About the Journal

PUBLICATION ETHICS

Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

For peer-reviewed manuscripts to be published in the journal, all parties involved—authors, reviewers, the chief editor, managing editors, associate editors, editors, and board members—must continuously work together. The chief editor and managing editors are in charge of maintaining the academic record and keeping an eye on publishing ethics. The editorial office takes on the duty of checking the articles for false information or plagiarism. The editorial team's objective is to keep the journal up to the highest publishing standards, which implies not only original, high-quality articles based on research but also any necessary retractions, explanations, and apologies. We value the input that each participant provides to the works that we publish.

Authors’ Ethics and Responsibility

  • Only individuals who are acknowledged as authors should be those who made a significant contribution to the paper.
  • The submitted paper must be the authors' original work and must not have been previously published.
  • Authors must confirm that the article they have submitted has not already been accepted for publication elsewhere.
  • Only the articles that have contributed to the author's work should be cited; extraneous citations shouldn't be included.
  • Writers should present their work in the most unbiased way possible.
  • Discriminatory arguments based on racial, sexual, national, or religious origin are not accepted. Fake findings should not be reported.
  • The authors must certify that all information is accurate and true.
  • Authors must submit a corrected version of their work in accordance with the suggestions of the reviewers and must notify the Chief Editor/Editors of any problems in their published paper.

Reviewers' Responsibilities:

  • Ensuring the secrecy of the entire evaluation process.
  • Rapidly provide a thorough, insightful, and objective assessment of the work's scientific substance.
  • Reviewers should find pertinent published works that the authors have not cited.
  • Notifying the journal editor of any potential conflicts of interest, whether financial or personal, and rejecting to review a manuscript if one might be present.
  • Notifying the journal editor of any ethical issues that come to light while reviewing submitted manuscripts, such as any unethical treatment of animal or human subjects or any striking similarities between the manuscripts being evaluated and previously published articles.

Chief Editor/ Editors' Responsibilities

  • Editors decide which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published
  • Editors are responsible for the contents and overall quality of the publication
  • Editors should evaluate manuscripts exclusively on the basis of their academic merit
  • Peer review assists the editors in making editorial decisions. Editors should publish only peer-reviewed, accepted articles
  • Editors should have a clear picture of a research's funding sources
  • An editor must not use unpublished information in the editor's own research without the express written consent of the author.

Peer-review Policy

  • The papers submitted to AJERNET are subjected rigorously to double-blind peer review.
  • No follow-up review is undertaken for rejected articles.

Peer-Review Process

The peer review process for AJERNET involves several key steps to ensure rigorous evaluation of submitted articles while maintaining anonymity and quality standards. Here's a detailed description of how this process typically works:

1. Initial Submission
Authors submit their articles electronically to AJERNET's editorial office via an online submission system. The manuscript should adhere to the journal's guidelines, including formatting and citation style.

2. Editorial Office Screening
The editorial office conducts an initial screening to ensure the submission meets basic criteria such as scope relevance, originality, and adherence to formatting guidelines. If the manuscript passes this check, it proceeds to peer review.

3. Assignment to Reviewers
The submitted manuscript is sent out for double-blind peer review. The identities of both the authors and the reviewers are kept anonymous throughout the process. Typically, two or more reviewers are assigned based on their expertise in the subject matter.

4. Peer Review
Reviewers assess the manuscript based on several criteria, including:

Originality: Is the research novel and significant?
Methodology: Are the methods sound and appropriate?
Clarity: Is the writing clear and understandable?
Contribution: Does the research contribute to the field?
Reviewers provide detailed feedback and recommendations to the editor. They might recommend acceptance, revision, or rejection based on their evaluation.

5. Editorial Decision
The editor evaluates the reviewers' comments and makes a decision:

Acceptance: If the manuscript is deemed suitable without revisions.
Revision: If revisions are required, authors are asked to address specific concerns raised by the reviewers.
Rejection: If the manuscript does not meet the journal's standards or is out of scope.

6. Author Notification
Authors receive the decision along with reviewers' comments. If revisions are requested, authors are given a deadline to submit the revised manuscript.

7. Revised Manuscript
Authors revise the manuscript based on the reviewers' feedback and submit the revised version along with a response letter detailing the changes made.

8. Final Decision
The editor re-evaluates the revised manuscript and decides on acceptance or rejection. If the manuscript meets all criteria, it is accepted for publication.

Post-Decision Policies
No Follow-Up Review: Once an article is rejected, no further review is conducted on the same submission.
Citation and Data Guidelines: Authors must properly cite all sources used and indicate primary and secondary data sources.

The Journal's Copyright Statement

  • AJERNET is an open-access journal. This means that all content is freely available to all. The author retains the copyrights associated with their work within AJERNET’s policy framework.
  • All articles can be accessed freely without any limitations on use, distribution, or reproduction in any medium, so long as they are expressly cited.
  • The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trademarks, and so forth in this publication, even if not specifically identified, may not mean that these names are not protected by the relevant laws and regulations in their respective countries.
  • The publisher believes that all information is true and accurate at the time of going to press. In this regard, the authors, editors, and publishers cannot accept any legal responsibility for any errors, typos, or omissions that may be made. There is thus no warranty for the materials contained in the articles.

The Journal's Licensing Position:

Position: Open-access

Licence: CC BY-NC

Article processing charges (APCs):

The journal charges an article processing fee of USD 50, which is only payable at the last stage before publication for accepted papers. Waivers are provided on a case-by-case basis. See payment details at the end of this web-page.

Terms & Conditions Policy

AJERNET will not be held responsible for the information in papers published in the journal; the author will be solely responsible for such matters (s). The opinions expressed in the articles are strictly the authors' own, and AJERNET may not entirely agree with them. Before a work is accepted for publication in AJERNET, peer reviewers assess it to gauge its efficacy, morality, and sincerity. The reviewers' conclusions should be regarded as final. The authors alone bear responsibility for the content's originality. AJERNET shall uphold the highest ethical standards for scientific publishing.

Plagiarism Check
All papers are checked for originality through the Turnitin plagiarism checker. This means that all manuscripts submitted for publication are checked for plagiarism by comparing them with billions of web pages and millions of content items.

Creative Commons
Authors publishing with AJERNET retains the copyright of their work under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY-NC). This license allows others to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work, provided that the original work is properly cited.

Archiving Policy

The African Journal of Empirical Research (AJERNET) is committed to preserving and maintaining the integrity of its scholarly content to ensure long-term access for the research community and the public. This Archiving Policy Statement outlines our dedication to archiving practices and our utilization of the PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN) for electronic backup and content preservation.

Archiving Principles:

(1) Digital Preservation: AJERNET recognizes the importance of digital preservation as an integral part of the scholarly publishing ecosystem. We are committed to safeguarding the accessibility and authenticity of our published content in perpetuity.

(2) PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN): AJERNET partners with the PKP Preservation Network to ensure the electronic backup and preservation of our journal content. This collaboration provides a robust and distributed preservation infrastructure to protect our digital assets.

Repository Policy

The African Journal of Empirical Research maintains a robust repository, ensuring seamless content harvesting via the OAI protocol. Our repository is accessible globally, proudly featured in prestigious collections like WorldCat Digital Collections, with plans to expand to other esteemed scholarly archives. We are firmly committed to preserving and disseminating exceptional empirical research to a diverse and widespread audience. Through persistent OAI-enabled access, we guarantee that our valuable scholarly content remains easily discoverable and readily accessible to researchers and institutions worldwide. As custodians of knowledge, we are dedicated to long-term archiving and collaborative access initiatives, fostering the global dissemination of empirical research.

Crossref
CrossRef is a scholarly publishers’ association that offers a shared infrastructure to support scholarly communications. All manuscripts published in AJERNET have a Digital Object Identifier (DOI).

AUTHOR GUIDELINES

Paper Submission

Papers are submitted in MS-Word compatible formats. This is after logging into the AJERNET portal with their credentials and accessing the Online Submission Link. The authors are then guided by a sequential process to submit their papers. After submission, the authors get an automatic acknowledgment through their email accounts with an especially assigned reference number. The authors will then be contacted directly by our editor.

Paper Format and Page Layout

  1. Papers must submitted in MS-Word (.doc & .docx) format
  2. The paper should not exceed 20 pages
  3. The authors name and institution of affiliation should be clearly indicated.
  4. Keywords should not be more than six
  5. The spacing for the paper should be as follows: single spacing for the whole document.
  6. The font sizes of the papers are as follows: title: 12 font size; names of authors: 11 font size; names of authors’ institutions: 10 font size; abstract and keywords: -10 font size; all other parts: 11 font size
  7. The font for the paper should be Times New Roman
  8. The page setup should be as follows: Portrait; A4 size; left margin: 1.5 inches; all other margins: 1 inch.
  9. Pages numbers should be placed at the bottom and centered. Nothing else, including footnotes, is allowed in the bottom margin of the paper.
  10. The papers should be referenced in the APA sixth Edition Style. Automatic referencing is preferred
  11. Spelling should be checked automatically through MS word and Grammarly [if possible] to avoid unnecessary grammatical errors and typos
  12. Download any of our published papers for guidance.

Structure of Paper

The manuscript is to be arranged in the following order:

  1. Title of paper/work; author(s) names, and complete name(s) of institution(s)
  2. Contact number (phone) & valid Email address
  3. Acknowledgment (optional):
  4. Abstract
  5. Keywords
  6. Introduction
  7. Objective(s) (must be included if more than one)
  8. Research Question(s) and/or; Hypothesis
  9. Results and Discussion
  10. Conclusion
  11. Recommendations
  12. Reference

Structure the paper as shown below:

Title of Work:

This should present the complete title of the paper/work. It should be followed by the complete list of the author(s) and their respective addresses

Acknowledgment (optional): This should briefly acknowledge other persons who assisted in the research but who are not listed as authors. It should also present the funding institutions, if any.

Abstract: Each work should be accompanied by an abstract of not more than 400 words. It should be a brief summary of the work that describe the research context, purpose, research methods, main findings, conclusions, and recommendations. It should not include any references.

Keywords: these should be placed immediately after the abstract and should not exceed six.

Text: The paper should be numbered corresponding to the various sections highlighted under the format of the paper above Tables and figures should be numbered chronologically 

Introduction: This describes the context and problem being addressed by the study. All relevant variables must be introduced

Objectives: these should be listed if they are more than one.

Experimental work: All studies conducted in the laboratory or on fauna and flora should include the correct names of the specimens/ scientific names of the species studied

Results and discussions: These should be written in the past tense. Corresponding tables and figures should be included where necessary. The results should be analyzed against reviewed literature. Extensive citations should be avoided

Conclusion: This should highlight the emerging key findings and their significance.

References: These should be in APA, Havard of CMS latest format. They should be listed alphabetically.

 

ARTICLE PROCESSING COST (APC) PAYMENT METHODS

Our APC is USD. 70 (pay the equivalent of your currency based on current exchange rates as advised by the journal)

Pay via the following accounts:

(Option 1) MPESA Paybill to Bank (Kenya):

Lipa Na MPESA:

Paybill:

Paybill Number:  8752518

Account Number: APC - Author'sName

Enter Amount: KES. (Amount)

 

(Option 2) Payment Details to Bank (KENYA):

MPESA to Cooperative Bank

Lipa Na MPESA:

Paybill

Business Number: 400222

Account No: 1823261#

Enter Amount: 

NB: the # in number 4 is mandatory to avoid crediting the wrong account

 

(Option 3) MPESA GLOBAL  (Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi)

Contact the journal for guidance

 

(Option 4) Bank Transfer (The Rest of Africa)

BANK NAME: ECOBANK KENYA LTD
BANK CODE: 043
BRANCH NAME: ECOBANK TOWERS
BRANCH CODE: 001
Account name: African Journal of Empirical Research.
ACCOUNT NUMBER: 6580015359
DENOMINATION: Kenya Shillings (KES)
BANK SWIFT CODE: ECOCKENA

 

(Option 5) PAYPAL: pay to editor.ajernet@gmail.com