Style Guide for History in Africa

History in Africa – A Journal of Method (HiA) is published annually (in October) by the African Studies Association. The editors welcome manuscripts that focus on methodological dimensions in the study of African history in its broadest sense.

This style guide is intended to standardize important elements of style and thus to aid authors, editors, and proofreaders in preparing copy for publication in the HiA. The details of the HiA style specified here in part codify past practices and in part represent changes from them. For matters of style not included here, consult the reference list at the end of this style guide for additional sources of information. In case of doubt, remember that it is especially important to achieve internal consistency.

HiA does not pay authors for their manuscripts, nor does it provide retyping, drawing or mounting of illustrations, or other such services. Those are the responsibility of the author. The editor reserves the right to reject or return for revision any material submitted on the grounds of inappropriate subject matter, quality, or because of nonconformity with this style guide.

Authors must recognize that they (and not the African Studies Association, nor the editors of HiA) are responsible for the content of their articles, for the accuracy of quotations and their correct attribution, for the legal right to publish any material submitted, for the inclusion of mandatory acknowledgments and/or disclaimers, and for submitting their manuscripts in proper form for publication.

A manuscript submitted to HiA may not be under simultaneous consideration by any other journal or have been published elsewhere.

Submission Guidelines

Submission

Manuscripts should be sent electronically to Jan Jansen, the managing editor of HiA, at jansenj@fsw.leidenuniv.nl. Acknowledgment of receipt of a manuscript does not imply its acceptance.

Evaluation

Manuscripts are generally evaluated by two anonymous peer reviewers. The editors can normally complete an evaluation of a manuscript in about three to four months depending on the availability and responsiveness of external peer reviewers. Authors are notified as soon as a decision has been made to accept or reject a manuscript. Some rejections are made with the invitation to revise and resubmit, but a new evaluation of the revised manuscript will ordinarily be made.

Preparing the Manuscript

Manuscripts must be double-spaced throughout, including references, notes, tables, figure captions, and quotations. Margins throughout the manuscript (top, bottom, and both sides) must be at least 1 inch (2.5 centimeters).

Please include as separate sections and in the following order:

• • title page with complete title, author name(s) and affiliation(s), a current mailing address, phone number, and e-mail address

• • any acknowledgments you wish to make

• • a statement that this manuscript has not been previously published nor under review for publication elsewhere

• • a bio-sketch (50–100 words) that identifies your affiliation and most important research accomplishments

• • a short abstract (50–100 words) that summarizes the essential points of the paper (it is not meant to be an introduction or a mere list of topics). The title of the paper (but not the author’s name) should be repeated just before the text of the abstract.

• • text (with references in footnotes)

• • references (repeated from the footnotes but with author’s last name first!)

• • figure captions (each on a separate page)

• • tables or figures (each on a separate page)

All pages of the manuscript should be numbered consecutively. The manuscript will be sent to external peer reviewers, whose identities will not be made known to the author. Reciprocally, the editors do not reveal to the reviewers the identity of the author(s) of the manuscript. As standard practice, the editors remove the title page before sending it out on review. The author should take care that subsequent pages do not reveal her or his identity.

Textual Elements

Paragraphs

Indent the first line of paragraphs following a hard return.

Spelling

Use “American English.” In all quotations and titles of books, articles, and so forth, the actual spelling in the original is used. When abbreviations are used, they carry periods: i.e., e.g., except for the most familiar acronyms, such as BC and UNESCO. (The...