AJOL hosted an Editors’ Training Workshop from 23 - 26 March 2026 in Tanzania bringing together 33 delegates representing 16 journals and 12  institutions from throughout the country for practical training on best practices in scholarly journal publishing and the use of Open Journal Systems (OJS) online publishing software. Working with our partners at the Tanzania Commission for Science And Technology (COSTECH), this intensive country-level workshop was intended to augment the Tanzanian Government’s new national quality guidelines for journals published in Tanzania, and to spark the development of a country-wide community of Tanzanian journals, which can provide each other with peer support going forward. Judging by the enthusiasm of the participants in working together actively in future, AJOL's training goals were achieved!

The workshop helped editors and journal teams to strengthen the quality, visibility and sustainability of their journals by engaging with current online publishing practices, open access models, peer review, editorial roles, journal standards, and practical tools for journal improvement. The programme also included hands-on training on the AJOL online peer review workflow (free and open-source software OJS), including article submission, editorial assignment, peer reviewer allocation, revisions, copyediting, production, publishing, and loading back issues onto the AJOL platform.

Participating journals included Business Management Review, Tanzania Journal of Science and Technology, The African Resources and Development Journal, Tanzanian Journal of Health Research, Tanzania Veterinary Journal, University of Dar es Salaam Library Journal, Journal of Adult Education in Tanzania, Diplomatic Review, Institute of Social Work Journal, and others.

The training also created space for peer learning and discussion about common editorial office challenges, including manuscript quality, author and reviewer guidelines, editorial board responsibilities, attracting authors, retaining reviewers, and strengthening publishing policies. Participants further explored Diamond Open Access, paid-open access and subscription models, linking the workshop to wider conversations on equitable and sustainable scholarly publishing in Africa.

Through this workshop, AJOL continued its commitment to supporting African journals with practical skills, publishing standards, digital tools, and capacity-building resources that help strengthen locally led scholarly communication.