African Journal of Educational Studies in Mathematics and Sciences
Journal / African Journal of Educational Studies in Mathematics and Sciences / Submissions

 

Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

• The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
• The submission file is in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, or RTF document file format.
• Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
• The text is single-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.
• The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.

AUTHOR RESPONSIBILITIES

Submission and Correspondence

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.

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.

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.

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.

The corresponding author is responsible for the accuracy of all content in the proof, in particular, the names of co-authors, their order, spelling, and their current addresses and affiliations.

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.

License agreement and author copyright

AJESMS does not require authors to assign copyright of their published original research papers to the journal. Articles are published under a CC BY license (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License). The CC BY license allows for maximum dissemination and re-use of open access materials and is preferred by many research funding bodies. Under this license users are free to share (copy, distribute and transmit) and remix (adapt) the contribution including for commercial purposes, providing they attribute the contribution in the manner specified by the author (read full legal code).

Availability and sharing of materials, datasets and associated protocols

An inherent principle of publication is that others should be able to replicate and build upon the authors' published claims. Therefore, a condition of publication in AJESMS is that authors are required to make materials, data and associated protocols promptly available to readers without undue qualifications in material transfer agreements. Any restrictions on the availability of materials or information must be disclosed to the publishing team at the time of submission. Supporting data must be made available to Editorial Office and reviewers at the time of submission for the purposes of evaluating the manuscript. Reviewers may be asked to comment on the terms of access to materials, methods and/or data sets. AJESMS reserves the right to refuse publication in cases where authors do not provide adequate assurances that they can comply with the publication's requirements for sharing materials.

After publication, readers who encounter refusal by the authors to comply with these policies should contact the AJESMS publishing team. In cases where we are unable to resolve a complaint, the matter may be referred to the authors' funding institution and/or a formal statement of correction may be published, attached online to the publication, stating that readers have been unable to obtain necessary materials to replicate the findings.

A condition of publication AJESMS is that authors make materials, data and associated protocols promptly available to others without preconditions. Datasets must be made freely available to readers from the date of publication, and must be provided to Editorial Office and reviewers at submission, for the purposes of evaluating the manuscript.

REFUTATIONS, COMPLAINTS AND CORRECTIONS

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 Office 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 Office 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 Office 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 Office will seek advice from reviewers if they judge that the information is likely to draw into question the main conclusions of the published paper.

Duplicate publication

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 Office members consider all material in good faith that the publication has full permission to publish every part of the submitted material, including illustrations.

CONFIDENTIALITY AND PRE-PUBLICITY

Confidentiality

AJESMS keeps all details about a submitted manuscript confidential and does not comment to any outside organization about manuscripts that are either under consideration or that have been rejected.

After a manuscript is submitted, correspondence with AJESMS, reviewers' reports and other confidential material, regardless of whether or not the submission is eventually published, must not be posted on any website or otherwise publicized without prior permission. The Editorial Office members themselves are not allowed to discuss manuscripts with third parties or to reveal information about correspondence and other interactions with authors and reviewers.

Reviewers of manuscripts submitted to AJESMS undertake in advance to maintain confidentiality of manuscripts and any associated supplementary data.

Pre-publicity

Our policy on the posting of particular versions of the manuscript is as follows:

1. You are welcome to post pre-submission versions or the original submitted version of the manuscript on a personal blog, a collaborative wiki or a preprint server at any time.
2. AJESMS articles are open access and can replace the original submitted version immediately, on publication, as long as a publication reference and URL to the published version on the AJESMS website are provided.

AJESMS authors must not discuss contributions with the media (including other journals) except in the case of accepted contributions, which can be discussed with the media once an embargo date has been set.

Contributions being prepared for or submitted to AJESMS can be posted on recognized preprint servers, and on collaborative websites such as wikis or the author's blog. The website and URL must be identified in the cover letter accompanying submission of the paper, and the content of the paper must not be advertised to the media by virtue of being on the website or preprint server. Material in a contribution submitted to AJESMS may also have been published as part of an academic thesis.

PLAGIARISM AND FABRICATION

Plagiarism

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 Office 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 plagiarized 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.

Peer-Review Policies

Initial submission

Once submitted, your manuscript will be assigned to a member of our Editorial Office, who will read the paper and decide whether it is appropriate for the journal. Manuscripts that are within scope and seem, on initial assessment, to be technically sound and scientifically valid, will be sent to external reviewers.

Peer review

During peer review, reviewers will be able to access your manuscript securely using our online system, whilst maintaining referee anonymity.

At the submission stage, authors may indicate a limited number of scholars who should not review the paper. Authors may also suggest potential reviewers; these suggestions are often helpful, but they are not always followed.

By policy, reviewers are not identified to the authors, except at the request of the reviewer.

Decision after review

After considering the reviewer reports the Managing Editor will make one of the following decisions:

• Accept outright
• Request a minor revision, where authors revise their manuscript to address specific concerns
• Request a major revision, where authors revise their manuscript to address significant concerns and perhaps undertake additional work
• Reject outright

Revisions

In cases where the Reviewer or Managing Editor has requested changes to the manuscript, you will be invited to prepare a revision. The decision letter will specify a deadline for submission of a revised manuscript. Once resubmitted, the manuscript may then be sent back to the original reviewers or to new reviewers, at the Managing Editor's discretion.

A revised manuscript should be submitted via the revision link provided in the decision letter. The revision should also be accompanied by a point-by-point response to reviewers explaining how the manuscript has been changed.

Final submission and acceptance

When all editorial issues are resolved, your paper will be formally accepted for publication. The received date stated on the paper will be the date on which the original submission passed our standard quality control checks, which are based on the journal's submission criteria. The accepted date stated on the paper will be the date on which the Managing Editor sent the acceptance letter.

After acceptance, authors are sent proofs of their manuscript but only changes to the title, author list or scientific errors will be permitted. All corrections must be approved by the publishing team. AJESMS reserves the right to make the final decision about matters of style and the size of figures.

APPEALS

Even in cases where AJESMS does not invite resubmission of a manuscript, some authors may ask the Editorial Office to reconsider a rejection decision. These are considered appeals, which, by policy, must take second place to the normal workload. In practice, this means that decisions on appeals often take several weeks. Only one appeal is permitted for each manuscript, and appeals can only take place after peer review. Final decisions on appeals will be made by the Managing Editor handling the paper.

Decisions are reversed on appeal only if the relevant Managing Editor is convinced that the original decision was a serious mistake. Consideration of an appeal is merited if a referee made substantial errors of fact or showed evidence of bias, but only if a reversal of that referee's opinion would have changed the original decision. Similarly, disputes on factual issues need not be resolved unless they were critical to the outcome.

If an appeal merits further consideration, the Managing Editor may send the authors' response and the revised paper out for further peer review.