For Authors

Article Submission Guidelines

African Academics Network (AAN) is an open access Journal Publisher, provides free access to the researchers and the students to its full text of articles. Students and researchers don’t need to pay or get any permission to read, copy, download and distribute the published work. Authors are welcomed to submit their research work that meets the general criteria of significance and scientific excellence. Accepted papers will be published approximately after one one of acceptance.

Paper Language

Authors need to submit the manuscript written in English language. Manuscripts written in other than English language are not accepted.

Paper Submission

Respected authors may submit their manuscript through online submission system. For this, they are supposed to follow some easy steps.

First register yourself with AAN system, if you already have an account then Log in.
From Journal List select the journal in which you want to submit your manuscript.
Click on the submit manuscript key located on the right side of the page.
Fill the online submission form, attach the manuscript file and then submit.

Note: Authors are requested to submit the manuscript in MS Word not in PDF or any other format.

Peer Review Process

The goal of peer review is to assess the quality of articles submitted for publication in a scholarly journal. Before an article is deemed appropriate to be published in any of AAN peer-reviewed journals, it must undergo the following process:

The author of the article must submit it to the journal editor who forwards the article to experts in the field. Because the reviewers specialise in the same scholarly area as the author, they are considered the author’s peers (hence “peer review”).
These impartial reviewers are charged with carefully evaluating the quality of the submitted manuscript.

The peer reviewers check the manuscript for accuracy, plagiarism and similarity index and assess the validity of the research methodology and procedures.

If appropriate, they suggest revisions. If they find the article lacking in scholarly validity and rigour, they reject it.

Because a peer-reviewed journal will not publish articles that fail to meet the standards established for a given discipline, peer-reviewed articles that are accepted for publication exemplify the best research practices in a field.

Peer Review Criteria And Considerations

Overall Impact. Reviewers will provide an overall impact/priority score to reflect their assessment of the likelihood for the project to exert a sustained, powerful influence on the research field(s) involved.

Scored Review Criteria. Reviewers will consider each of the review criteria in the determination of scientific and technical merit, and give a separate score for each. An application does not need to be strong in all categories to be judged likely to have major scientific impact. For example, a project that by its nature is not innovative may be essential to advance a field.

Significance. Does the project address an important problem or a critical barrier to progress in the field? If the aims of the project are achieved, how will scientific knowledge, technical capability, and/or clinical practice be improved? How will successful completion of the aims change the concepts, methods, technologies, treatments, services, or preventative interventions that drive this field?

Investigator(s). Are the PD/PIs, collaborators, and other researchers well suited to the project? If Early-Stage Investigators or New Investigators, or in the early stages of independent careers, do they have appropriate experience and training? If established, have they demonstrated an ongoing record of accomplishments that have advanced their field(s)? If the project is collaborative or multi-PD/PI, do the investigators have complementary and integrated expertise; are their leadership approach, governance and organizational structure appropriate for the project?

Innovation. Does the application challenge and seek to shift current research or clinical practice paradigms by utilizing novel theoretical concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions? Are the concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions novel to one field of research or novel in a broad sense? Is a refinement, improvement, or new application of theoretical concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions proposed?

Approach. Are the overall strategy, methodology, and analyses well-reasoned and appropriate to accomplish the specific aims of the project? Are potential problems, alternative strategies, and benchmarks for success presented? If the project is in the early stages of development, will the strategy establish feasibility and will particularly risky aspects be managed? If the project involves clinical research, are the plans for 1) protection of human subjects from research risks, and 2) inclusion of minorities and members of both sexes/genders, as well as the inclusion of children, justified in terms of the scientific goals and research strategy proposed?

Environment. Will the scientific environment in which the work will be done contribute to the probability of success? Are the institutional support, equipment and other physical resources available to the investigators adequate for the project proposed? Will the project benefit from unique features of the scientific environment, subject populations, or collaborative arrangements?

All submitted manuscripts are reviewed by qualified reviewers from the Editorial Team. After completion of the review the reviewers provide the review report for the assistance of the author to revise the paper. This review report is sent to the corresponding author asking him to revise the manuscript.

After receiving the revised file from the author, it is forwarded to the reviewers for review again. The reviewers review the manuscript again and provide the review report to the AAN Editorial Board. The Editor-in-Chief takes the final decision of acceptance/rejection according to the final review report. Below is the peer review process taken by AAN Journals.

A manuscript will be reviewed for possible publication with the understanding that it is being submitted to AAN Journals alone at that point in time and has not been published anywhere, simultaneously submitted, or already accepted for publication elsewhere. The journal expects that authors would authorise one of them to correspond with the particular Journal for all matters related to the manuscript. All manuscripts received are duly acknowledged. On submission, editors review all submitted manuscripts initially for suitability for formal review. Manuscripts with insufficient originality, serious scientific or technical flaws, or lack of a significant message are rejected before proceeding for formal peer-review. Manuscripts that are unlikely to be of interest to the AAN members and readers are also liable to be rejected at this stage itself.

Manuscripts that are found suitable for publication in any of AAN Journals are sent to two or more expert reviewers. The reviewers should not be affiliated with the same institution as the author/s. However, the selection of these reviewers is at the sole discretion of the Editor-in-Chief. The journal follows a double-blind review process, wherein the reviewers and authors are unaware of each other’s identity. Every manuscript is also assigned to a member of the Editorial Board, who based on the comments from the reviewers takes a final decision on the manuscript. The comments and suggestions (acceptance/ rejection/ amendments in manuscript) received from reviewers are conveyed to the corresponding author. If required, the author is requested to provide a point-by-point response to reviewers’ comments and submit a revised version of the manuscript. This process is repeated till reviewers and editors are satisfied with the manuscript.

Manuscripts accepted for publication are copy edited for grammar, punctuation, print style, and format. Page proofs are sent to the corresponding author. The corresponding author is expected to return the corrected proofs within three days. It may not be possible to incorporate corrections received after that period. The whole process of submission of the manuscript to final decision and sending and receiving proofs is completed online. To achieve faster and greater dissemination of knowledge and information, the various Journals publish articles online as ‘Ahead of Print’ immediately on acceptance, while print copies take two weeks to accomplish.

All manuscripts must be submitted on-line through the website. First time users will have to register at this website. Registration is free but mandatory. Registered authors can keep track of their articles after logging into the site using their username and password. Authors do not have to pay for submission and processing. Payment for publication of articles is only when it has been accepted for publication.

The submitted manuscripts that are not as per the “Instructions to Authors” would be returned to the authors for technical correction, before they undergo editorial/ peer-review. Generally, the manuscript should be submitted in the form of two separate files:

Title Page/First Page File/covering letter:

This file should provide

The type of manuscript (original article, case report, review article, Ethics Forum, Education Forum, Letter to editor, Images, etc.) title of the manuscript, running title, names of all authors/ contributors (with their highest academic degrees, designation and affiliations) and name(s) of department(s) and/ or institution(s) to which the work should be credited, . All information which can reveal your identity should be here. Use text/rtf/doc files. Do not zip the files.
The total number of pages, total number of photographs and word counts separately for abstract and for the text (excluding the references, tables and abstract), word counts for introduction + discussion in case of an original article;
Source(s) of support in the form of grants, equipment or all of these;
Acknowledgement, if any. One or more statements should specify:

contributions that need acknowledging but do not justify authorship, such as general support by a departmental chair;
acknowledgments of technical help; and
acknowledgments of financial and material support, which should specify the nature of the support. This should be included in the title page of the manuscript and not in the main article file.

If the manuscript was presented as part at a meeting, the organisation, place, and exact date on which it was read. A full statement to the editor about all submissions and previous reports that might be regarded as redundant publication of the same or very similar work. Any such work should be referred to specifically, and referenced in the new paper. Copies of such material should be included with the submitted paper, to help the editor decide how to handle the matter.
Registration number in case of a clinical trial and where it is registered (name of the registry and its URL)
Conflicts of Interest of each author/contributor. A statement of financial or other relationships that might lead to a conflict of interest, if that information is not included in the manuscript itself or in an authors’ form
Criteria for inclusion in the authors/contributors’ list
A statement that the manuscript has been read and approved by all the authors, that the requirements for authorship as stated earlier in this document have been met, and that each author believes that the manuscript represents honest work, if that information is not provided in another form (see below); and
The name, address, e-mail, and telephone number of the corresponding author, who is responsible for communicating with the other authors about revisions and final approval of the proofs, if that information is not included on the manuscript itself.

Blinded Article file:

The manuscript must not contain any mention of the authors’ names or initials or the institution at which the study was done or acknowledgements. Page headers/running title can include the title but not the authors’ names. Manuscripts not in compliance with The Journal’s blinding policy will be returned to the corresponding author. The main text of the article, beginning from Abstract till References (including tables) should be in this file. Use rtf/doc files. Do not zip the files. Limit the file size to 12. Do not incorporate images in the file. The pages should be numbered consecutively, beginning with the first page of the blinded article file.

Images:

Submit good quality color images. Each image should be less than 4 MB in size. Size of the image can be reduced by decreasing the actual height and width of the images (keep up to 1800 x 1200 pixels or 5-6 inches). Images can be submitted as jpeg files. Do not zip the files. Legends for the figures/images should be included at the end of the article file.

The contributors’/copyright transfer form

Template provided on acceptance of an article has to be submitted in original with the signatures of all the contributors within three days of submission via email (editor@aanjournals.com) as a scanned image. High resolution images (up to 5 MB each) can be sent by email..

AAN Journals accept manuscripts written in British or American English. It is the responsibility of authors/ contributors to obtain permissions for reproducing any copyrighted material. A copy of the permission obtained must accompany the manuscript. Copies of any and all published articles or other manuscripts in preparation or submitted elsewhere that are related to the manuscript must also accompany the manuscript.

Types of Manuscripts

Original articles:

These include empirical study, exploratory research, randomised controlled trials, intervention studies, studies of screening and diagnostic test, outcome studies, cost effectiveness analyses, case-control series, and surveys with high response rate. The text of original articles amounting to up to 3000 words (excluding Abstract, references and Tables) should be divided into sections with the headings Abstract, Key-words, Introduction, Literature Review/Material and Methods, Methodology, Data Presentation, Analysis, Results and Discussion, Summary, Conclusion and Recommendations, References, Tables and Figure legends.

Review Articles:

It is expected that these articles would be written by individuals who have done substantial work on the subject or are considered experts in the field. A short summary of the work done by the contributor(s) in the field of review should accompany the manuscript.

The prescribed word count is up to 3000 words excluding tables, references and abstract. The manuscript may have up to 50 references. The manuscript should have an unstructured Abstract (250 words) representing an accurate summary of the article. The section titles would depend upon the topic reviewed. Authors submitting review article should include a section describing the methods used for locating, selecting, extracting, and synthesizing data. These methods should also be summarised in the abstract.

Case reports:

New, interesting and rare cases can be reported. They should be unique, describing a great diagnostic or therapeutic challenge and providing a learning point for the readers. Cases with clinical significance or implications will be given priority. These communications could be of up to 1000 words (excluding Abstract and references) and should have the following headings: Abstract (unstructured), Key-words, Introduction, Case report, Discussion, Reference, Tables and Legends in that order.

The manuscript could be of up to 1000 words (excluding references and abstract) and could be supported with up to 10 references. Case Reports could be authored by up to four authors.

Letter to the Editor:

These should be short and decisive observations. They should preferably be related to articles previously published in the AAN Journals or views expressed in the journal. They should not be preliminary observations that need a later paper for validation. The letter could have up to 500 words and 5 references. It could be generally authored by not more than four authors.

Other:

Editorial, Guest Editorial, Commentary and Opinion are solicited by the editorial board.

References

All in-text references should be listed in the reference list at the end of your article. The purpose of the reference list entry is to contain all the information that a reader of your work needs to follow-up on your sources. An important principle in referencing is to be consistent. AAN Journals adopt the American Psychological Association (APA) Referencing Style

When compiling your APA Reference List, you should:

List references on a new page with a centred heading titled: References.
Include all your references, regardless of format, e.g. books, journal articles, online sources, in one alphabetical listing from A – Z.
Order entries alphabetically by surname of author(s).
List works with no author under the first significant word of the title.
Indent second and subsequent lines of each entry (5-7 spaces).
Use double spacing.
Note that all references in APA end with a full stop except when the reference ends with a URL or a DOI.

Journal article

A basic reference list entry for a journal article in APA must include:

Author or authors. The surname is followed by first initials.
Year of publication of the article (in round brackets).
Article title.
Journal title (in italics).
Volume of journal (in italics).
Issue of journal (no italics).
Page range of article.
DOI (presented as a hyperlink, for example https://doi.org/xxxxx).
The first line of each citation is left adjusted. Every subsequent line is indented 5-7 spaces.

Example:

Ruxton, C. (2016). Tea: Hydration and other health benefits. Primary Health Care, 26(8), 34-42. https://doi.org/10.7748/phc.2016.e1162

Book

A basic reference list entry for a book from a library database in APA must include:

Author or authors. The surname is followed by first initials.
Year of publication of the book (in round brackets).
Book title (in italics).
Edition (in round brackets), if other than first edition.
Publisher.
DOI (where a book has a DOI this must be included, even if you are referring to a print book).
The first line of each citation is left adjusted. Every subsequent line is indented 5-7 spaces.

Example: Arnott, G. D. (2017). The disability support worker (2nd ed.). Cengage Learning.

Tables

Tables should be self-explanatory and should not duplicate textual material.
Tables with more than 10 columns and 25 rows are not acceptable.
Number tables, in Arabic numerals, consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text and supply a brief title for each.
Place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading.
Explain in footnotes all non-standard abbreviations that are used in each table.
Obtain permission for all fully borrowed, adapted, and modified tables and provide a credit line in the footnote.
For footnotes use the following symbols, in this sequence: *, †, ‡, §, ||,¶ , **, ††, ‡‡
Tables with their legends should be provided at the end of the text after the references. The tables along with their number should be cited at the relevant place in the text

Illustrations (Figures)

Upload the images in JPEG format if not included in the article write-up. The file size should be within 5 MB in size while uploading.
Figures should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which they have been first cited in the text.
Labels, numbers, and symbols should be clear and of uniform size. The lettering for figures should be large enough to be legible after reduction to fit the width of a printed column.
Symbols, arrows, or letters used in photomicrographs should contrast with the background and should be marked neatly with transfer type or by tissue overlay and not by pen.
Titles and detailed explanations belong in the legends for illustrations not on the illustrations themselves.
When graphs, scatter-grams or histograms are submitted the numerical data on which they are based should also be supplied.
The photographs and figures should be trimmed to remove all the unwanted areas.
If photographs of individuals are used, their pictures must be accompanied by written permission to use the photograph.
If a figure has been published elsewhere, acknowledge the original source and submit written permission from the copyright holder to reproduce the material. A credit line should appear in the legend for such figures.
Legends for illustrations: Type or print out legends (maximum 40 words, excluding the credit line) for illustrations using double spacing, with Arabic numerals corresponding to the illustrations. When symbols, arrows, numbers, or letters are used to identify parts of the illustrations, identify and explain each one in the legend. Explain the internal scale (magnification) and identify the method of staining in photomicrographs.
Final figures for print production: If the uploaded images are not print quality, the publisher office can request for higher resolution images which can be sent at the time of acceptance of the manuscript. Send sharp, glossy, un-mounted, color photographic prints, with height of 4 inches and width of 6 inches at the time of submitting the revised manuscript. Print outs of digital photographs are not acceptable. If digital images are the only source of images, ensure that the image has minimum resolution of 300 dpi or 1800 x 1600 pixels in TIFF format. Send the images on a CD. Each figure should have a label pasted (avoid use of liquid gum for pasting) on its back indicating the number of the figure, the running title, top of the figure and the legends of the figure. Do not write the contributor/s’ name/s. Do not write on the back of figures, scratch, or mark them by using paper clips.
The AAN Journals reserve the right to crop, rotate, reduce, or enlarge the photographs to an acceptable size.

Protection of Patients’ Rights to Privacy

Identifying information should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, sonograms, CT scans, etc., and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian, wherever applicable) gives informed consent for publication. For example, authors should remove patients’ names from figures unless they have obtained informed consent from the patients.

Authors, not the journals nor the publisher, need to obtain the patient consent form before the publication and have the form properly archived. The consent forms are not to be uploaded with the cover letter or sent through email to editorial board.
If the manuscript contains patient images that preclude anonymity, or a description that has obvious indication to the identity of the patient, a statement about obtaining informed patient consent should be indicated in the manuscript.

Sending a revised manuscript

The revised version of the manuscript should be submitted online in a manner similar to that used for submission of the manuscript for the first time. However, there is no need to submit the “First Page” or “Covering Letter” file while submitting a revised version. When submitting a revised manuscript, contributors are requested to include, the ‘referees’ remarks along with point-to-point clarification at the beginning in the revised file itself. In addition, they are expected to mark the changes as underlined or colored text in the article.

Prints and Proofs

AAN Journals publishes online and provide printed copies quarterly. Authors can purchase printed copies on request, payment for which should be done at the time of submitting the proofs. Proofs will be sent to the corresponding authors by email approximately 5 days before the publication date. The issues are published in first week of the preceding month.

Submission Status

After the submission, author may inquire the status of the submission by email to editor@aanjournals.com. For status inquiry authors need to send the title of the manuscript and mention the journal in which they have submitted the manuscript. Authors’ mail will be responded in a short time. They will be informed about manuscript status and provided the paper id for future correspondence. Authors also may know the status of their submission through online system by logging in where they may view the status of their submission.

Article Processing Charge (APC)

Why we charge:

AAN Journals charge the publication fee of a manuscript to cover the expenses. These expenses include paper handling, peer review, editing, formatting, tagging, indexing, production, hosting on different servers, hard copy print and post expenses, website maintenance, electric and internet expenses, staff salaries etc. This fee is paid by author from his research budget or his supporting institution.

Respected authors/contributors will pay publication and hard copy fee for all journals as below:

Nigeria	Other African Countries	Rest of the World
Online Publication NGN25,000 Hard copy: NGN30,000	Online Publication: $US50.00 Hard Copy: $US70.00	Online Publication: $US70.00 Hard Copy: $US90.00

Note: If author don’t want hard copy then he/she will pay only online publication fee.

APC – Article Processing Charge includes:

Publication of one entire research paper.
Certificate of publication to authors of paper

DOI for Article

Editorial Fee
Indexing, maintenance of link revolvers and journal infrastructures.

You can pay APC through Flutterwave by Net Banking/Credit Card/Debit Card by this Link: Online Payment

Copyrights

The entire contents of the AAN Journals are protected under Nigerian and international copyright laws. The AAN Journals, however, grant to all users a free, irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual right of access to, and a license to copy, use, distribute, perform and display the work publicly and to make and distribute derivative works in any digital medium for any reasonable non-commercial purpose, subject to proper attribution of authorship and ownership of the rights. The journal also grants the right to make small numbers of printed copies for their personal non-commercial use under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 Unported License.

Journals are indexed and abstracted in:

RePEc (Germany)
IDEAS
Scientific Indexing Service
ACADEMIA
Polska Bibliografia Naukowa
Econ Papers
Google Scholar
SOCIONET PERSONAL ZONE
J-Gate
Academic Resource Index
Academickeys
CiteFactor
SHERPA/RoMEO
Slide Share
Directory of Open Access Scholarly Recourse
ADVANCE SCIENCE INDEX
Citeulike