Please read the guidelines below carefully to ensure that you have all the essential information you’ll need to know before submitting your manuscript. Note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.
Language
Manuscripts submitted to the Pan-African Journal of Education and Social Sciences (PAJES) are expected to meet international English language standards. Before submitting, it is recommended that the paper should be edited for language, especially if English is not your first language. Journal editors and reviewers should fully understand the academic content of your paper.
Ethics
PAJES is committed to the highest ethical standards for the conduct of research. Authors must therefore ensure that ethical standards of their manuscripts are followed. Authors should also ensure that papers submitted to PAJES have not been published or are not under consideration for publication in another journal.
Copyright
For any manuscript submitted to the Pan-African Journal of Education and Social Sciences (PAJES), the authors must confirm that their submitted paper is their original work. Upon successful publication in the journal, the author(s) retain the copyright of the articles and grant PAJES the right to publish the article, declare itself as the original publisher, and use it for indexing and storing on the journal website for public access.
Peer Review Process
This journal operates a double anonymized review process. The Chief Editor initially assesses all contributions for suitability for the journal. Papers deemed suitable are then typically sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality and value of the paper. The manuscript may need revisions to address the concerns and recommendations emanating from the review process. The Chief Editor is responsible for the final decision regarding the acceptance or rejection of articles.
To ensure anonymity in the review of manuscripts, identifying material should be kept out of the manuscript. A front page giving authorship, institution affiliation, biographical statement, and acknowledgments is provided in a separate file. Only the title is provided for identification on the manuscript and abstract received by the reviewers.
Authorship
All parties who have made a substantive contribution to the article should be listed as authors. Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status. A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored publication that substantially derives from the student’s dissertation or thesis.
Acknowledgment (optional)
Where authors believe that others have contributed considerably to the work, but not at a level that satisfies authorship, the first author may recognize this input through acknowledgment in 60 words or less. This should come before the References.
Funding Statement
PAJES requires authors to specify any funding sources (institutional, private, and corporate financial support) in the manuscript in a sentence. This should come after the Acknowledgments (if any) before the References with the following suggested wording: “The research team acknowledges funding from the X, Y, Z, G.” If there was no funding, the following wording should be used: “This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.”
Declaration of Interest
All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential conflicts of interest include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. If there are no conflicts of interest, please state this: 'Conflicts of interest: none.'
Manuscript Submission Specification/Guideline
Formatting Style
The PAJES uses the 7th edition of the American Psychological Association (APA) referencing style. Manuscripts must be submitted as a Microsoft Word document and double-spaced, using the default margins on all the sides. You should use a 12-point font size, Times New Roman font.
Reference Style
The journal uses the 7th edition of the American Psychological Association (APA) referencing style.
Article Length
Articles should be between 10 to 20 pages, double space, Times New Romans 12, without counting the references page.
Headings
Throughout your manuscript, you can use different heading levels as deemed necessary. The levels ranging from one to five help structure the document. Heading levels two to five are used for subheadings. Each heading level is formatted differently. Below are the 7th edition APA heading guidelines:
Heading level
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APA format
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Heading 1
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Centered, Bold, Title Case Capitalization
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Heading 2
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Left-Aligned, Bold, Title Case Capitalization
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Heading 3
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Indented, bold, Sentence case capitalization, a final period. The body text begins immediately after the period.
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Heading 4
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Indented, bold, italics, sentence case capitalization, a final period. The body text begins immediately after the period.
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Heading 5
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Indented, italics, sentence case capitalization, a final period. The body text begins immediately after the point.
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Tables
To correctly format an APA table, follow these rules:
- Table number (in plain text) above the table.
- Brief title (in italics and title case) below the table number.
- No use of vertical lines and as few horizontal lines as possible.
- Notes below the table when necessary.
Example
Tables are numbered in the order in which they are referred to in your text. The title should clearly and straightforwardly describe the table’s content. The table number appears on its own line, in plain text, followed by the table title on the following line, in italics and title case.
Figures
Figures include data visualization graphics—graphs, diagrams, flow charts, etc.—as well as content like photographs and artworks.
To correctly format a figure in APA, follow these rules:
- Labels and legends within the image in the same font and size as the main text.
- Figure number above the image, in bold.
- Figure caption on the next line, in italics and title capitals.
APA figure example
The figure itself appears first. If it is an infographic, it will usually include labels for the different elements of the graphic and may also include a legend explaining the meaning of any symbols, colors, and shading that cannot be directly labeled. For example, the “Boys” and “Girls” text in the above example is a legend. All of this should be integrated into the image itself.
Authors Placement and Affiliation
Authors must present their names, institutional affiliations, and country. Please list authors in the order in which you’d like them to be published.
Changes to Authorship
Before submitting an article, the author(s) must carefully verify the list and the order in which the authors' names appear on the manuscript. Any addition, deletion, or rearrangement of author names after acceptance of the article must be approved by the journal Chief Editor. To request such a change, the Chief Editor must receive the following from the corresponding author: (a) the reason for the change in the author list and (b) written confirmation (e-mail, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement. In the case of addition or removal of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed. Only in exceptional circumstances will the Chief Editor consider the addition, deletion or rearrangement of authors after the manuscript has been accepted. While the Chief Editor considers the request, publication of the manuscript will be suspended. If the manuscript has already been published in an online issue, any requests approved by the Chief Editor will result in a corrigendum.
Corresponding Author Information
Corresponding authors must present their e-mail addresses.
In-text Citations and References
APA format citations consist of parenthetical citations in the text, for example (Mugenda & Mugenda, 2019) or Mugenda and Mugenda (2019), and the full reference in the reference list. For each webpage, journal article, book, or any other source, specific citation guidelines apply.
Quality of Quoted Resources
At least 70% of sources must have been published within the last 5 years; at least 90% must be from published books and journal articles. Other sources should be used sparingly if they are the best source for the topic under exploration.
General Criteria for Manuscript Acceptance
Selected manuscripts for publication in PAJES are assessed based on the following criteria:
- Content completeness, accuracy, and originality: 30%
- Paper results and contributions: 40%
- Organization (proper abstract, good title, appropriately numbered sections, sub-sections and sub-sub-sections with descriptive titles, good transition between sections, use of diagrams and tables, good English): 20%
- Appropriately chosen and annotated bibliography items: 10%
Manuscript Template
See the Journal Article Template and organize your manuscript for submission accordingly. Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the standards and scope of PAJES will be reviewed.
Submission and Checklist
The online submission system guides authors step by step through the process of entering the article details and upload the sources files. Before sending your paper to the journal for review, check the following:
- All the relevant sections are present in the paper,
- The article template has been carefully followed,
- Length of article conforms to limits set out in the Author Guidelines,
- One author has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details (e-mail, full postal address),
- All necessary files (text and figures) are available. Even if you have your figures (images) embedded in the paper, you are still required to provide the corresponding source files during the submission process,
- Your manuscript has been "spell and grammar checked,"
- All references mentioned in the reference list are cited in the text, and vice versa,
- All references have been checked for accuracy and completeness.
- Permission has been obtained for the use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Internet).
- The various files of your manuscript have been prepared for upload in the online submission system.
- Avoid submitting two articles by the same author(s) to the same journal issue simultaneously.
Preparing your files for final submission: To submit your manuscript, you need to upload the following files to the online system:
- Title Page document file (WITH ALL AUTHOR DETAILS)
- Upload a full version of your manuscript as you would like it to appear when published.
- You must save this file as "Title Page.”
- Within this document, please include the following: Article title, Full name and details of the corresponding author, the Full names and details of all co-authors of the paper, Acknowledgements, Abstract, Keywords, Main text, Figures and Tables, and References.
- Main Article document file (WITH AUTHOR DETAILS REMOVED)
- Upload another document file with abstract, keywords, main text, and references, which should be kept anonymous since the journal you are submitting to uses double-blind peer review. DO NOT INCLUDE AUTHOR NAMES OR AFFILIATIONS.
- You must save this file as "Main Document.”
- Within this main document file, please include the following: Article title, Abstract, Keywords, Main Text, Figures, Tables, and References.
- Also upload the following files in the online system where applicable:
- Figure files
- Table files
- Image files
- Any other files such as supplemental materials.