Promoting Health, Protecting the Environment, Advancing Justice and Sustainability in Africa
The Africa Journal of Health and Environmental Law (AJHEL) is committed to maintaining high standards of academic quality, research integrity, editorial independence, transparency and ethical scholarly publishing.
This Publication Policy establishes the principles governing the submission, evaluation, review, acceptance, publication, correction and preservation of scholarly work published by AJHEL.
The purpose of this policy is to ensure that AJHEL maintains a scholarly publication environment based on:
AJHEL publishes scholarly work addressing the intersection of:
The Journal gives particular attention to African legal, health, environmental and governance realities, while welcoming comparative and international perspectives relevant to Africa.
Manuscripts submitted to AJHEL must be original scholarly works.
A manuscript must not:
Authors must disclose any related publication or manuscript that may substantially overlap with the submitted work.
Authors must not submit the same manuscript simultaneously to AJHEL and another journal.
Where an author wishes to withdraw a manuscript from AJHEL before submitting it elsewhere, the author should formally notify the Editorial Office.
AJHEL may publish:
The Editorial Board determines the appropriate publication category.
Editorial decisions are based primarily on:
Editorial decisions must not be improperly influenced by:
Research manuscripts requiring external evaluation are subject to AJHEL's peer-review process.
The Journal normally uses double-blind peer review, with at least two independent reviewers for research articles.
The detailed procedure is provided in the Journal's Peer Review Policy and Peer Review Process.
Authorship must reflect genuine intellectual contribution to the research and manuscript.
Authors should have made substantial contributions to one or more of:
All listed authors should approve the final manuscript and agree to its submission.
AJHEL does not support:
Individuals who contributed substantially but do not meet authorship requirements may be acknowledged where appropriate.
Requests to add, remove or reorder authors after submission must be justified.
The Editorial Office may require written confirmation from all affected authors before approving an authorship change.
Where an authorship dispute cannot be resolved by the authors, AJHEL may refer the matter to the relevant institution or competent authority.
The corresponding author is responsible for communication between the authors and the Editorial Office.
The corresponding author should ensure that:
Research involving human participants, patients, health records, interviews, surveys, vulnerable populations or other sensitive information must comply with applicable ethical standards.
Where applicable, authors should provide information concerning:
AJHEL may request evidence of ethical approval where appropriate.
Authors conducting health or medical research must ensure that their research complies with applicable:
Patient identities and confidential health information must be protected.
Environmental research should comply with relevant environmental laws, regulations, permits and institutional requirements.
Where appropriate, authors should disclose:
Research should not knowingly cause unnecessary environmental harm.
Research involving vulnerable groups should receive appropriate ethical consideration.
Authors should take particular care when research involves:
Authors, reviewers and editors must disclose actual, potential or perceived conflicts of interest.
Potential conflicts may include:
A conflict does not necessarily prevent publication, but it must be appropriately disclosed and managed.
Authors must disclose financial support received for the research.
The disclosure should identify the funding organisation and, where applicable, the relevant grant or project.
Where there is no external funding, authors may state:
"This research received no external funding."
Authors should retain appropriate research records and supporting materials.
Where applicable, authors should provide information concerning the availability of:
Data involving personal health information or confidential research participants must not be disclosed where doing so would violate ethical, legal or privacy requirements.
AJHEL maintains strict standards against plagiarism and research misconduct.
Prohibited conduct includes:
Suspected misconduct will be handled according to AJHEL's relevant publication-ethics policies.
Submitted manuscripts may be screened using appropriate plagiarism or originality-detection tools.
A similarity score alone does not establish plagiarism.
The Editorial Board considers the nature, extent and context of identified similarities.
AJHEL recognises that generative artificial intelligence can assist scholarly work but requires responsible use.
AI systems cannot be listed as authors.
Authors remain responsible for:
Where AI has been used substantially in preparing a manuscript, authors should provide the appropriate disclosure required by the Journal's Generative AI Policy.
AI must not be used to fabricate data, references, legal authorities, research findings or evidence.
Authors must accurately acknowledge all sources used in their research.
References should be:
AJHEL generally recommends APA 7th edition for interdisciplinary research, while appropriate legal citation systems may be used for doctrinal legal scholarship.
Authors, reviewers and editors must not manipulate citations for the purpose of artificially increasing:
Citations should be included because they are genuinely relevant to the scholarly argument.
Reviewers must treat manuscripts as confidential.
Reviewers must not:
Editors must disclose and appropriately manage conflicts of interest.
An editor should not handle a manuscript where a personal, professional, financial or institutional relationship could compromise editorial independence.
Where necessary, the manuscript should be transferred to another qualified editor.
The final decision to publish a manuscript rests with the Editor-in-Chief or an authorised editor.
The decision may take into account:
After acceptance, manuscripts may undergo:
Editorial or production corrections do not normally alter the substantive scholarly conclusions of an accepted article.
Authors may receive proofs for final checking.
Authors should carefully verify:
Major substantive changes should not normally be introduced at the proof stage without editorial approval.
AJHEL operates an Open Access publishing model.
Published articles are made available online without subscription or paywall barriers, subject to the applicable licence.
The standard Article Processing Charge is:
There is no submission fee.
The APC is payable only after acceptance.
Unless otherwise stated, AJHEL articles are published under the applicable Open Access licence, normally:
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
Authors retain appropriate rights in their scholarly work subject to the publication agreement and licence.
Readers may reuse material according to the applicable licence, provided appropriate attribution is given.
AJHEL is committed to maintaining an accurate scholarly record.
Where an error is identified, the Journal may publish:
The appropriate action depends on the nature and significance of the problem.
AJHEL may retract an article where serious problems undermine its reliability or integrity.
Potential grounds include:
A retraction notice will normally remain linked to the original publication to preserve the scholarly record.
Allegations concerning research or publication misconduct will be handled fairly, confidentially and objectively.
AJHEL may:
An allegation is not automatically considered proof of misconduct.
Authors may appeal an editorial decision where they have reasonable grounds to believe that:
Appeals should be submitted with specific reasons and supporting information.
Complaints concerning editorial procedures, publication ethics, peer review or other publication matters should be submitted to the Editorial Office.
AJHEL will endeavour to address legitimate complaints promptly, fairly and confidentially.
AJHEL seeks to maintain reliable records of:
Where technically possible, corrections and retractions will remain linked to the original publication.
AJHEL seeks to improve the discoverability of its scholarship through appropriate scholarly indexing and research-discovery services.
The Journal may pursue inclusion in relevant services such as:
The Journal will not claim formal indexing in any database until inclusion has been officially confirmed.
This Publication Policy may be periodically reviewed by the Editorial Board and Publisher to reflect developments in:
AJHEL is committed to publishing scholarship that is:
Original • Rigorous • Ethical • Independent • Transparent • Interdisciplinary • African-Focused • Globally Relevant
The Journal seeks to contribute to stronger health systems, effective environmental governance, human rights protection, environmental justice and sustainable development across Africa.
Africa Journal of Health and Environmental Law (AJHEL)
Published by Prime Crest Publishers
Promoting Health, Protecting the Environment, Advancing Justice and Sustainability in Africa
Africa Journal of Health and Environmental Law (AJHEL) | ISSN: XXXX-XXXX | © PrimeCrest Publisher
Email: primecrestpublisher@gmail.com
AJHEL is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.