African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development Rural Outreach Program ISSN: 1684-5358 EISSN: 1684-5374 Vol. 1, Num. 2, 2005

African Journal of Food Agriculture Nutrition and Development, Vol. 5, No. 2 , 2005

Editorial

Overcoming challenges: the case of the young scientists in Africa

Code Number: nd05020

This Editorial is Available in both ENGLISH and FRENCH [select the link for the respective language]

As we prepare our 10th issue of the journal, we feel compelled to prepare and send out fresh supplementary instructions to our authors, reviewers and general readership. Starting this journal was, I feel, one of the best professional decisions I made in my life. Even as I became busier as a politician, I have continued to serve as Editor-in-Chief of the journal. I founded it, have steered its growth against all odds, and have remained a float, thanks to the support of the so many friends who continue to render their selfless and tireless support.

There have been many challenges but probably the most profound one of all has been lack of resources to run the journal. That forced us to stop physical hard prints and to go strictly online. There are those who have been apprehensive about this. It is a decision I had to make as founder and Editor-in-Chief and as the publisher as well (Rural Outreach Program- ROP), an NGO which I founded as well, is the publisher. I had to make the singular decision to either go electronic completely or close down. The amount of work, and the goodwill that had gone into this project could not let me close it. Besides, the capacity building principle behind the whole project is what drives me. I use graduate students to assist with the conveyor bet part of the management process and experience has shown that they become better writers and better analysts themselves after six months or so.

The whole aspect of free access very much informed what we are doing. I told myself "It would be absurd for an African Journal to be closed when so many international, better known journals are offering free access to scholars on the continent. Besides, the difficulties of accessing relevant scientific information, and limited opportunities to publish, formed the starting of this journal in the first place".

Another good decision I thought I made was to broaden the title and the content base of the journal. As a result, we have many manuscripts, a lot of manuscripts and limited by human resources to manage the production process. We continue to make it a hands-on learning experience for budding researchers and professors.

Achievements so far:

1. We are now able to keep the whole publication strictly online, but on CD as well. Hard copies will be produced only where somebody offers to sponsor such a publication.
2. Manuscripts are improving in quality with authors realizing that higher standard manuscripts move through the process faster than those which require considerable cleaning up.
3. Some authors withdraw manuscripts when they (manuscripts) have already gone through the review process. Chances are, they use our strict process for review, only to later send it elsewhere for publication. We shall shut out such authors in the future; we have made it very clear that the whole process takes time, and have reminded our authors to let us know promptly if they should submit their articles elsewhere, in which case we do not have to waste our limited resources on such a manuscript.
4. It would help us, and the process, if most authors were to serve as reviewers as well, as this would provide us with a larger pool of reviewers to draw from.
5. A number of authors have told us how they have been consulted once their work is seen on AJFAND website. Please let us know whenever this happens since it encourages us to help you better. Send in letters to the Editor as well, which can be published.
6. When our website is down, we hear from visitors to the website. The same send us compliments as well when they are deserved. It is your website www.ajfand.net Visit it regularly.

As we line up our articles, special preference is given to our reviewers, and articles referred by them not for publication parse, but in terms of starting to go through the review process. NO PAPER gets published without the endorsement of at least 2 reviewers.

Some authors are good in that, when they send in their paper, they also send in their abstract already translated into French. We pay quite expensively for French translation. When an abstract comes in already translated, it still has to be checked by our professional translators.

Let me give some reminders:

1. When sending your manuscript, please send the checklist as well to show that you have used it for compliance.
2. The journal is now paginated because it is PDF. It can also be downloaded and printed. It is, therefore, OPEN ACCESS. We only request that the source be quoted when the material is used, for teaching and research, in other words, GIVE CREDIT WHERE IT IS DUE.

This time round, there will be a mandatory compliance. We receive a lot of communication and truly, we shall not allow our computers to be clogged by those who do not bother to comply with the guidelines.

Please understand the various aspects of the checklist: abstract, key words, referencing etc.

Finally, THIS IS INFORMATION TO AUTHORS:

1. ANY ARTICLE SENT MUST BE SENT THROUGH EMAIL, AS AN MS WORD ATTACHMENT. ONLY PICTURES AND LETTERS OF ENDORSEMENT WILL BE ACCEPTED IF THEY FOLLOW ANY OTHER ROUTE.
2. ANY ARTICLE WHOSE ABSTRACT WORD COUNT DOES NOT FALL WITHIN 300-400 WORD COUNT WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED. Abstract should not be less than 300 words and not more than 400 words.
3. ANY ARTICLE WHOSE REFERENCING STYLE DOES NOT FOLLOW THAT OF AJFAND, WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED.
4. ANY ARTICLE THAT IS NOT ACCOMPANIED BY A CHECKLIST WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED.
5. ANYONE CAUGHT IN PLAGIARISM IN THEIR ASSOCIATION WITH AJFAND OR WITHDRAWING A MANUSCRIPT WHOSE PEER REVIEW WE HAVE FACILITATED, WILL NOT ONLY BE BLACKLISTED BY AJFAND, BUT BY ALL AJFAND PARTNERS AS WELL (AS SUCH, AN ACTION OF THIS NATURE MUST BE GIVEN FULL EXPLANATION TO AJFAND).

Copyright 2005 - Rural Outreach Program