Publication Policy

Publication ethics, academic integrity, and professional responsibility form the cornerstone of publication for the Africa Digital Governance and Law Review journal, which is published by the Prime Crest Publisher. The Journal operates according to internationally acknowledged norms of scholarly ethical publication and abides by scholarly best practice guidelines that have been adopted by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). The responsibility to  ensure the integrity, credibility, originality, and scholarly quality of publications is shared by the members of the Editorial Board, editors, peer reviewers, authors, and publisher.All individuals involved in the publication process are expected to uphold the principles of:

Honesty

Originality

Fairness

Accountability

Confidentiality

Transparency

Independence; and

Responsible research conduct.

 

Since the Journal is concerned about digital governance and law, it would also mean that authors, editors, and reviewers need to be careful regarding responsible uses of artificial intelligence, digital technology, data, automated system, software, and other forms of emerging technologies in research and scholarly publication.

The Journal is devoted to ensuring the responsible uses of emerging technologies and ensuring that no harm will be done to academic integrity, research transparency, authorship responsibility, originality, and integrity of the scholarly record.

OBLIGATIONS OF AUTHORS

Authors who wish to submit manuscripts to the Africa Digital Governance and Law Review (ADGLR) are required to observe the following:

1. The manuscript should be original, never published before or being considered by another journal or other publishing house.
2. Authors should give proper citation and acknowledgement of all sources, references, ideas, data, quotations, digital sources, technology sources, and others used in the manuscript.
3. Authors should give accurate, complete, and honest presentation of the research methods, data, findings, interpretation, and analysis.
4. Authors should refrain from engaging in the acts of fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, duplicate publication, redundant publication, citation manipulation, or any kind of academic or research misconduct.
5. The individuals mentioned as authors should have contributed significantly to the research process and the writing of the paper. It is also important to accurately reflect the contribution of each author.
6. Authors are expected to declare all possible conflicts of interest related to finance, profession, institution, technology or any other type of relationship that could affect their research and publication.
7. Human participant studies should be conducted in compliance with all the ethical requirements and must secure all necessary approvals whenever required.
8. Authors should cooperate with the Editorial Board during the peer review process and respond properly to the comments raised by reviewers.
9. In case of any error or inaccuracy found in the manuscript post-submission or post-publication, authors should immediately inform the Journal.
10. Authors employing artificial intelligence or other forms of automated software in preparation, analysis, or development of their work should ensure responsible and transparent usage of such technologies in line with the applicable policies of the Journal.
11. The authors are responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity and scholarly merit of their work regardless of whether digital or artificial intelligence technology was used in the process of preparing their work.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF EDITORS

The editors of the Africa Digital Governance and Law Review are supposed to conduct themselves in a fair, independent, transparent manner and in accordance with the principles of publication ethics.

The editors will:

1. Review the submitted papers based on the academic quality, originality, relevance, clarity, methodology, technological relevance where applicable and scholarly merit of such papers without regard to the racial, ethnic, gender, national, religious, political, institutional or any other irrelevant personal characteristics.
2. Conduct fair and transparent peer-review process designed to ensure objective scholarly review.
3. Maintain confidentiality of the submitted papers and information related to the authors and reviewers of such papers.
4. Not to have conflicts of interest or to withdraw from making editorial decisions in case of any personal, professional, financial, organizational or other interests that could affect their impartiality.
5. To respond appropriately and promptly to any allegations of plagiarism, research misconduct, data fabrication or falsification, duplicate publication, citation manipulation, issues related to artificial intelligence, and other ethical concerns.
6. To make editorial decisions only based on the scholarly merit of the manuscripts submitted without allowing any commercial, personal, political, technological or other improper influences.
7. To ensure that any use of technologies and artificial intelligence in the editorial and peer review process does not violate confidentiality, academic integrity, authors’ rights or the scholarly record.

 

The Editor-in-Chief may refuse to publish any manuscripts that do not conform to the Journal’s academic, ethical, legal, technological or editorial standards.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF PEER REVIEWERS

Peer reviewers play an important role in maintaining the academic quality and integrity of the Africa Digital Governance and Law Review. Reviewers are expected to:

1. Give objective, fair, constructive, and scholarly reviews of submitted manuscripts within the agreed upon time frame with the Editorial Board.
2. Keep all the manuscripts received for review strictly confidential and must not disclose, reproduce, distribute, use or disseminate the contents of the manuscript without proper authorization.
3. Point out relevant literature that has not been cited appropriately by the authors.
4. Inform the Editor about any suspicion of plagiarism, duplication, substantial overlap with other published material, fabrication of data, misconduct, or any other ethical concern.
5. Refrain from accepting the review assignment if there is a potential conflict of interest regarding the manuscript.
6. Do not let personal biases affect the reviews in any way. Review the submitted manuscript purely on the basis of academic content.
7. Do not make use of any unpublished information, arguments, technology or other contents acquired through the peer-review process for one’s own gain.
8. Ensure confidentiality and security of the manuscript during the entire process of review.
9. Where artificial intelligence or automated tools are used to assist with review-related tasks, ensure that such use does not compromise the confidentiality of manuscripts, unpublished research, personal data, or other protected information.

ETHICAL MISCONDUCT AND INVESTIGATIONS

All cases of misconduct in relation to publications and research that are brought up either pre or post-publication will be taken very seriously by The Africa Digital Governance and Law Review. They can be brought forward by any of the authors, peer reviewers, editors, readers, institutions, and others.

Cases of alleged misconduct could include:

1. Plagiarism;
2. Duplicate publishing or publication of redundant articles;
3. Data, evidence, findings or research results fabrication or falsification;
4. Manipulation of citations;
5. Issues surrounding authorship or attribution of authorship;
6. Conflict of interests not adequately disclosed or handled;
7. Manipulation of the peer review process;
8. Unethical research involving human participants;
9. Fabricated, false or unverifiable references;
10. Unethical use or representation of artificial intelligence or other forms of automated technology in research and publications;
11. Unauthorized use or misrepresentation of digital data, software, datasets, code, and other technological means; and
12. Other forms of publication and academic misconduct.

Should an allegation come before it, the Journal may conduct a preliminary review and, if required, initiate an investigation. The authors could be asked to respond or supply relevant information. The Journal may seek clarification from the author’s institution, employer, funding agency, or any other relevant body as appropriate.

 

In cases of misconduct, the Journal may take one or several of the following steps:

1. Reject the manuscript;
2. Request correction or clarification;
3. Publish a correction;
4. Publish an expression of concern;
5. Retract the published article;
6. Withdraw the article if required;
7. Temporarily suspend future submissions from the relevant author;
8. Inform the relevant institution, employer, funding agency, or regulatory body as appropriate; and
9. Any other step required to preserve the integrity of the scholarly record.

 

All investigations and decisions will be conducted with consideration for fair play, confidentiality, academic integrity, transparency, and preservation of the scholarly record.

 EDITORIAL EXPECTATIONS

Manuscripts submitted to the Africa Digital Governance and Law Review (ADGLR) must:

1. Fall within the scope and focus of the Journal;
2. Demonstrate originality and make a meaningful contribution to scholarship in digital law, technology regulation, governance, public policy, or related interdisciplinary fields;
3. Present coherent arguments supported by appropriate and sound methodology;
4. Engage with relevant, current, and authoritative legal, technological, policy, and scholarly literature;
5. Demonstrate academic integrity and compliance with applicable research and publication ethics;
6. Where appropriate, demonstrate a clear understanding of relevant digital technologies and their legal, regulatory, institutional, or societal implications; and
7. Comply with the Journal's submission, formatting, referencing, and other editorial requirements.

The Editorial Office retains the right to conduct preliminary editorial assessment of submissions and to refuse manuscripts without peer review, in case where they do not comply with the scope, academic standards, ethical requirements, technical relevance, and submission guidelines of the Journal.