Sponsoring Organizations

African Journal of Educational Studies in Mathematics and Sciences is housed in the Department of Mathematics Education, University of Education, Winneba, P. O. Box 25, Winneba, Ghana, and sponsored by Centre for School and Community, Science and Technology Studies (SACOST) and Institute for Educational Research and Innovation Studies (IERIS), both in the University of Education, Winneba

Publication Scheduling

The journal is published once annually.

General

Subscriptions
Plagiarism and fabrication
Duplicate publication
Refutations, complaints and corrections
Author responsibilities
Submission policies

When you submit a manuscript to African Journal of Educational Studies in Mathematics and Sciences (AJESMS), we will take it to imply that the manuscript has not already been published or submitted elsewhere. If similar or related work has been published or submitted elsewhere, then you must provide a copy with the submitted manuscript. You may not submit your manuscript elsewhere while it is under consideration at AJESMS.

The primary affiliation for each author should be the institution where the majority of their work was done. If an author has subsequently moved, the current address may also be stated.

If the manuscript includes personal communications, please provide a written statement of permission from any person who is quoted. Permission by email is acceptable.

We reserve the right to reject a paper even after it has been accepted if it becomes obvious that there are serious problems with its content, or our publishing policies have been violated.

Being an author

AJESMS does not require all authors of a research paper to sign the cover letter upon submission, nor do they impose an order on the list of authors. Submission to AJESMS is taken by the publication to mean that all the listed authors have agreed to all of the contents. The corresponding (submitting) author is responsible for having ensured that this agreement has been reached, and for managing all communication between the publication and all co-authors, before and after publication.

Responsibilities of senior team members on multi-group collaborations

AJESMS assumes that at least one member of each collaboration, usually the most senior member of each submitting group or team, has accepted responsibility for the contributions to the manuscript from that team. This responsibility includes, but is not limited to: (1) ensuring that original data upon which the submission is based is preserved and retrievable for reanalysis; (2) approving data presentation as representative of the original data; and (3) foreseeing and minimizing obstacles to the sharing of data or materials described in the work.

Author contributions statements

Authors are required to include a statement of responsibility in the manuscript that specifies the contribution of every author. The level of detail varies; some disciplines produce manuscripts that comprise discrete efforts readily articulated in detail, whereas other fields operate as group efforts at all stages. AJESMS allows one set of up to six co-authors to be specified as having contributed equally to the work or having jointly supervised the work. Corresponding authors have specific responsibilities (described below) and are usually limited to three. (For example, UV and WX wrote the main manuscript text and YZ prepared figures 1–3. All authors reviewed the manuscript.)

Corresponding author – pre-publication responsibilities

The corresponding (submitting) author is solely responsible for communicating with AJESMS and for managing communication between co-authors. Before submission, the corresponding author ensures that all authors are included in the author list, its order has been agreed by all authors, and that all authors are aware that the paper was submitted.

After acceptance, the proof is sent to the corresponding author, who deals with AJESMS on the behalf of all co-authors AJESMS will not necessarily correct errors after publication if they result from errors that were present on a proof that was not shown to co-authors before publication. The corresponding author is responsible for the accuracy of all content in the proof, in particular that names of co-authors are present and correctly spelled, and that addresses and affiliations are current.

Corresponding author – post-publication responsibilities

AJESMS regards the corresponding author as the point of contact for queries about the published paper. It is this author's responsibility to inform all co-authors of matters arising and to ensure such matters are dealt with promptly. This author does not have to be the senior author of the paper or the author who actually supplies materials; this author's role is to ensure enquiries are answered promptly on behalf of all the co-authors.

Correcting the record

Authors of published material have a responsibility to AJESMS promptly if they become aware of any part that requires correcting.

A confidential process

AJESMS treats the submitted manuscript and all communication with authors and reviewers as confidential. Authors must also treat communication with AJESMS as confidential: correspondence with AJESMS, referee reports and other confidential material must not be posted on any website or otherwise publicized without prior permission from AJESMS publishing team, regardless of whether or not the submission is eventually published.

Referee suggestions

Authors are welcome to suggest suitable independent reviewers when they submit their manuscript, but these suggestions may not be used by AJESMS; the decision of the Editorial Board Members on the choice of reviewers is final.

Correction and retraction policy

AJESMS operates the following policy for making corrections to its peer-reviewed content.

Publishable amendments must be represented by a formal online notice because they affect the publication record and/or the scientific accuracy of published information. Where these amendments concern peer-reviewed material, they fall into one of three categories: erratum, corrigendum or retraction.

Erratum. Notification of an important error made by the journal that affects the publication record or the scientific integrity of the paper, or the reputation of the authors or the journal.

Corrigendum. Notification of an important error made by the author(s) that affects the publication record or the scientific integrity of the paper, or the reputation of the authors or the journal.

Retraction. Notification of invalid results. All co-authors must sign a retraction specifying the error and stating briefly how the conclusions are affected, and submit it for publication. In cases where co-authors disagree, the publishing team will seek advice from independent reviewers and impose the type of amendment that seems most appropriate, noting the dissenting author(s) in the text of the published version.

Editorial decision-making

Decisions about types of correction are made by the journal's publishing team, with the advice of the reviewers and Editorial Board Members. This process involves consultation with the authors of the paper, but the publishing team makes the final decision about whether an amendment is required and the category in which the amendment is published.

When an amendment is published, it is linked bi-directionally to and from the article being corrected.

Authors sometimes request a correction to their published contribution that does not affect the contribution in a significant way or impair the reader's understanding of the contribution (e.g. a spelling mistake or grammatical error). AJESMS does not publish such corrections. AJESMS may however correct the online version of a contribution if the wording does not make sense.

Detailed description of correction types

Errata concern the amendment of mistakes introduced by the journal in production, including errors of omission such as failure to make factual proof corrections requested by authors within the deadline provided by the journal and within journal policy. Errata are generally not published for simple, obvious typographical errors, but are published when an apparently simple error is significant (e.g. a typographical error in the corresponding author's name).

If there is an error in the lettering on a figure, the usual procedure is to publish a sentence of rectification. A significant error in the figure itself is corrected by publication of a new corrected figure as an erratum. The figure is republished only if the Managing Editor considers it necessary for a reader to understand it.

Corrigenda are judged on their relevance to readers and their importance for the published record. Corrigenda are published after discussion among the Editorial Board Members. All co-authors must sign an agreed wording.

Corrigenda submitted by the original authors are published if the scientific accuracy or reproducibility of the original paper is compromised; occasionally, on investigation, these may be published as retractions.

Readers wishing to draw the journal's attention to a significant published error should contact the Managing Editor.

Retractions are judged according to whether the main conclusion of the paper no longer holds or is seriously undermined as a result of subsequent information coming to light of which the authors were not aware at the time of publication. Readers wishing to draw the Editorial Board Members' attention to published work requiring retraction should first contact the authors of the original paper and then write to the Managing Editor, including copies of the correspondence with the authors (whether or not the correspondence has been answered). The Editorial Board will seek advice from reviewers if they judge that the information is likely to draw into question the main conclusions of the published paper.

Material submitted to AJESMS must be original and not published or submitted for publication elsewhere. This rule applies to material submitted elsewhere while the AJESMS contribution is under consideration. Authors must disclose any such information while their contributions are under consideration by AJESMS.

If part of a contribution that an author wishes to submit to AJESMS has appeared or will appear elsewhere, the author must specify the details in the covering letter accompanying the submission. Consideration by AJESMS is possible if the main result, conclusion, or implications are not apparent from the other work, or if there are other factors, for example if the other work is published in a language other than English.

If an author of a submission is re-using a figure or figures published elsewhere, or that is copyrighted, the author must provide documentation that the previous publisher or copyright holder has given permission for the figure to be re-published AJESMS Editorial Board Members consider all material in good faith that the publication has full permission to publish every part of the submitted material, including illustrations.

Plagiarism is when an author attempts to pass off someone else's work as his or her own. Duplicate publication, sometimes called self-plagiarism, occurs when an author re-uses substantial parts of his or her own published work without providing the appropriate references. This can range from getting an identical paper published in multiple journals, to 'salami-slicing', where authors add small amounts of new data to a previous paper.

Plagiarism can be said to have clearly occurred when large chunks of text have been cut-and-pasted. Such manuscripts would not be considered for publication in AJESMS. However, minor plagiarism without dishonest intent is relatively frequent, for example, when an author re-uses parts of an introduction from an earlier paper. AJESMS Editorial Board Members judge any case of which they become aware (either by their own knowledge of and reading about the literature, or when alerted by reviewers) on its own merits.

AJESMS may use anti-plagiarism software to search the Web for duplicate textual content in order to determine if author contributions include copied work or they have used copyrighted works, in full or in part, which are not been duly acknowledged.

If a case of plagiarism comes to light after a paper is published in AJESMS, the publication will conduct a preliminary investigation. If plagiarism is found, the Managing Editor will contact the author's institute and funding agencies. A determination of misconduct will lead AJESMS to run a statement, bi-directionally linked online to and from the original paper, to note the plagiarism and to provide a reference to the plagiarised material. The paper containing the plagiarism will also be obviously marked on each page of the PDF. Depending on the extent of the plagiarism, the paper may also be formally retracted.

Due credit for others' work

Discussion of unpublished work: Manuscripts are sent out for review on the condition that any unpublished data cited within are properly credited and the appropriate permission has been sought. Where licensed data are cited, authors must include at submission a written assurance that they are complying with originators' data-licensing agreements. Reviewers are encouraged to be alert to the use of appropriated unpublished data from databases or from any other source, and to inform AJESMS of any concern they may have.

Discussion of published work: When discussing the published work of others, authors must properly describe the contribution of the earlier work. Both intellectual contributions and technical developments must be acknowledged as such and appropriately cited.

Subscription requests should be sent to

The Managing Editor, African Journal of Educational Studies in Mathematics and Sciences (AJESMS), Department of Mathematics Education, University of Education, P. O. Box 25, Winneba, Ghana; or emails dkmereku@uew.edu.gh

or

Managing Editor, Prof. J. Anamuah-Mensah, Institute for Educational Research and Innovation Studies (IERIS), University of Education, Winneba, Ghana, jophusam@gmail.com


Journal Identifiers


eISSN: 2508-1128
print ISSN: 0855-501X