Guide to Africa Bibliography

doi:10.1353/afr.2007.0003

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Guide to Africa Bibliography

Scope and coverage

This bibliography records publications on Africa of interest to students of Africa, principally in the social and environmental sciences, development studies, humanities and arts. Some items from the medical, biological and natural sciences are included. The criterion used is potential relevance to a reader from a social sciences/arts background. The whole continent and associated islands are covered but the African diaspora, only very selectively. The 2005 edition aims to cover material published in 2005 together with items from earlier years not previously listed. The editor is always very glad to hear of any items omitted so that they may be included in future editions. She would be particularly pleased to receive notification of new periodicals. African government publications and works of creative literature are not normally listed.

The principal sources of data for this volume are the holdings of Cambridge University Library, the African Studies Centre (Cambridge), SOAS, the Afrika Studiecentrum, Leiden and material received by the International African Institute. Much of this material has been personally examined by the editor. Additional data has been garnered from other published bibliographies, both print and online, from COPAC (the online union catalogue of the UK's major research libraries) and AJOL (African Journals Online) <http://www.ajol.info/> which provides invaluable access to periodicals published in Africa.

Arrangement

The arrangement of the bibliography is by region and country, with a preliminary section for the continent as a whole. Each region or country begins with a General section and then subject fields (see list below) follow in alphabetical order. Where an item might appear under more than one heading, this is indicated by cross reference (see the 'see also' list immediately under each subject heading) or the subject index will guide users to it.

Entry types

The bibliography contains three types of entry: periodical articles, books and pamphlets, and chapters. Book entries give author, title, place, publisher and pagination (but not ISBN numbers or price). Entries for chapters in books, largely not on African topics, give full bibliographic information for the volume concerned. However, when a book contains many relevant chapters it is listed separately and the chapter entry includes only a short version of the title, the name(s) of the editor(s), and the entry number of the book itself.

Indexes

The bibliography has author and subject indexes, which use the entry number to identify relevant items. The first three authors only of multi-authored works are listed. Where an item is sufficiently described by the subject heading, it will not appear in the subject index. Users are advised to scan broadly. The index will be most useful for those searching under concepts such as Constitution or [End Page xvi] Structural Adjustment or under the names of ethnic groups and languages. It also makes some use of keywords, often reflecting the vocabulary of the original entry.

Subject headings

Agriculture

Anthropology

Architecture

Africa: The Journal of the International African Institute