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Author guide

The Leeds African Studies Bulletin is published by the Leeds University Centre for African Studies (LUCAS). Launched in 1964, it has published pieces by many distinguished African writers and Africanist scholars over the years. Since 2020, the Bulletin is an open access online-only publication, published on the LUCAS website in HTML to allow for on-screen reading and interactivity.

We welcome new submissions to be considered, in the following categories:

  • Studying Africa – discussion of topical, conceptual and methodological issues in African studies
  • Analysing Africa – commentary on, and analysis of current affairs and topical issues in Africa
  • Imagining Africa – reflection on a photo/image that captures a particular African reality or subject
  • Reading Africa – reviews or discussions of major publications (scholarly or literary) relevant to African studies
  • Remembering Africa – tributes and obituaries for prominent individuals in Africa and African studies

Submissions can have varying word counts, from 800-1000 words (for book reviews and short commentary pieces) to 3000-4,000 words for articles and essays. Please send your submission as a Word file to african-studies@leeds.ac.uk.

Review process

Submitted contributions will be subjected to double peer-review before publication. We have the right to decline submissions, or to require revisions prior to acceptance for publication.

Submissions

Submissions should include an abstract (100-150 words) and up to five keywords.

Submissions should be written in Arial font size 12 and be double spaced.

Referencing

The Bulletin uses the Harvard referencing style.

To reference in this style, as an author you

  • Insert an in-text citation and a corresponding reference in an alphabetical list at the end of your work for every source you quote, paraphrase, summarise or refer to.
  • Include the author's surname and year of publication in the citation, and the full details of the item in the reference.
  • Include page numbers in your citation if you quote directly from the text, paraphrase specific ideas or explanations, or use an image, diagram, table etc from a source.

For further details and examples, see the Leeds University Library website: https://library.leeds.ac.uk/info/1402/referencing/50/leeds_harvard_introduction.

Here, we give a few examples of formatting your references in the bibliography of your article:

Journal article

Doyle, Shane. 2020. ‘Pandemics and soft power: HIV/AIDS and Uganda on the global stage’, Journal of Global History 15 (3), 478-492. doi:10.1017/S1740022820000248

Ofori, A.D., Mdee, A., Van Alstine, A. 2021. ‘Politics on display: The realities of artisanal mining formalisation in Ghana’, The Extractive Industries and Society 8 (4), 101014. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2021.101014.

Book

Plastow, Jane. 2020. A History of East African Theatre, Volume 1: Horn of Africa. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Book chapter

Nyamnjoh, Francis B. 2020. ‘Citizenship’, in Gaurav Desai and Adeline Masquelier (eds.), Critical Terms for the Study of Africa. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 56-68.