Aims and Scope
The Journal of Africa Business and Entrepreneurship Research is the official Journal of Africa Business and Entrepreneurship Research Society (ABERS), devoted to promote research in business and entrepreneurship in Africa. The journal is intended for academics, professionals and practitioners interested in furthering the understanding and development of entrepreneurship and business in Africa.
The Journal is the Society’s flagship forum for the dissemination of original, significant and rigorous research on business and entrepreneurship in Africa. It invites a diversity of research, ranging from theoretical and discovery led empirical academic research, to applied research on policy and practice. The ABERS, through the Journal, addresses a need to provide a quality outlet for the rapidly growing volume of excellent research being produced by researchers on African business and entrepreneurship.
The Journal follows a blind review process. Before being accepted for publication, articles are reviewed by two referees. Articles must also be endorsed by the Editorial Board before final acceptance.
Please address all editorial communications to Professor Charles Adjasi, Editor, Journal of Africa Business and Entrepreneurship Research (JABER).
Charles Adjasi, Ph.D. : Editor of JABER Professor of Development Finance and Economics University of Stellenbosch Business School
Cape Town, South Africa
charlesa@usb.ac.za
Instructions for Submission
(Authors should also read the “Detailed Guidelines for Processing
Papers, and Guidelines for Processing and Reviewing Papers”)
- Original Articles only: The journal solicits unpublished manuscripts representing original work that have not been previously published in part or in whole or are not being simultaneously considered by any other journal for publication.
- Relevant Articles Only: The article must be relevant to the Journal’s interests and objectives.
- Electronic Submissions only: Manuscripts must be submitted electronically to manuscripts@africabusiness.org. Submission is free of charge for ABERS members.
A fee of 100 dollars US must accompany each submission from non-members, payable to Africa Business and Entrepreneurship Research Society. - Manuscript Length: A Manuscript should normally be limited to 25 pages double-spaced (including references and abstract), have margins and borders of 1 inch or 3.5 centimeters, with font size 12. Lengthier manuscripts may be considered, but only at the discretion of the Editor.
- Manuscript Style: The journal follows the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Manuscripts may be submitted as either PDF or Word documents.
- Manuscript Preparation: Manuscripts are evaluated anonymously. The authors must remove their names from the manuscripts and ensure that their names do not appear under the Properties of the file being submitted.
a. The first page is a separate page from the manuscript. It should have the title, author’s names, institutional affiliations, date, acknowledgement, and the name, mailing address, email address, phone and fax numbers of the corresponding author;
b. The second page is the actual cover page. It should have only the title and a short, one paragraph abstract of the manuscript (approximately 100 words) followed by a list of 4-5 key words used for indexing purposes.
c. The third and subsequent pages should contain the main text.
d. The references should start on a separate page following the main text.
e. Authors note should start on a separate page.
f. Endnotes should start on a separate page and be used sparingly. Number endnotes in the text consecutively using Arabic numerals and also list them together on a separate page. Place endnotes to tables on the bottom of the table.
g. Tables should start on a separate page. Each table must have a title. Title, column headings, captions, etc. must be clear and to the point. Number tables with Arabic numerals and present each table on a separate page at the end of the paper. Indicate in the text approximately where to place each table. Tables must be self-contained, in the sense that the reader must be able to understand them without going back to the text of the paper.
h. Figures should appear each on a separate page. Number figures with Arabic numerals. Type all figure captions in double space on a separate sheet following the endnotes. A figure’s title should be part of the caption. Figures must be self-contained. Each figure must have a title followed by a descriptive legend. Submit final figures in camera-ready format. Bitmap figures, such as photographs or half-tone images, should be at least 300 dpi (TIFF, BMP, JPEG, PNG). Vector (line-art) figures, such as charts and technical drawings, should be 600-1200 dpi (EPS, PS, and PDF). Identify each figure in
the margin or on back by a number.
i. Equations. Display all but very short mathematical expressions centered on a separate line. Number equations consecutively on the right margin, using Arabic numerals. Use Greek letters only when necessary.
j. The article should end with a non-technical summary statement of the main conclusions and implications. Place lengthy mathematical proofs and very extensive detailed tables in an appendix or omit entirely.
Guidelines for Processing and Reviewing Papers
Editor Screening
To be considered for review, Papers must meet seven minimal criteria:
- They should not have been published elsewhere.
- They should be the sole work of the authors, not plagiarised.
- Authors should have paid submission fees in advance (unless they are regular
member of ABERS). - They should be relevant to the interests and subject areas of the journal.
- They should conform to the approved formatting, presentation, and world length of the journal, and must be of a good standard of academic English or French.
- The research should be ethical.
- The research should meet acceptable academic research standards.
- The Editor will make an initial evaluation based on these criteria and if found acceptable under these criteria, the paper will be sent to two referees for blind review.
Relevance Criteria
Any area of research relevant to entrepreneurship and business in Africa will be considered as relevant:
- Foundations of promoting entrepreneurship in Africa
- Governance issues and business development in Africa
- Impact of COVID-19 on entrepreneurship and business development in Africa
- Foreign Direct Investments (FDI)
- Connecting research and entrepreneurship in Africa
Language, culture and entrepreneurship - Doing business in Africa: public policy options for a business-enabling environment
- Development of Space Technology and its business applications in Africa
Entrepreneurship and healthcare - Entrepreneurship and technology
- Entrepreneurship and clean energy
- Entrepreneurship and social justice
- Entrepreneurship and processing of raw materials
- Intercultural communication and business
- Business education and world languages
- University partnerships and entrepreneurs
- Entrepreneurship education
- Business incubation/accelerators
- Business financing: venture capital, private equity, banks, capital markets, angel
investors, crowdfunding, microfinance, SRI and impact investing, etc. - Fintech and entrepreneurship in Africa
- Chinese and Indian business engagement with Africa
- The Diaspora investment, remittances and entrepreneurship
- Small and medium-sized enterprises and microenterprises
- Social entrepreneurship
- Gender, youth and entrepreneurship
- Rural entrepreneurship
- Marketing, HR or supply chain management
- Leadership strategy in business
- Innovation in small business
- SMEs and international business
- Foundations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) promoting
entrepreneurship in Africa - Operations, global sourcing and Supply Chain in Africa
- Any other topics of interest for this journal
Blind Review Process
The referees will review the papers according to the assessment criteria above and the guidelines below.
Selected Paper for Online JABER: One that reports on a high standard piece of original,
significant and rigorous research as defined in the refereeing guidelines. This will be a rating
equivalent to a leading international journal with a world reputation.
Not recommended papers: One that is so flawed or poorly presented that it fails to meet
minimal standards.
The referees after the first review will recommend one of the following:
a) Acceptance for publication in JABER, no amendments
b) Acceptance for publication in JABER with minor revisions
c) Resubmission with major revisions, with balance on acceptance
d) Rejection
After completing the review process the reviewers will write a short commentary explaining why they feel the paper justifies their respective rating, this will be published with the full premier and recognised papers, or with the abstract of those that are deemed flawed but of some interest.
Normally only one resubmission of a given article will be accepted, but this will be open to
the editor’s discretion.
Criteria for reviewing papers that meet basic standards
The papers will be assessed generically on originality, significance and rigour. The editor is guided by the UK Research Excellence Framework ( www.ref.ac.uk ) in applying generic definitions of originality, significance and rigour:
Originality refers to the innovative character of the research output. Research outputs which demonstrate originality may: engage with new and/or complex problems; develop innovative research methods, methodologies and analytical techniques; provide new empirical material; and/or advance theory or the analysis of doctrine, policy or practice.
Significance refers to the development of the intellectual agenda of the field and may be theoretical, methodological and/or substantive. Due weight will be given to potential as well as actual significance, especially where the output is very recent.
Rigour refers to the intellectual precision, robustness and appropriateness of the concepts, analyses, theories and methodologies deployed within a research output. It also includes qualities such as the integrity, coherence and consistency of arguments and analysis, and consideration of ethical issues.
Detailed criteria based on these three generic standards are described as follows:
In assessing a paper, reviewers should look for contribution important new knowledge, ideas, methods, techniques, evaluation of policy and practice which will have the potential to make a widespread and lasting influence on the community of scholars interested in African business and entrepreneurship. This may include
- Imaginative Theory Led Research (not D): Imaginative originality in developing new approaches, concepts, ideas, techniques and applications. These may be theoretical or draw on rigorous empirical exploratory research. Though based on African business and entrepreneurship research, the paper has significant relevance to the research community beyond Africa.
- Discovery Led Empirical Research: Outstanding empirical discovery led research conducted with high standards of rigour designed to enhance understanding of complex socio-economic contexts and problems of Africans in business. Rigorous empirical papers of this type need not be theory driven, or even specifically lead immediately and directly to new theoretical developments. However, the new insights and understanding that emerge are of a standard capable of influencing others to rethink their approaches, theories and models. Although grounded empirical discovery led research of this type is expected to be mainly qualitative, including ethnographic, it may also be based on or mixed with exploratory quantitative research such as surveys. Discovery led longitudinal research is especially welcome.
- Methodological Research: Research on developing methods which address problems which present special difficulties to African researchers of business and entrepreneurship. For example, these may include translation problems, obtaining adequate random sampling of small businesses; overcoming mistrust of researchers; the influence of the illicit economy and so on.
- Cumulative Addition to Existing Models: Building on existing knowledge cumulatively but in an important and significant research area, and conducted in an exceptionally rigorous research design and with intellectual precision.
- Major Consortium Research: Reporting on and disseminating findings from a highly significant multi-user or consortium data set in a manner that critically addresses significant issues of African business and entrepreneurship.
- Literature Reviews: Conducting a critical review of previous research literature, using the latest rigorous methods of reviewing and analysing literature, which will provide an up to date and useful resource for scholars of the business and entrepreneurship research community. Such reviews will usually not be confined to African literature, but can be used to bring to the attention to African scholar’s research areas which have great potential to enhance the development of African scholarship in the research areas of interest.
- Policy and Practitioner Research: Research addressing issues of limited academic theoretical interest, but high generic as well as specific significance to policy makers and practitioners. These may include programme evaluations, policy evaluations, and impact and feasibility studies, policy reviews. To qualify as a premier paper the research must not only have to be conducted at very high standards of rigour, but also be capable of interesting and influencing policy makers and or practitioners across national and regional boundaries.
- Programmes and Evaluations: Papers describing and illustrating the development of original educational programmes or courses, or teaching techniques in entrepreneurship, and the problems and solutions experienced in developing and offering these programmes. While evaluation may form an element of the research, it is expected that the concept itself and its promise will be the main focus. The new programme must be capable of being of interest and capable of being potentially adopted in contexts wider than a single African country.
- Teaching case studies conducted to a high rigorous standard and of high potential relevance to educators throughout Africa.
The process illustrated in Figure 1.
