UTAFITI Journal of African Perspectives

Co-published by the College of Humanities, UDSM (Dar es Salaam) | Brill Publishers (Leiden)

NOTES TO CONTRIBUTORS [PDF]

Do  not  submit  manuscripts  that  are  under  editorial  consideration  elsewhere,  or  due  for  publication,  or previously published, or containing segments already available online. Manuscripts containing text matching the other authors’ other works or published material will be rejected outright.  UTAFITI accepts manuscripts all year round, then immediately previews and assesses viability of the submission, advises authors promptly whether the manuscript is fit for blind review, and then begins the blind reviewing process, working towards inclusion in the first available issue. This process takes from four to twelve months on average. Submit your manuscript to the

email address for corresponding with the chief editor: helenlauer@yahoo.com

 

Scope and purpose of this journal’s remit

 

Utafiti specialises in papers emanating from East Africa in particular, and from around the continent including foreign sources more generally, which provide alternative views challenging routine  assumptions  and  standard  methodologies  underlying  knowledge  production  about Africa and the global human condition. We seek to publish scholarship that goes beyond the research report stage of conveying scientific findings and providing recommendations.

 

We publish empirical, theoretical, methodological, and practice-oriented articles and book reviews. We are not bound by the narrow confines of any specific discipline but we insist upon the highest quality standards of humanities scholarship. We look for material that provides new frameworks and explores infrequently exposed data, which moves the discourse forward across the broadest spectrum of social and applied natural sciences, arts and letters, including archaeological, cultural and heritage studies, creative fine and graphic arts, development studies, discourse analysis, earth sciences, economics, education, ethics, gender, geography, governance, history, law, linguistics, literature, medicine, philosophy, policy planning and analysis, political science, religious studies, social administration, and statistics. Our scope is interdisciplinary and we seek to both compliment and supplement traditional literatures in all fields. The journal is dedicated to research, practice, advocacy, education and policy within a wide range of topics.

 

The journal aims to provide a vehicle for researchers focusing on African data whose analysis and presentation of their findings reaches a wider audience beyond the confines of their areas of specialization. We do not publish reports of research or scientific studies that follow that standard format of presenting data. Without sacrificing rigor or scholarly credibility, we seek papers that provide arguments and develop theses that go beyond the narrow confines of objective, value-neutral restricted reportage, limited to insuring accountability of the data collection process and reliability of analysis, with which the standard scientific reportage is forced to comply. We are keen to work on papers that address current controversial published debates.  We encourage and are happy to guide scientists in developing their research reports into fully-fledged broad knowledge contributions that can be appreciated and relied upon by scholars beyond as well as within their own disciplines.

 

We look for material that challenges received paradigms and stock assumptions about Africa. We embrace papers that critique received methodologies and theoretical frameworks. In general we avoid publishing research reports and primary ethnographic data compilations. Instead we are looking for papers that engage with the broader implications and deeper theoretical significance of first-order findings. Those few papers confined to treating regionally specific data and materials usually focus upon Eastern Africa.

 

We are particularly interested in papers that contribute fresh insights to contemporary debates that are cross-regional and global. We look for essays that contribute new content of international significance, and which explicitly engage the current literature by expanding upon

views that warrant greater recognition, or by correcting received models, theories and interpretations that are tacitly assumed in the global arena. We look forward especially to papers that offer critical orientations which challenge standardized views about African realities and experiences.

 

We do not publish chapters extracted from theses and dissertations.  Again, we do not print research reports.

 

We encourage articles that:

    contribute to knowledge of the humanities and social sciences through research and then critical examination of received methodology, in order to revise and revolutionize that methodology

    develop and advance theories pertinent to Africa and its people, rather than simply applying received models

    attend to issues of policy impacting African individuals and communities which challenges standard assumptions and causal explanations of policy failure

    utilize without explicitly describing the quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methodological approaches used in specific research fields, to highlight subject matter which centers on East African concerns and peoples, and their relation to other regions of Africa, the rest of the global South, as well as displaying the implications of these local subject matters for the whole human family.

 

1. Manuscripts intended for publication with Utafiti should be submitted electronically in ‘WORD’ format, double spaced, with ‘normal’ margins as measured on standard A4 paper. This rule applies to the entire manuscript, including the reference list, notes and appendix materials—if any.

 

2. TITLE OR FIRST PAGE (NOT A SEPARATE FILE) MUST INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING: (i) title of the article; (ii) name of the author(s) and title(s); (iii) contact phone numbers; Insure you provide working cell phone numbers for communication with editor. (iv) email for publication; (v) abstract of no more than

150 words and (v) 4-5 key words. (vi) your department and faculty or college or institute affiliation (vii) your role and rank in that unit of your affiliated institution. (viii) your private email address (not your institutionally affiliated email.) We need to submit this to the publisher for legal correspondence and as an internationally accessible, reliable address. Details (vii) and (viii) are new requirements entailed by our publisher for legal purposes and also because our journal is now indexed, our abstracts being uploaded in www databases, and the agencies responsible for this indexing require this information. (ix) This is  optional: you may wish to include your ORCID in your header. You can find out about, and register for, an ORCID at the following URL supplied to us by the international publisher: https://brill.com/page/Orcid/orcid

 

3. Manuscripts submitted in English (British or American), Kiswahili, or French, consistently so. Manuscripts in Kiswahili and French should include an abstract in the paper’s language, and also a translation of the abstract and title in English.

 

4. Illustrations (artworks, maps, photographs, plates) should be set in the text with captions, of high resolution with legible captions. In such cases a separate file ALSO must be sent, for each inserted plate or diagram or photograph, to the editor in the highest resolution or pixel density available to the author (e.g. jpeg, png or other). These separate files should be titled exactly with the correct figure number and exact caption to match the version in your WORD file of the manuscript.

 

5. In case of mathematical and linguistics font expressions (e.g., subscripts and superscripts), they should be correctly placed. Unusual or specialized characters including linguistics symbols should be identified by writing a glossary with their meanings early in the footnotes, at the first occurrence of one such symbol in the paper. Any equation number should be numbered consecutively at the right margin. Explain technical terminology for a general academic readership.  Spell out all acronyms at point of first use.

 

6. Manuscript should range between 5,000 and 8,000 words (including references and appendices and the 150 words maximum for the abstract).

7. BOOK REVIEWS – Maximum word limit 1,500 including references and header.  Header should include this format:

 

Dan Brockington and Christine Noe (Editors), Prosperity in Rural Africa? Insights into Wealth, Assets, and Poverty from Longitudinal Studies in Tanzania. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021. Pp. xxi +436. ISBN: 978-0-19-886587-2 hardback.

 

The affiliation of the book reviewer, status in sub-unit of that institution, and ORCID number (optional)

should be included in the manuscript (see item 2 above to complete the header of the file sent in WORD).

 

7. Any manuscripts containing special phonetic spelling and fonts, special symbols, graphs and inserted tables and plates of any kind must be accompanied with a pdf copy to ensure fonts are not corrupted through emailing.

 

8. Notes, Citations, and References:    DO NOT USE AUTOMATED REFERENCE LISTS. These will be returned so the author can redo the reference list (works cited) manually.

 

Footnotes should be numbered consecutively using the WORD processing function key.

 

In-text citation should follow ‘author-date’ system, such as (Nyerere 1967). Direct quotations should always show the page where it was extracted such as (Kjekshus 1977: 125). In case of more than two authors, the name of the first author should be used, followed by “et al. and year (and page number if applies). E.g., (Mkandala et al. 2004: viii). However, names of all authors should appear in the list of References.

 

Reference list should appear at the end of the document, arranged in alphabetical order, using the second name of the author, or of the first author in case of multiple authors. See the following examples. DO NOT USE AUTOMATIC BIBLIOGRAPHY WORD PROCESSING FUNCTION KEYS to produce your final reference list. Insert your references in a standard journal style format, into the manuscript as fixed type. Manuscripts containing automated bibliography lists will be returned to the author immediately for restitution.

 

Articles:

Geerling, C. and Brenan, H. 1986. Ecology in development: attempts to synthesize. Environmental conservation 13: 211-214.

Chegere, M., Kidane, A. and Leyaro, V. 2013. Poverty Effects of Fuel Price Changes in Tanzania. Utafiti 10(2): 1-33.

 

 

Thesis/Dissertation:

Ferdinand, C.K.T. 1984. An econometric analysis of demand for Chibuku in  Dar es Salaam. Unpublished MA  thesis,

University of Dar es Salaam.

 

Authored books:

Kjekshus, H. 1977. Ecology control and economic development in East Africa: The Case of Tanganyika 1850-1950. London:

Heinemann.

United Republic of Tanzania (URT). 1998. The Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania of 1977. Dar es Salaam: Government Printer.

 

Chapter in an edited book:

Masanja, P. and Lawi, Y. 2006. African Traditional Religions in Contemporary Tanzanian Society. In Justice Rights and

Worship: Religion and Politics in Tanzania. Eds. R. Mukandala, S. Yahya-Othman, S.S. Mushi, and L. Ndumbaro. Dar es Salaam: Mkuki na Nyota, pp. 97-113.

 

8. Peer reviewing: Utafiti is a peer blind reviewed journal. Manuscripts submitted for publication are reviewed blindly by at least two anonymous referees, who are experts in the respective subject. The identities of the author(s) and reviewer(s) are not disclosed to one another at any stage by the  editor. Reviewers are fundamental and decisive in determining acceptance or rejection of a manuscript by Utafiti.

 

9. Copyright: It is a condition of publication that authors vest copyright of their articles, including their abstracts, in Utafiti. This enables the editors to ensure full copyright protection and to disseminate the article and the journal to the widest possible readership in print and electronic formats as appropriate. Authors may, of course, use the published article elsewhere under permission from the Chief Editor.