Instructions for Authors 

Journal of Psychology in Africa

ISSN: 1433-0237 (Print)

ISSN: 1815-5626 (Online)

Thank you for choosing to submit your paper to us. These instructions will ensure we have everything required so your paper can move through peer review, production and publication smoothly. Please take the time to read and follow them as closely as possible, as doing so will ensure your paper matches the journal's requirements.

We offer a range of editing, manuscript preparation and post publication services to assist you in preparing your manuscript for submission, increase your chance of acceptance, or broaden the readership of your article. General guidance on every stage of the publication process is available at our website.

Editorial policy

Submission of a manuscript implies that the material has not previously been published, nor is it being considered for publication elsewhere. Submission of a manuscript will be taken to imply transfer of copyright of the material to the owners, Africa Scholarship Development Enterprize. Contributions are accepted on the understanding that the authors have the authority for publication. Material accepted for publication in this journal may not be reprinted or published without due copyright permissions.

The Journal has a policy of single blind peer review. Papers will be scrutinised and commented on by at least two independent expert referees or consulting editors as well as by an editor. A multi-layered manuscript review process is implemented to result in high quality publications: a peer review and developmental review. The peer review process addresses the primae-face merits of the manuscript’s scientific contribution subject to the Editor’s discretionary decision. The developmental review by the Editorial office advises the scientific writing presentation qualities of the manuscript.

The Editor reserves the right to revise the final draft of the manuscript to conform to editorial requirements. The journal offers manuscript development support services at a cost of US$ 750 per manuscript, payable to the journal’s US Bank account. This service is optional, and authors may choose whether to use it. Instructions for remitting the publication fee will be provided to the lead or corresponding author.

Publishing ethics

By submitting to the Journal of Psychology in Africa for publication review, the author(s) agree to any originality checks during the peer review and production processes. A manuscript is accepted for publication review on the understanding that it contains nothing that is abusive, defamatory, fraudulent, illegal, libellous, or obscene. During manuscript submission, authors should declare any competing and/or relevant financial interest which might be potential sources of bias or constitute conflict of interest. The author who submits the manuscript accepts responsibility for notifying all co-authors and must provide contact information on the co-authors.

The Editor-in-Chief will collaborate with Tech Science Press using the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics in cases of allegations of research errors; authorship complaints; multiple or concurrent (simultaneous) submission; plagiarism complaints; research results misappropriation; reviewer bias; and undisclosed conflicts of interest.

Open Access

All articles in Journal of Psychology in Africa (JPA) are published in full Open Access. An article processing charge (APC) is applied to all accepted articles after peer review. There are no surcharges based on the length of an article, figures or supplementary data. This APC policy has been updated since January 1, 2025.

Manuscripts

Manuscripts should be written in English and conform to the publication guidelines of the latest edition of the American Psychological Association (APA) publication manual of instructions for authors. Manuscripts are suggested to be a maximum of 7000 words.

Submission

Manuscripts should be prepared in MSWord, double spaced with wide margins.

Before submitting a manuscript, authors should peruse and consult a recent issue of the Journal of Pyschology in Africa for general layout and style.

Manuscript format

All pages must be numbered consecutively, including those containing the references, tables and figures. The typescript of a manuscript should be arranged as follows:

• Title: this should be brief, sufficiently informative for retrieval by automatic searching techniques and should contain important keywords (preferably <13).

• Author(s) and Affiliation(s) of author(s): The corresponding author must be indicated. The author’s respective affiliation where the work was done must be indicated. An e-mail address for the corresponding author must be provided.

• Abstract: For data-based contributions, the abstract should be structured as follows: Objective – the primary purpose of the paper, Method – data source, participants, design, measures, data analysis, Results – key findings, implications, future directions and Conclusions – in relation to the research questions and theory development. For all other contributions (except editorials, book reviews, special announcements) the abstract must be a concise statement of the content of the paper. Abstracts must not exceed 150 words. The statement of the abstract should summarise the information presented in the paper but should not include references.

• Text: (1) Per APA guidelines, only one space should follow any punctuation; (2) Do not insert spaces at the beginning or end of paragraphs; (3) Do not use colour in text; and (4) Do not align references using spaces or tabs, use a hanging indent.

• Tables and figures: These should contain only information directly relevant to the content of the paper. Each table and figure must include a full, stand-alone caption, and each must be sequentially mentioned in the text. Collect tables and figures together at the end of the manuscript or supply as separate files. Indicate the correct placement in the text in this form <insert Table 1 here>. Figures must conform to the journals style. Pay particular attention to line thickness, font and figure proportions, taking into account the journal’s printed page size – plan around one column (82 mm) or two column width (170 mm). For digital photographs or scanned images the resolution should be at least 300 dpi for colour or greyscale artwork and a minimum of 600 dpi for black line drawings. These files can be saved (in order of preference) in PSD, PDF or JPEG format. Graphs, charts or maps can be saved in AI, PDF or EPS format. MS Office files (Word, Powerpoint, Excel) are also acceptable but DO NOT EMBED Excel graphs or Powerpoint slides in a MS Word document.

Referencing

Referencing style should follow latest edition of the American Psychological Association(APA) manual of instructions for authors.

• References in text: References in running text should be quoted as follows: (Louw & Mkize, 2022), or ( Louw, 2024), or Louw (2019, 2014a, 2014b). All surnames should be cited the first time the reference occurs, e.g., Louw, Mkize, and Naidoo (2020) or (Louw, Mkize, & Naidoo, 2023). Subsequent citations should use et al., e.g. Louw et al. (2024) or (Louw et al., 2024). ‘Unpublished observations’ and ‘personal communications’ may be cited in the text, but not in the reference list. Manuscripts submitted but not yet published can be included as references followed by ‘in press’.

• Reference list: Full references should be given at the end of the article in alphabetical order, using double spacing. References to journals should include the author’s surnames and initials, the full title of the paper, the full name of the journal, the year of publication, the volume number, and inclusive page numbers. Titles of journals must not be abbreviated. References to books should include the authors’ surnames and initials, the year of publication, full title of the book, the place of publication, and the publisher’s name. References should be cited as per the examples below:

Journal article

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of the article. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), Page range. https://doi.org/xxxx

Book

Author, A. A. (Year). Book title (Edition, if applicable). Publisher.

Chapter in a book

Author, A. A. (Year). Chapter title. In B. B. Editor (Ed.), Book title (pp. xx–xx). Publisher.

Conference paper

Author, A. A. (Year). Paper title. In B. B. Editor (Ed.), Conference Proceedings Title (pp. xx–xx). Publisher.

Website Articles

Author, A. A. (Year, Month). Article title. Website Name. URL

Reports

Author/Organization. (Year). Report title (Report No. if applicable). Publisher. URL

Newspaper article (signed)

Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Article title. Newspaper Name. URL

Unpublished thesis

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of dissertation [Doctoral dissertation/Master’s thesis, University Name].

Data Sharing Policy

This journal applies the Tech Science Press share upon reasonable request data sharing policy. Authors agree to make data and materials supporting the results or analyses presented in their paper available upon reasonable request. It is up to the author to determine whether a request is reasonable. Authors are required to cite any data sets referenced in the article and provide a Data Availability Statement. Please note that data should only be shared if it is ethically correct to do so, where this does not violate the protection of human subjects, or other valid ethical, privacy, or security concerns.

At the point of submission, you will be asked if there is a data set associated with the paper. If you reply yes, you will be required to provide the DOI, pre-registered DOI, hyperlink, or other persistent identifier associated with the data set(s). If you have selected to provide a pre-registered DOI, please be prepared to share the reviewer URL associated with your data deposit, upon request by reviewers.

Where one or multiple data sets are associated with a manuscript, these are not formally peer reviewed as a part of the journal submission process. It is the author’s responsibility to ensure the soundness of data. Any errors in the data rest solely with the producers of the data set(s).

Data availability statement. Authors are required to provide a data availability statement, detailing where data associated with a paper can be found and how it can be accessed. If data cannot be made open, authors should state why in the data availability statement. The DAS should include the hyperlink, DOI or other persistent identifier associated with the data set(s), or information on how the data can be requested from the authors. Templates are also available to support authors.

Data deposition. If you choose to share or make the data underlying the study open, please deposit your data in a recognized data repository prior to or at the time of submission. You will be asked to provide the DOI, pre-reserved DOI, or other persistent identifier for the data set.

Contact us

If you have any queries, please contact us via jpa@techscience.com.

Should you wish to contact the editor directly, you can do so at the following address: Elias.Mpofu@unt.edu