About the Journal
The International Journal of African Higher Education (IJAHE) is published by the International Network for Higher Education in Africa (INHEA), based at the University of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa, in cooperation with Boston College (USA). It is accredited by the Department of Higher Education and Training, South Africa and is indexed by EBSCO, African Journals Online(AJOL), and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).
I. Focus and Scope
IJAHE aims to advance knowledge and promote research, as well as provide a forum for policy discussion and analysis on diverse higher education issues in the African continent. IJAHE anticipates assuming a vital role in shaping discourse, reporting new frontiers and creating a nexus for communication and networking among a wide array of researchers, students, academicians, policy makers and policy analysts interested in and concerned with higher education in Africa.
IJAHE, as a multidisciplinary journal, publishes research articles, essays and reviews on a multitude of higher education issues in Africa. The Journal also comes out in special issues that are comparative and theme-based in nature. The Journal considers issues not only on the theory and practice of African higher education from scholars around the world but also strongly encourages higher education practitioners in the continent to contribute and share their expertise and experience. The Journal serves as an independent and unbiased forum that accommodates a wide variety of perspectives and analyses, which are solid in their formulation and organization.
II. Peer Review Process
The International Journal of African Higher Education (IJAHE), a Diamond Access Journal, is committed to a rigorous, fair, and transparent peer review process for every unsolicited manuscript submitted to the journal. This policy describes how manuscripts are evaluated, the standards reviewers apply, the timelines authors can expect, and the safeguards in place to protect the integrity of the process.
1. Double-Blind Review
IJAHE uses double-blind peer review. Author identities are withheld from reviewers, and reviewer identities are withheld from authors. Editorial staff remove identifying information from manuscripts before review, and authors submit a separate title page with their identifying details.
2. Reviewer Selection
Each manuscript is evaluated by a minimum of two independent, external reviewers with documented subject-matter and/or methodological expertise relevant to the manuscript's topic. Reviewers are drawn from IJAHE's reviewer database, which records each reviewer's areas of specialization, disciplinary background, and prior review history.
Where a manuscript falls outside the expertise of the assigned editor's regular reviewer pool, the editor identifies additional qualified reviewers through the manuscript's references, relevant scholarly networks, or recommendations from the editorial board.
3. Conflict of Interest
Because editors see author identities before manuscripts are blinded, conflict-of-interest screening occurs mainly at this stage. Editors do not invite reviewers with a close financial, institutional, personal, or competitive relationship with an author.
If blinding occasionally fails and a reviewer recognizes or suspects an author's identity, the reviewer must disclose any resulting conflict and step back from the review. The same standard applies to editors: anyone with a conflict of interest, such as co-authorship or shared affiliation, recuses themselves, and the manuscript is reassigned.
4. Evaluation Criteria
Reviewers assess each manuscript on:
a) Importance and relevance of the subject matter
b) Originality of the approach
c) Soundness of the scholarship
d) Degree of interest to the journal's readership
e) Clarity of organization
f) Strength of the argument
g) Writing style and quality
Narrative or descriptive articles lacking analytical content are unlikely to be accepted. Reviewers provide a brief written justification for their assessment against each criterion.
5. Reviewer Recommendations
Each review results in one of the following recommendations:
a) Publish as it stands
b) Publish with minor revisions
c) Resubmit / requires major revisions
d) Reject
e) Refer to a specialist
f) Refer to another journal
Where two reviewers disagree substantially, a third independent reviewer is invited before a final editorial decision is made.
6. Timelines
a) Initial editorial screening: within 2–3 weeks of submission
b) Peer review: 4–6 weeks per round, with reminders for overdue reviewers
c) First editorial decision: within approximately 90 days
d) Non-responsive reviewers: replaced promptly to avoid unnecessary delay
Authors are notified of their manuscript's status as soon as a review is complete, and decision letters summarize the outcome and provide the substantive basis for the editorial decision.
7. Revisions and Appeals
Authors submitting a revision must include a response-to-reviewers document addressing each reviewer comment.
Authors who believe that a decision resulted from a misunderstanding or procedural error may submit a written appeal within 30 days. Appeals are reviewed in accordance with the journal's editorial procedures and may involve assessment by a different reviewer or editor where appropriate.
III. Open Access Policy
This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. Additionally, readers do not have to create an account in order to access issues of the journal.
This journal does not charge article processing charges (APCs) or submission charges and there is no embargo period for publication.
The work published in the journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
IV. Sponsors
V. Sources of Support
VI. ISSN
2313-5069
VII. Frequency
IJAHE is published three times a year.
VIII. Fees
The International Journal of African Higher Education does not charge fees.
IX. Journal History
The International Journal of African Higher Education an academic publication launched in 2014 by the International Network for Higher Education in Africa, based at the University of Kwazulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa with support from the Association of African Universities, Boston College Libraries, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
