Aims and scope
The AJCLJ aims to contribute towards strengthening African scholarship and voices on climate change law and justice. Africa faces significant challenges from climate change despite its minimal contribution to the phenomenon. Key vulnerable sectors include water resources, food security, biodiversity, and human health. Legal responses at international, regional, and national levels are emerging, with African states actively formulating domestic laws for adaptation and mitigation. Balancing development with climate action raises concerns around fairness and equity, with a growing focus on litigation related to climate change and human rights. The AJCLJ aims to address the scarcity of journals focusing on climate law and justice in Africa, thus providing a platform for research and analysis to enhance African scholarship on climate change issues.
Instructions for authors
The submission must be original.
The submission must indicate that it has not already been published or submitted elsewhere.
Articles that do not conform to the Journal’s style guidelines will be rejected
Manuscripts will not be considered if the English is below standard. In case of doubt about the correct use of the English language, authors are advised to have their text checked by a native English speaker before submission.
All authors are obliged to provide retractions or corrections of mistakes when so required by the publisher or editors.
The AJCLJ utilises plagiarism detection software. Therefore, ensure that submissions do not infringe other persons’ intellectual property rights.
Papers should average between 5 000 and 10 000 words (including footnotes) in length. Shorter pieces such as case note or book reviews are also welcome
The manuscript should be in Arial, 12 point (footnotes 10 point), 1½ spacing.
Authors of contributions are to supply their university degrees, academic qualifications (with institutions where obtained) and professional or academic status.
Authors need to provide their ORCID identifier. ORCID provides a persistent digital identifier that distinguishes them from every other researcher and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between them and their professional activities ensuring that their work is recognised. If authors do not have such an ID, they can register at the website https://orcid.org/register.
Authors should supply an abstract of between 250 and 300 words, and at least four keywords.
Footnotes must be numbered consecutively. Footnote numbers should be in superscript without any surrounding brackets.
The manuscript will be submitted to a referee for evaluation. The editors reserve the right to change manuscripts to make them in conformity with the house style, to improve accuracy, to eliminate mistakes and ambiguity, and to bring the manuscript in line with the tenets of plain legal language.
General style to be followed by authors
First reference to books: eg UO Umozurike The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (1997) 21.
First reference to journal articles: eg C Anyangwe ‘Obligations of states parties to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights’ (1998) 10 African Journal of International and Comparative Law 625.
Subsequent references to footnote in which first reference was made: eg Patel & Walters (n 34) 243.
Use UK English.
Proper nouns used in the body of the article are written out in full the first time they are used, but abbreviated the next time, eg the United Nations (UN).
Words such as ‘article’ and ‘section’ are written out in full in the text.
Where possible, abbreviations should be used in footnotes, eg ch; para; paras; art; arts; sec; secs. No full stops should be used. Words in a foreign language should be italicised. Numbering should be done as follows:
1
2
3.1
3.2.1
Do NOT use automatic page numbering in headings.
Smart single quotes should be used; if something is quoted within a quotation, double quotation marks should be used for that section.
Quotations longer than 30 words should be indented and in 10 point, in which case no quotation marks are necessary.
The names of authors should be written as follows: FH Anant.
Where more than one author are involved, use ‘&’: eg FH Anant & SCH Mahlangu.
Dates should be written as follows (in text and footnotes): 28 November 2001.
Numbers up to ten are written out in full; from 11 use numerals.
Capitals are not used for generic terms ‘constitution’, but when a specific country’s constitution is referred to, capitals are used (‘Constitution’).
Official titles are capitalised: eg ‘the President of the Constitutional Court’.
Refer to PULP guidelines for additional aspects of house style.
Copyright and licensing:
The copyright of articles is retained by the author/s who also retain publishing rights.
Author fees
No fees or charges are required for manuscript processing and/or publishing materials in the journal.
Process for indentification of and dealing with allegations of research misconduct
The AJCLJ has a strict policy of screening manuscripts for plagiarism. The AJCLJ uses the Turnitin software to detect plagiarism prior to considering a submitted manuscript for review. Manuscripts displaying plagiarism may be rejected on this ground alone. Authors not adhering to the Journal's policy that verbatim quotes must be clearly indicated as such may be requested to revise their articles in light of this requirement.
Authors should observe high standards with respect to publication ethics as set out in the guidelines adopted by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), https://publicationethics.org/retraction-guidelines). Any cases of ethical misconduct will be treated very seriously and will be dealt with in accordance with these guidelines.
Publication ethics
In the event that the AJCLJ publisher or editors are made aware of any allegation of research misconduct, the publisher or editor will investigate and act upon such allegations.
When information comes to the attention of the publisher or editors of the AJCLJ that requires the retraction or correction of a published article, the matter must be investigated and acted upon appropriately. The AJCLJ is committed to publishing corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when so required, in the issue immediately following, in line with COPE guidelines.
Publishing schedule
Annually
Direct marketing
Any direct marketing activities, including solicitation of manuscripts that are conducted on behalf of the journal, will be appropriate, well targeted, and unobtrusive.
Information provided about the publisher or journal is truthful and not misleading for readers or authors.
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