use. If in doubt, check articles in a recent issue of the journal for guidance.
4. Books for review: should be sent to Mattia Fumanti, Department of Social Anthropology, The University of St Andrews, 71 North Street, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9AL, UK.
5. Abstract: a short abstract of 150–300 words should precede the introduction. It should be clear and informative, giving an indication of the scope of the paper and its main arguments. Abstracts should not contain footnotes.
6. Keywords: Suggest 5–8 keywords that will help to make your paper more ‘discoverable’ by search engines and indexing software.
7. Acknowledgements: If any, should be included as a section at the end of the text.
8. Article length: should normally not exceed 10,000 words of text, including footnotes. We would not normally consider papers with fewer than 6,000 words of text.
9. Tables: typed on separate pages, these should be collated at the end of the text and numbered using Arabic numerals. Their preferred position in the text should be indicated. Always use numbers for figures in tables, and the symbol % may be used to save space.
10. Figures: Text figures should be prepared in black and white, generally using appropriate computer software. They should be on a scale to permit reduction to half their original size. Care should be taken that lettering and symbols are correct. Corrections are expensive and the editors reserve the right to charge for new artwork/amendments to labels required as a result of an author’s mistake or last-minute corrections. Captions should be submitted in a separate file.
11. Headings: Our preference is for one level of sub-headings in the article. This should be formatted in bold and left-aligned. If a subsidiary level of sub-headings is required, this should be italicised and left-aligned. Numbers or letters should not be used in sub-headings.
12. Abbreviations and acronyms: These should be used sparingly and should be explained at the first occurrence. Abbreviations, acronyms and other conventions (capitals, italics, symbols) should be used consistently throughout the paper, and typed without full points. Thus: GNP; Mr; Dr; per cent is preferred to %.
13. Measurement, numbers, dates: Metric units are preferred except where historical accuracy demands otherwise. Generally numbers up to ten should be expressed in words. Four-figure numbers should have a comma, thus 4,000. Decades should be written ‘the 1950s’. Dates in the text should be written out in full thus: 24 September 1998.
14. References and footnotes: JSAS uses footnotes for both referencing and information, rather than in-text citation . Footnotes should be numbered sequentially throughout the article in Arabic numerals and placed at the foot of each page. They must be embedded in the text, not manually entered by the author (i.e. any footnote additions or deletions will automatically change all the footnote references throughout the paper to accommodate the changes). We do not encourage long footnotes: they should generally be confined to citations of sources and brief points. The development of sub-themes in footnotes should be avoided. Footnotes in titles and abstracts are to be avoided. As explained in point 8 above, acknowledgements, if any, should be included as a section at the end of the text. See issues from volume 42 onwards for examples.
15. Work/authors referred to in the text should be cited in full in the footnotes: The first letter of most words in titles of books, articles and chapters should be capitalised (except words like ‘a’ and ‘the’).
16. For articles in journals: list the author’s initials and name, the title of the article in single quotes (comma outside the quote mark), the name of the journal in italics, the volume number (without vol.), the number or issue, the date in parentheses, and the page number(s). For example, when an article as a whole is cited:
K. Barber, ‘Popular Arts in Africa’, African Studies Review, 30, 3 (1987), pp. 1–78.
Where a particular page reference is cited, give only the relevant page number(s).
For books give the author’s initials followed by his/her name, the title of the book in italics (without a following comma), the volume number where relevant, the place of publication, the publisher and the date, all in parentheses and separated by commas, followed by the page number(s) if a particular passage is being referred to. For example:
T. Lodge, Black Politics in South Africa Since 1945 (Johannesburg, Ravan Press, 1983), p. ix.
Chapters in books: when cited as a whole, should be as follows:
W. Tanaka and R. Moorsom, ‘Underdevelopment and Class Formation in Ovamboland, 1844–1917’, in R. Palmer and N. Parsons (eds), The Roots of Rural Poverty in Central and Southern Africa (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1977), pp. 96–112.
Where a particular page reference is cited, give only the relevant page number(s).
For theses use the following style:
J. Cobbing, ‘The Ndebele Under the Khumalos, 1820–1896’ (PhD thesis, University of Lancaster, 1976).
For unpublished papers use the following style:
J. Alexander and T. Ranger, ‘Competition and Integration in the Religious History of Northwestern Zimbabwe’ (unpublished paper, Oxford, 1996).
For archival references give the source and series and details of the deposit cited (archive first), although abbreviations (explained in full in the first instance) and shortening of dates are acceptable. For example:
Zambia National Archives (hereafter ZNA) 2/8/19, R.B. Draper, PC (Provincial Commissioner), Tanganyika Province, to CS (Chief Secretary), 4 April 1932.
For interviews give as many details as possible, e.g. name of interviewee, date and place of interview, and nature of survey and sample described in the first interview cited.
For Internet references provide author (if possible), document title or description, date (either the date of publication or update or the date of retrieval) and a workable URL address. For example:
W. Mothapo, ‘On the Question of Collective Leadership’, Umrabulo, 13 (December 2001), available at http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/pubs/umrabulo/umrabulo3.html, retrieved 14 February 2005.
Throughout footnotes do not use op. cit. and cf., although ibid. is acceptable when repeating a citation from the immediately preceding footnote.
Where books and articles are referred to more than once, a short title should be used. For example:
Lodge, Black Politics in South Africa, p. 14.
Blainey, ‘The Jameson Raid’, p. 20.
For citations of interviews, please include statements about how these were conducted, what information was given to respondents and what transcripts of interviews are held by the authors for verification. For all citations of internet-based and social media sources, including discussion forums and websites, a description and assessment of their status and verifiability will also be required. This should be placed in an extended footnote at the appropriate place in the paper or in a methods section if more appropriate for the particular discipline.
17. Quotations: of more than fifty words should be indented in the text and typed without quotation marks. Use single quotation marks in the text for shorter quotes, with punctuation outside the final quote mark. For quotations within quotations use double quotation marks.
18. Miscellaneous:
(i) In all cases where s and z are alternatives, use s, as in ‘organisation’.
(ii) Pounds sterling and other currencies thus: £5.00, R80,000. For pence or cents write out in full: ten pence, 30 cents.
(iii) UK spelling to be followed, as in ‘colour’ and ‘labour’.
(iv) Set article out with title in italics, followed by author’s name in small capitals and, on next line, institution. At end of article, repeat author’s name in small capitals, with full institutional postal address and e-mail.
19. Page proofs: will be sent only to the author(s) responsible for checking
them. Authors must always keep the editors informed of their whereabouts. Corrected proofs should be returned to the editor concerned within 48 hours. All misprints should be corrected, and authors can make only minor alterations subject to prior permission from the editors. However, the addition or deletion of footnotes at this stage is very difficult to accommodate.
20. Free article access: As corresponding author, you will receive free access to your article on Taylor & Francis Online. You will be given access to the My authored works section of Taylor & Francis Online, which shows you all your published articles. You can easily view, read, and download your published articles from there. In addition, if someone has cited your article, you will be able to see this information. We are committed to promoting and increasing the visibility of your article and have provided this guidance http://journalauthors.tandf.co.uk/beyondpublication/promotearticle.asp on how you can help. Corresponding authors can receive 50 free reprints and a complimentary copy of the issue containing their article. If you have any queries about reprints, please contact the Taylor & Francis Author Services team at reprints@ tandf.co.uk. To order an extra copy of the issue containing your article, please contact our Customer Services team at OrderSupport@TandF.co.uk.
21. Back issues: Taylor & Francis retains a three-year back issue stock of journals. Older volumes are held by our official stockists, to whom all orders and enquiries should be addressed: Periodicals Service Company, 351 Fairview Avenue, Suite 300, Hudson NY 12534, USA. Tel: +1 518 822 9300; E-mail: psc@periodicals.com; Website: www.periodicals.com/tandf.html
22. Copyright: To assure the integrity, dissemination, and protection against copyright infringement of published articles, you will be asked to assign to the Editorial Board of the Journal of Southern African Studies, via a Publishing Agreement, the copyright in your article. Your Article is defined as the final, definitive, and citable Version of Record, and includes: (a) the accepted manuscript in its final form, including the abstract, text, bibliography, and all accompanying tables, illustrations, data; and (b) any supplemental material hosted by Taylor & Francis. Our Publishing Agreement with you will constitute the entire agreement and the sole understanding between the Editorial Board of the Journal of Southern African Studies and you; no amendment, addendum, or other communication will be taken into account when interpreting your and the Editorial Board of the Journal of Southern African Studies’ rights and obligations under this Agreement. Copyright policy is explained in detail at https://authorservices.taylorandfrancis.com/copyright-and-you/.
Updated 22-11-2021
Journal of Southern African Studies 