Focus and Scope

Africa Today publishes peer-reviewed scholarly articles, book reviews, and short features on topics related to contemporary Africa and its diasporas. It seeks to be a venue for interdisciplinary approaches, diverse perspectives, and original research across the humanities and social sciences that is accessible to a multidisciplinary readership. Africa Today welcomes contributions from scholars across the globe, and especially from Africa-based colleagues.

The journal welcomes submissions of individual manuscripts for open issues as well special issues focused on particular topics. Past special issues have covered themes such as the construction of political legitimacy in Mali, processes of refuge-seeking, ethnographies of postcrisis situations, politics and decolonization, and religious entrepreneurship. Africa Today was established in 1954. It has been edited and published four times a year at Indiana University since 1999. Please review our article submission guidelines or the special issue proposal guidelines and then contact the Managing Editor or any of the editors with additional questions you might have about publishing in Africa Today.

Peer Review Process

Africa Today is a peer-reviewed journal. Typically, a submission is first assigned to an internal editor for review. Internal reviewers have a turn-around period of two to four weeks, after which the editorial board makes a decision to decline, to revise and resubmit, or to conditionally accept the submission. If not rejected, then the manuscript is sent to external reviewers for double-blind peer review.

A minimum of two and a maximum of three external reviewers have approximately five weeks to evaluate the manuscript and return it to the editorial board for further decision. Difficulty finding reviewers can delay this process. External reviewers evaluate the scholarly merit of the manuscript in terms of timeliness and interest of topic, rigor of research, contribution to theoretical debates, and clarity in writing and organization. These reviewers are chosen based on their area and region of expertise. Additionally, their reputation in academia is taken into consideration in selecting them to be a part of the review process. In the event of a split decision, the editorial board may decide to send the manuscript out for an additional review or it may render a decision based on the reviews received. In the event that a manuscript is granted eligibility for revision and resubmission, the resubmitted manuscript may be sent out for a second round of double-blind peer reviews.

Please review our publication ethics and malpractice statement, which outlines duties of editors, authors, and reviewers and which also details best practices on ethical matters, errors, and retractions.

Journal History

Africa Today has been on the forefront of African Studies research since 1954. The journal is published quarterly in winter, spring, summer, and fall by Indiana University Press, Office of Scholarly Publishing, Herman B Wells Library 350, 1320 E. 10th St., Bloomington, IN 47405-3907.