Submissions

Author Guidelines

Author Guidelines

Language Policy in Africa accepts manuscripts in English and French. All manuscripts are subject to double-blind peer-review and must be submitted via the journal’s online submission system. All submissions are first anonymized. They then go through an initial review in the editorial team. If accepted for peer review, each article is assessed by at least two anonymous peer reviewers. 

Scope

Submissions that are directly or indirectly related to language policies in Africa are considered in-scope, insofar as they address the position of African languages (either past, present or future). Submissions of a purely linguistic nature (e.g. descriptions of language use in particular situations) are likely to be considered out-of-scope. 

Authors are requested to include a description of how their submissions add to existing knowledge, either in the abstract, the introduction or the conclusion of the text. As an example: reports of surveys on language attitudes among groups of students are not likely to be accepted, unless they contribute a new angle not already reported in the literature. 

Style of the Text

• The submission file is in .odt, .docx, or .doc document file format.
• Block quotes of more than 40 words must be indented
• Title: maximum title length is 90 characters, for subtitles 120 characters.
• Headings: first order heading is in bold (use the same font as the body text), second order heading is italicized. Insert an empty line before a heading.
• Footnotes are numbered consecutively, using Arabic numerals (not Roman numerals)
• Images: 300 dpi
• Referencing and Citation:  LPIA employs APA 7^th edition style referencing.

Plagiarism 

LPIA places a strong emphasis on the importance of academic integrity and expects authors to thoroughly acknowledge the scholarly contributions of others. LPIA is committed to publishing only original material that has not already been published elsewhere. Any manuscript that raises concerns about plagiarism will be reviewed and cases of plagiarism will be sanctioned.

Conflict of Interests

Reviewers, authors and editors must disclose any and all possible financial or non-financial conflicts of interest regarding the manuscript. Please contact the journal editors with any questions.

Research Articles

Submissions should not exceed 8,000 words, including notes and references. The submission includes a title, an abstract that does not exceed 250 words, 4-6 keywords, and a word count of the main manuscript. We strongly encourage authors to add an abstract in an indigenous African language of their choice.

Revised manuscripts should include a cover note explaining point by point how the author has responded to reviewers’ comments.

Submission Procedure 

1. Check your submission against the Submission Preparation Checklist shown above.
2. Registration: If you have never submitted a manuscript to, or reviewed a manuscript for LPIA, you must first register using the Register button in the navigation panel.
3. Login using the Login button on the navigation panel. If you have forgotten your username and/or your password, select "Forgot your password?" and enter your email address to receive this information. LPIA identifies you through your email address, so please refrain from using multiple email addresses.
4. On the main page, select Edit my Profile. There you can select multiple roles, namely Reader (for receiving announcements), Author (for submitting manuscripts), and Reviewer (for reviewing other manuscripts). Make sure that the Author role is selected.
5. On the main page, select New Submission: This will lead you through several pages for submitting a new manuscript. If you do not see [New Submission], check your profile to ensure you have selected Author as one of your roles.

Revisions

If requested by the editors, revised manuscripts and responses to reviewers must be submitted to LPIA.

Final Submission

After the manuscript has been accepted for publication, please submit an editable file containing the accepted final  manuscript. Please ensure that all references follow the APA (7th edition) style.