Author Guidelines
These guidelines should be used for manuscripts submitted for publications as National University of Rwanda Editions.
1. University of Rwanda editions
Rwanda Journal of Social Sciences, Humanities and Business (RJSHB) publishes books under the UR Editions in any discipline or interdisciplinary based on original research results, to include monographs of doctoral studies.
Rwanda Journal of Social Sciences, Humanities and Business is publishing in hard copies and Online with African Journal Online (AJOL). The Rwanda Journal of Social Sciences, Humanities and Business publishes original works on both fundamental and applied research. Such works either demonstrate a significant new discovery or other contribution that has been established to fairly rigorous scientific standards.
Below are the generic guides to authors’ which are currently in use. Authors should abide by these
guides when submitting their manuscripts for publication in the Journal.
2. Language Policy
The Rwanda Journal of Social Sciences, Humanities and Business will publish articles and books
written in standard British English. However, articles on a specific subject matter will be published in the language of the subject matter and will contain an abstract in British English.
3. Reviewing Policy
Contributions will be blind peer reviewed by three scholars in the Author’s discipline outside his/
her faculty.
4. Manuscript Presentation Policy
a) General for both book and journal article manuscripts: The manuscript must be type written in
a concise manner in 1.5 spaced formats, with a font size of 12 pt. It must be paginated and for journal articles it must not exceed 24 pages.
b) Title for both book and journal article manuscripts: a concise title in connection with the contents of the document; names of the authors, the address of the institution (s) where research was carried out, the postal address, the fax and/or telephone number and the electronic address of the principal author/investigator.
c) Abstract for both book and journal article manuscripts: The manuscript must include an abstract not exceeding 300 words. The Abstract gives the most important points of the document. It will be followed by at most six key words.
d) Introduction for both book and journal article manuscripts: The introduction must clearly present the problems and the objectives of the article and justify its relevance. It refers to the former work most suitable (in connection with the subject) without making a review of the literature or to be a detailed history of the question.
e) Material and methods for journal article manuscripts: The material and methods are presented in a sufficiently detailed way. The repetition of the methods and well-known techniques could be avoided by referring to the works describing them in detail.
f) Results for journal article manuscripts: The results can be presented in text, tables or figures when necessary. The author must avoid repeating in text the information presented in the tables. For objects (graphs, charts, and diagrams), all characters, lines, arrows, borders and figures should be big enough to permit reproduction when the object is minimized to a size suitable for inclusion in the journal.
g) Discussion for journal article manuscripts: The discussion must focus on the implications and the practical significance of the findings, their link with the problem of research and their possible limits. It must show the contribution of the publication compared to the former studies on the research problem. The discussion should not be a repetition of the results.
h) Conclusion (and recommendations) for journal article manuscripts: The conclusions must be given in a concise way. It must prove the verification of hypothesis, criticize the methodology and if possible give an orientation to further areas of research. The recommendations, if any, will have to be presented in the same form.
i) Main Body for book manuscripts: The key issue in publishing books is to have a clear definition of the audience for the book. Some of the audience issues include, whether the book emphasis is on methodology or results; how much the target audience already knows about the subject; whether the book could be used as a textbook to educate students and where it would be of interest to people working in the field.
j) References for both book and journal article manuscripts: The Harvard System of Referencing will be followed as given in the DOC18. Reference should be given in alphabetical order (A to
Z) at the end of the article.
However the following sections should be included:
1) Title
2) Abstract
3) Introduction
4) Material and methods
5) Results
6) Discussion
7) Conclusion (and recommendations)
Main Body for book manuscripts: The key issue in publishing books is to have a clear
definition of the audience for the book. Some of the audience issues include, whether the book emphasis is on methodology or results; how much the target audience already knows about the subject; whether the book could be used as a textbook to educate students and where it would be of interest to people working in the field.
References for both book and journal article manuscripts
Copyright Notice
By submission of the manuscript for publication in Rwanda Journal of Social Sciences, Humanities and Business, the author(s) agrees to transfer the copyright to the journal.
