The Journal of Humanities (JH) is a multi-disciplinary, double-blind peer-reviewed journal aiming to develop new knowledge by challenging current themes, theories, methodologies, and practices in the human sciences. The journal publishes original research articles, theoretical articles, philosophical reflections, review articles, scholarly opinions, and empirical research on a wide range of issues such as humans and their interaction with the environment, cultural identities, religions, higher education, gender, performative arts, media and communications, globalisation, politics, and development and any inter-disciplinary studies within the humanities and the social sciences.
The Journal of Humanities (JH) is a multi-disciplinary, double-blind peer-reviewed journal aiming to develop new knowledge by challenging current themes, theories, methodologies, and practices in the human sciences. The journal publishes original research articles, theoretical articles, philosophical reflections, review articles, scholarly opinions, and empirical research on a wide range of issues such as humans and their interaction with the environment, cultural identities, religions, higher education, gender, performative arts, media and communications, globalisation, politics, and development and any inter-disciplinary studies within the humanities and the social sciences.
JH is a bi-annual publication and is hosted by the University of Malawi. The editorial board welcomes original contributions in the form of original articles, reviews, standpoints, and letters to editors from scholars within the humanities that align with the journal's aims. JH is dedicated to publishing original and high-quality research papers in human sciences in Africa. Although the journal is interested in the humanities, priority is given to articles that focus on studies in Southern, Central and Eastern Africa.
Manuscripts submitted to the journal go through a rigorous peer review system. The editor in chief provides the first editorial screening. The manuscript is then reviewed by subject specialists in the editorial board and reviewers who are experts in their fields of specialisation. JH has a pluralistic and non-partisan approach and will not accept manuscripts that aim to promote hate or discrimination against others based on religion, ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, class, disability, to mention a few. The editors are committed to upholding professional editorial principles and standards. JH welcomes manuscripts with a country or regional focus but must be written for an international audience. JH also publishes special issues and conference proceedings.
Journal of Humanities is a scholarly and peer-reviewed journal of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Malawi. The journal aims to foster critical and theoretical debates in the areas of classics, fine and performing arts, communication, literature and orature, linguistics, theology and philosophy. The journal publishes original research articles, scholarly opinions, and review articles. Priority is given to articles focusing on East, Central and Southern Africa. JH has a pluralistic and non-partisan approach.
JH provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. All articles are freely available without charge to all users immediately upon publication to ensure that the works are read and built upon by all those interested in academic pursuits. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This free global exchange of knowledge is made possible by financial support from Chancellor College, the University of Malawi, through the Faculty of Humanities. The selflessness and dedication of the editorial board and editorial consultants have also greatly contributed to our ability to freely share the contents of this Journal.
Journal of Humanities implements the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license to its published works. With this license users are free to “distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon [the works], even commercially, as long as they credit the authors” who retain copyright of their work with a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) license.
JH is a biannual publication.
Manuscripts submitted to JH undergo a thorough peer review process. The main purpose of the review process is to get expert views regarding, among others, the significance; originality; validity; and quality of the submitted manuscript. Because the peer review process adds value to the manuscripts and scholarship in general, JH strives to make the process as robust as possible.
JH’s editorial team acts as the first stage reviewers on all submitted manuscripts. This preliminary screening takes place within the first two weeks of submission. If the manuscript is considered to be of publishable quality, it is then sent to the reviewers.
JH follows the double-anonymous (double-blind) review model. In this model, the manuscript is sent to two anonymous reviewers, that is, the reviewers don’t know the identity of the authors, and vice-versa.
Peer reviewers for JH come from the humanities scholarly community (see JH’s scope). The reviewers are selected from any of the following sources:
The identified reviewers are then sent invitation letters. The letter includes such details as a brief introduction about JH, title of the manuscript, abstract, deadlines, among others. Based on this information, the prospective reviewer is expected to make the following considerations:
a) Whether they can assess the manuscript.
b) Whether there are any conflicts of interest connected to the ideas in the manuscript.
c) Whether they can meet the stated deadline and any other subsequent deadlines.
The prospective reviewer may give the following replies:
a) Accept to review the manuscript.
b) Decline the invitation citing such reasons as conflict of interest, not being the right expert in the subject area, being unavailable in the given deadlines.
a. The reviewer may instead suggest alternative reviewers if possible.
The reviewers read the manuscript in detail and give feedback on many aspects of the manuscript. The reviewers are expected to give detailed feedback in the following JH format:
1. Summary
a) What is the manuscript about?
b) What are the key findings and conclusions?
c) What is the manuscript’s scholarly contribution?
d) What are the manuscript’s strengths and weaknesses?
2. Major observations
a) Important points that the author(s) must address for the manuscript to be accepted for publication.
3. Minor observations
a) Some relevant observations which may not affect the overall conclusions of the manuscript. These observations may improve the work if taken into consideration.
In more specific terms, the reviewers are guided by the following set of questions among others:
a) What is the topic? Is it relevant and interesting to JH’s audience?
b) Is the topic original in the relevant discipline? What new addition does it make to the subject area in relation to the already existing literature?
c) What is the paper’s main argument? Are the conclusions supported by the evidence? Are the research questions fully addressed?
d) Is the paper agreeing or disagreeing with the existing knowledge in the subject area? If agreeing what is the significance of the paper? If disagreeing, are there enough grounds? If there are no strong grounds for disagreeing, what would improve the case?
e) Is the argument crafted clearly? Are there no unstructured, illogical or invalid arguments?
f) If the paper includes illustrations, figures or tables, what value do they add to the paper? Do they enhance the readability and understanding or are they superfluous?
g) Did the work follow best practices in data gathering, e.g. methodology, ethical standards, etc.?
h) Is the language in the paper of acceptable academic level? For example, is the text readable or does it require a professional language editor?
In addition to questions that examine the substantive aspects of the manuscript, some questions assess the technical impeccability of the submission. These may include the following:
a) Are the references in the paper complete and formatted according to JH’s guidelines?
b) Is the abstract a concise summary of the issues addressed in the manuscript?
c) Does the title reflect the content of the paper?
d) Are the keywords an accurate reflection of the content?
e) Is the paper well-structured? Does it include formal sections? Are the sections appropriately numbered and levels shown?
f) Is the paper’s word count within JH’s guidelines?
The editor-in-chief and the editorial team carefully consider the feedback from peer reviewers to make the final decision. Upon making the decision, the editor-in-chief sends the peer review feedback package to the author. This may include the following: the decision letter, the reviewers’ reports and sometimes the original text with reviewers’ in-text comments. The decision letter explains why the editorial board has reached the relevant decision. The author is expected to systematically respond to each raised point to show that the suggested changes have been considered.
Possible outcomes after the review process
The following represent the range of possible outcomes:
a) Accept without any changes: JH will publish the manuscript without any changes. This type of outcome is very unlikely considering the meticulous scrutiny that manuscripts undergo.
b) Accept with minor revisions: JH will publish the manuscript after the author has made some minor corrections.
c) Accept after major revisions: JH considers this as a conditional acceptance because the manuscript will be published only if the author has made the changes suggested by the reviewers and/or editors.
d) Reject the paper: JH will not publish the manuscript or accept resubmission even if major changes are made. This decision is common with submissions that are out of the scope of JH or those that are making outlandish claims.
Common reasons for rejection
The first kind of rejection is due to the manuscript’s failure to pass the preliminary test of technical impeccability. Such manuscripts are rejected by the JH’s handling editorial office where routine checks about technical requirements are done. The paper may fail the test of technical impeccability on the following grounds:
a) The manuscript is under review at another journal (submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal is forbidden).
b) There is evidence that the manuscript contains plagiarized content.
c) The submission is incomplete; for example, there is missing information such as authors’ names, title, keywords, affiliation of authors, references, substantive content, tables or figures, etc. Other reasons could be that the manuscript or parts of the submission are in unacceptable formats e.g. in some proprietary software unknown to JH.
d) The language is below the minimum threshold such that the paper cannot undergo peer review.
e) The manuscript does not conform to JH’s Author Guidelines (see Author Guidelines).
The second type of rejection is a result of the thorough review process. The reasons for this type of rejection are usually based on the substantive matters of the manuscript.
Since JH follows the double-anonymous review model, all invited reviewers are expected to keep all details about the review process confidential. If there are any questions, the reviewer must consult the editor-in-chief for clarification or advice.
Manuscripts submitted to the Journal of Humanities (JH) must be original contributions and not under consideration for any other publication at the same time. The corresponding Author must submit the manuscript online-only through our Manuscript Submission System. Authors are kindly invited to suggest potential reviewers (names, affiliations and email addresses) for their manuscript, if they wish. Authors should ensure that work is written in correct British English before submission. Professional copyediting can help improve the manuscripts and increase its chances of being considered for publication by JH. In case you feel that your manuscript would benefit from a professional a professional English language copyediting checking language grammar and style, you can find a reliable revision service at:
Title Page
Title Page is required for all submissions and must contain the following information
Manuscript
Manuscripts must contain the following in that order
Manuscript must be submitted in an electronic file (Microsoft Word) and should use Times New Roman (12 pt.) and 2.0 line spacing. Manuscripts must have block paragraphs which must be justified on the right and left. Manuscripts must indicate paragraph breaks by leaving a line open. The Main text of the manuscript should be reasonably divided into sections and, if necessary, sub-sections, clearly indicating the hierarchy of subheadings. Cited sections should be marked by quotation marks and emphasized expressions should be marked in italics. The document of the main manuscript must be anonymised. Authors must check that all references cited in the text are included in, and correspond with, those in the works cited or references section.
Tables and Figures
If tables and figures are used, they should be presented each on a separate page at the end of the manuscript after the references. They must be numbered in the order they are cited in the text of the manuscript; each must be cited in the main text. If figures are used, they must be submitted as .tiff or .jpg files, with the following digital resolution:
Authors must obtain written permission for the reproduction and adaptation of material which has already been published. A copy of the written permission has to be provided before publication (otherwise the paper cannot be published) and appropriately cited in the figure caption. The procedure for requesting the permission is the responsibility of the Authors; JH will not refund any costs incurred in obtaining permission.
Manuscript Length
Original articles (Full reports of results from original research. They provide an overview of innovative research in a particular field with or related to the focus and scope of the journal) should be between 5000 and 8000 words including references.
Book reviews (provide a short but comprehensive analysis of a recently published book) should be between 2000 and 3000 words.
Letters to the editor (short essays that express the authors’ viewpoint, may respond to published manuscripts in our journals, or deliver information or news regarding an issue related to the Journal scope. If the letter relates to a published manuscript, the authors of the original manuscript will be given the opportunity to provide a response.) should be between 1000 and 1500 words.
Standpoints/Opinions (offer short pieces or personal perspectives (not research) on knowledge, practices, technological concepts and/or developments that highlight recent, exciting research or policy developments related to any aspect of humanities.) should be between 1500 and 2000 words.
Abbreviation
If abbreviations are used in the text, authors are required to write full name and abbreviation in brackets [e.g. Multiple Myeloma (MM)] the first time they are used, then only abbreviations can be written.
Ethical considerations
JH requires Ethical Considerations section in main text. An Ethical Considerations sub-section is REQUIRED in the Methods section for all studies involving human or animal subjects. Authors must include the following:
Quotations
Short quotations should be indicated by double inverted commas, with single inverted commas for quotations within the main quote. Quotations of not more than 3 lines should be enclosed in double inverted commas (double quotes). A quotation within a quotation must be marked with single quotation marks. A quotation of more than 3 lines must be indented and blocked on both sides. Its font size must be 11 pt.
References
Avoid footnotes. However, if the author gives information which should not be part of the main text, she may explain in a footnote. When referring to published material, please use the latest version of American Psychological Association (APA) Style Manual (7th Ed). References are cited in the text by giving the name of the authors(s), the year of publication (in parenthesis), and the page number(s) as follows:
All citations must be fully listed in a works cited or references section at the end of the article or review in alphabetical order by author, with complete bibliographic details.
Manuscripts should be submitted to: editor.jh@unima.ac.mw
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