Current Issue
Articles
Peer-reviewed social science, from and about Africa
African Review of Social Sciences publishes original research across the social sciences, with particular attention to African societies, institutions and policy.
Every submission is read by an editor within five working days and, if it passes screening, sent to at least two independent reviewers. We aim to give you a first decision in ten weeks, and we publish our performance against that target each year.
- Double anonymous review At least two independent reviewers. You receive the full reviews with the decision, whatever it is.
- Ten weeks to a decision Screening within five working days. We publish our performance against this target annually.
- You keep copyright Authors retain copyright under CC BY 4.0 and may deposit the published version anywhere.
- Published on acceptance Articles appear as soon as they are typeset, not held back for a scheduled issue.
Call for papers
We welcome original empirical research, systematic and critical reviews, theoretical contributions, methodological papers, and short research notes reporting a single significant finding.
Work by early-career researchers and postgraduate students is explicitly welcome. It is held to the same standards of rigour as every other submission, and assessed on the same criteria.
Unsure whether your work fits? Send an abstract to the editorial office before preparing a full submission and we will tell you honestly.
What we publish
Society, culture and wellbeing
- Sociology and social policy
- Anthropology
- Psychology and social behaviour
- Social work and community development
- Gender and women's studies
- Public health and social policy
Governance, economy and law
- Political science and governance
- Public administration
- Economics and political economy
- Development studies
- Law, society and human rights
- Criminology and justice
Knowledge, space and method
- Education policy and practice
- Media, communication and digital society
- Human geography and urban studies
- Population studies and demography
- History and area studies
- Research methodology
This list is indicative, not exhaustive. If your work sits within the social sciences and speaks to African contexts, it is in scope. If you are unsure, send us an abstract and we will tell you.
How to submit
- Read the author guidelines Formatting, structure, word counts and referencing. Manuscripts that ignore them are returned before review, which wastes your time and ours.
- Anonymise your manuscript Remove your name from the text, from self-citations, and from the file properties. Prepare a separate title page with full author details.
- Create an account and submit Registration takes a minute. The submission wizard walks you through metadata, files and the checklist.
- Track your submission You will see the status at every stage and receive the full anonymised reviews with the decision, whatever that decision is.
African Review of Social Sciences is published by Digital Rights Kenya through the African Open Research platform. Double anonymous peer review. Open access. Content licensed CC BY 4.0 with copyright retained by authors. The publisher exercises no influence over editorial decisions.
