Instructions for Authors

Prospective authors are advised that it takes several months for an article to be published. Only ten percent of articles are accepted with minor or no changes. Of the remainder, only approximately 35% are accepted with major changes.

Editorial policy

Submission of a manuscript implies that the material has not previously been published, nor is it being submitted elsewhere for publication. Submission of a manuscript will be taken to imply transfer of copyright of the material to the publishers, NISC. Contributions are accepted on the understanding that the authors have the authority for publication. Material accepted for publication in AJAR may not be reprinted or published in translation without the express permission of the publishers, NISC.
AJAR will publish research articles of 5 000 to 10 000 words, although longer articles may be accepted. Review papers will be accepted only if they make an original conceptual or theoretical contribution to the field.
The entire paper must be presented in English, although the abstract may, in addition, be presented in another language.

Review process

Papers submitted to AJAR will be reviewed by two appropriately qualified and experienced referees, to ensure that all papers accepted for publication are methodologically and conceptually sound, and make an original contribution to the field. Reviewers are instructed to rate papers using the following criteria: 1. the paper is well-structured and presentation is clear; 2. the goals of the project are readily apparent; 3. the methods used are appropriate to the project and appear to have been satisfactorily executed; 4. results and conclusions are well argued and cognisance is taken of alternative interpretations; 5. appropriate use is made of figures and tables (where relevant); 6. the paper takes into account related empirical and/or analytic work in the field; and 7. the paper makes an original contribution to knowledge in the area.

Manuscript submission

Typescripts should be submitted via e-mail attachment. If submitted by post, a disc containing print formatted file/s should be included.
When a manuscript is submitted, the corresponding author will be given a reference number that should be used when communicating with AJAR.
Manuscripts must adhere to the following criteria for submission and papers failing to do so will be returned to authors to be corrected before being reviewed:

Format

Papers should be submitted in MSWord or recent, compatible software format. Headings and text should be presented in 12-point non-serif font such as Arial or Courier. Text should be 1.5 line spaced and should not include text columns. Headings should be cased in sentence format (e.g. The history of injectable contraception). Primary headings should be presented in bold, secondary headings in bold and italics and tertiary headings in italics only. Margins should be 25mm and paragraphs should not be indented. Complex graphs and scanned images should be saved as separate files and preferred insertion point referenced in the text.
Manuscripts should contain a title page, an abstract page, the body of the text beginning on a new page, and a reference list.

Title page

This should include the title, author/s names (first and surname), corresponding author e-mail and postal addresses, and a short biographical sketch for each author on work and research interests. Author names must only appear on the title page. If any acknowledgements are due these should appear on the title page. The date of submission to AJAR should also be stated.

Abstract page

This should include the title of the paper and an abstract, which should be a concise statement of the scope of the work and the principal findings. It should summarise the information presented in the paper but should not contain references. Below the abstract up to five additional index words which are not included in the title must be listed in alphabetical order for retrieval purposes.

Citation and referencing style

Authors should follow the Harvard style of referencing:
( http://www.leeds.ac.uk/library/training/referencing/harvard.htm).
Citations: If a citation refers to a sentence it must be located before the period at the end of the sentence — e.g. (Akintola, 2001). If it refers to a paragraph it must be included after the period at the end of the paragraph. Multiple citations should be separated by semi-colons and these must be cited chronologically — e.g. (Habib,1998; Bwanika & Davis, 2000; Bam, 2001). If there is more than one citation with the same publication year, these should be listed alphabetically. If the author is referred to in the text the following format applies: "Nzioka (2001) suggests that…". If direct quotes are used the author, year of publication and page number must follow the quote in brackets - for example, (Ajulu, 1999, p. 63). If more than one page is referred to the following format is applicable: pp. 55–56. If the author name needs to be mentioned in relation to quoted text the following format applies: Machel (1998) suggests that ‘Quote’ (p. 66). If there are more than two authors in a cited reference, the first time the work is cited all the authors names must be used and thereafter, the first author followed by et al.

Reference list

This must appear at the end of the paper and must contain a list of all references cited in the text, in alphabetical order of first author, and should not include references not referred to in the text. All authors must be included in the reference list and full journal titles must be used. Examples:

Abraham, J. & Subrahmanian, C. (1998) Barriers towards the implementation/utilization of HIV counselling services. Paper presented at XII International Conference on AIDS, Geneva, Switzerland.

Ajuwon, A., Akin-Jimoh I., Olley, B. & Akontola, O. (2001) Perceptions of sexual coercion: learning from young people in Ibadan, Nigeria. Reproductive Health Matters 9(17), pp. 128–136.

Mann, J. (1992) AIDS in the World. Cambridge Massachusetts, Harvard University Press.

Webb, D. (1998) The sexual and economic politics of reintegration: HIV/AIDS and the question of stability. In: Simon, D. ed. South Africa in Southern Africa. Reconfiguring the Region. Oxford, James Currey.

UNAIDS (2000) A framework for action 2000. Available at www.unaids.org/africapartnership/files/FrameworkEnglish-final.doc [Accessed 12 April, 2002]. (Some caution should be exercised in citing internet references, as URLs are prone to change. It is therefore better to refer to a site URL where the reference may be searched for. It is generally better to reference the hard copy publication if possible.)

Body of text

All papers should include an introduction and conclusion section, but given the different types of papers that might be published in AJAR, we do not prescribe a standard format for the middle section. In structuring the body of the article authors are requested to take into account the review criteria described above.

Footnotes/endnotes: Endnotes should be used rather than footnotes, although it is preferable to limit use of endnotes. Full references should appear in the reference list and not in endnotes.

Writing style: This should be concise and clear. Long and complex sentences should be avoided. Authors must bear in mind that AJAR will be read by non-native English speakers and efforts should be made to define terms and jargon which are discipline-specific or infrequently used.

Abbreviations: These should generally not be used in the text. `For example`, `that is` and `namely` should be written in full, although abbreviations such as `e.g.`, `i.e.` and `viz.` may be used in text which is separated from the main text body by hyphens or brackets.

Non-English words: These should be italicised and should not be capitalised by virtue of being non-English words.

Acronyms

When an acronym is used for the first time, it should be followed in brackets by the full text to which it refers. Thereafter the acronym may be used without explanation.

Numbers: The period (.) must be used as the decimal indicator, and `thousands` must be designated by a space rather than a comma (e.g. 1 500 000).

Inverted commas: Double inverted commas should only be used to designate quotes. Otherwise single inverted commas should be used.

Tables

Each table must be accompanied by an appropriate stand-alone caption. Data may not be presented in both tabular and graphical form. Tables must use thin single lines and should not include shading. Tables should contain only information directly relevant to the content paper.

Figures

Highly stylised formatting should be avoided. Figures should preferably be two dimensional and inward-turning scale marks should be used. The use of grey tones should be avoided and pattern textures should rather be used.

Scanned images
Line artwork and photographs should be scanned and saved as separate files, rather than included in the text. References to these files should be clearly marked in the text. The preferred point of insertion should be labelled in the text. TIF, GIF, JPG or EPS formats may be used. Images must be scanned at a minimum of 300dpi format.

Papers should be submitted to the Editorial Assistant at ajar@ru.ac.za. Any queries regarding presentation should be addressed to the Editorial Assistant.

The reprints will be available in pdf format and may be downloaded from the NISC website for a period of three months after the date of notification. Corresponding authors will receive notification via email when reprints are available for download.