Ethical Charter
The ethical charter of Global Africa outlines the responsibilities of each actor in the editorial process (editors, authors, reviewers, translators), who are presumed to have read it and commit to adhering to it, with the constant concern of ensuring scientific quality, independence, and transparency in publication.
Since November 2023, Global Africa has signed the San Francisco Declaration On Research Assessment (DORA), which recognizes the need to improve the way research results are assessed to go beyond widely used metrics (e.g. journal impact factor). As a DORA signatory, Global Africa is committed to fostering excellence in research funding and ensuring that fair value is given to a wide variety of research outputs in the evaluation process. The study of alternatives for fairly evaluating the quality of research, including the examination of different types of research output, enables the work of researchers to be assessed on its own merits.
Charter of Editors
Authors' articles are selected based solely on their scientific and intellectual quality, without distinction of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, nationality, university affiliation, or political stance. The editorial board takes into account, in its decisions, legal requirements regarding defamation, copyright infringement, or plagiarism.
The editor-in-chief is responsible for the content of the entire journal, including special issues. Articles from thematic issues are subject to the same editorial process as varia articles, including double blind peer review. For thematic issues, the editor-in-chief and designated members of the editorial board supervise the work of the guest editor(s).
The editorial board selects articles with a strong emphasis on impartiality. It pays particular attention to articles contributing to scientific discourse. Any article presenting a relevant critique of another article published in the journal may be published. Moreover, any author may provide a response to a critique published in the journal against their article.
The rigor of the article evaluation process will prevent the publication of unreliable research results, plagiarisms, or falsified data. In the event that the editorial committee of the journal receives texts with dubious claims or unreliable results, it will apply the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) or any equivalent recommendations.
Charter of Authors
Originality and Plagiarism
Authors must ensure that their article is original and refrain from publishing any text, in any form that could be considered as counterfeiting, as defined by the French Intellectual Property Code. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements are considered unethical in scientific publication and will not be published in the journal. The journal employs anti-plagiarism software Compilatio to check articles upon submission.
Multiple, Redundant or Simultaneous Publications
Authors commit not to submit an article that has been previously published in another journal, or a new article that relies exclusively on work already published elsewhere. Likewise, authors commit not to submit their article to multiple journals simultaneously.
References
Any citation (or use of other authors' work) must be identified as such and accompanied by the appropriate references, presented in the format typically used by the journal. If the author wishes to use information obtained privately (conversation, correspondence), they should make every effort to obtain permission from the individuals who are the source of this information.
Authorship
The list of authors should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, implementation, or interpretation of the study presented in the submitted text to the journal, or in the writing of this text. All authors must be mentioned, along with their affiliation, in alphabetical order or according to their degree of involvement in the realization of this study or in the writing of this text. The author who is in contact with the journal must ensure that only appropriate co-authors are included in the list of authors, and that all co-authors, after seeing and approving the final version of their text, have agreed to submit this article for publication.
Defamatory Statements
Authors commit not to exceed, in the submitted articles, the rules of scientific debate and not to make defamatory statements, which could be interpreted as damaging to the reputation of a third party.
Conflict of Interest
Authors must declare any potential conflict of interest, professional or financial. All sources of non-public funding behind the research presented in the submitted text must be explicitly mentioned.
Erratum
Any author who discovers, after publication, a significant error or inaccuracy in their own work, is obligated to promptly inform the journal's editorial committee and cooperate with them to publish an erratum, or even to indicate the withdrawal of their article. If the editorial committee or the editor of the journal learns, from a third party, that an already published article contains a significant error, they must inform the author. The latter must then request the withdrawal of their article, correct it, or provide evidence justifying its validity.
Access to Raw Data
Upon request of the editorial committee, authors may be invited to provide raw data related to their research. Authors commit, to the extent possible, to provide public access to this data and therefore to retain it for a reasonable period after publication. If the article is based on clinical cases involving real situations, the author undertakes to respect the anonymity of the individuals they refer to.
Digital Publication
Authors commit, when submitting their article, to authorize its distribution in digital format - particularly on the journal's website and partner portals.
Charter of Reviewers
A peer review will be carried out for the following contributions, whether for a special issue or a varia issue: Critical analyses, (Re)discovery, RegArts, The interdisciplinary/comparative file.
However, articles published in the other sections, particularly if they present technical information, may be subject to peer review at the discretion of the editors.
Evaluation Process for Articles Submitted to the Journal
The editorial staff of the journal ensures the confidentiality of the peer review process. It agrees not to share information about a manuscript outside of this process and the editorial board.
Editors may reject a submitted manuscript without recourse to formal peer review if they consider the manuscript to be inconsistent or outside the editorial line of the journal, if they are informed that the article received has already been submitted elsewhere or has already been published.
The editorial staff is committed to processing submitted manuscripts efficiently and quickly. The average time between receipt and acceptance of an article in the journal is 10 months.
The evaluation process within the journal is organized as follows:
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Review of compliance with the editorial line by the editorial board
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Review of relevance by the editorial board
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Evaluation by two double-blind external readers (the reviewers and the authors are not aware of each other's identities) according to the proposal of the editorial board.
Based on the evaluation reports, the editorial board makes one of four decisions:
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Accepted as is;
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Minor revisions: acceptance subject to the integration of modest changes;
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Major revisions: acceptance subject to substantial changes. The revised version of the article is again subjected to the double evaluation process;
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Denied.
In case of doubt, negative and concordant opinions from the reviewers or insufficiencies noted, the editorial board issues a notice of rejection. Any author whose text is refused will be offered support for the rewriting of their article as well as the possibility of publishing it, once the conditions have been met, in a miscellaneous/varia issue.
Any text accepted by the editorial board at the end of the evaluation process is subject to editorial preparation work carried out in consultation with the author.
Mission of the Reviewers
Reviewers are selected for their intellectual and scientific expertise. They are responsible for evaluating manuscripts on their content alone, without distinction of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, nationality, academic affiliation or political positioning.
The opinions given by the evaluators must be as impartial as possible.
Reviewers are required to report any other article that are similar to those submitted to the journal.
Reviewers should flag any significant publication related to the article that has not yet been cited.
Conflict of Interest
Editorial board members and reviewers must recuse themselves in the event of a conflict of interest with any of the authors or with the content of the manuscript to be reviewed.
In addition, any reviewer who knows that he or she is not qualified to review a manuscript, or she or he is not in a position to do so within a reasonable time, is required to notify the Editorial Board and to recuse himself or herself.
Privacy
Manuscripts received for review are treated as confidential documents. No information about a manuscript submitted to the journal is disclosed to anyone other than the author(s), potential reviewers and, possibly, the editor.
Data Usage
The data presented in the submitted articles must not be used before their possible publication, in the research work of a member of the editorial board or a reviewer, without the written and explicit consent of the author.
Evaluation Grid
Global Africa's evaluation grid is as follows:
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Article title
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Internal drive
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Content compliance under article
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Originality of ideas and conclusions
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Relevance and rigor of the method, approach and references
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Use of empirical studies (etc.) and a solid theoretical approach
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Care in the presentation and structure of the text, clarity of expression
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Are the conclusions and interpretation of the data sound, valid, reliable?
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Highlights
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Weak points
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Suggestions for improving the text
Reviewers are invited to arbitrate all revisions of an article and are informed of the decisions made by the editors.
Charter of Translators
Honesty and Integrity
Translators must carry out their mission with honesty and integrity, which are the foundation of the trust of the editorial board. Translators commit not to accept other assignments that would compromise the scientific quality of the journal.
Faithfulness
Translators pledge to work in accordance with best practices by faithfully conveying the meaning of the entrusted document.
Professional Secrecy
Translators are bound by the duty of professional secrecy, subject to the strict requirements of their own defense and cases where disclosure or reevaluation is provided for or authorized by law or with the explicit agreement of the editorial board. Professional secrecy applies to all information and documents transmitted to them.
Respect for the Editorial Board
In their professional relations, translators must respect the trust placed in them by the editorial board, especially by refraining from accepting, carrying out or commissioning work for which they cannot guarantee the quality or to entrust all or part of the work to third parties without having informed the editorial board and obtained its agreement.
Translators are prohibited from any form of advertising likely to mislead and, in particular, from claiming titles, diplomas and skills that they do not possess.
Translators always ensure that they meet the conditions allowing them to carry out quality work. They undertake to work according to best practices, namely:
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Translate only into their mother tongue or a cultured language, handled with precision and fluency;
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Have the knowledge and skills required in the field of specialty of the assignment;
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Conduct research for a perfect understanding and restitution of the documents to be translated;
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Maintain and develop their knowledge and professional skills through ongoing training;
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Refuse deadlines incompatible with the mission entrusted.
The translators undertake to advise the editorial board on the methods and techniques best suited to the accomplishment of the assignments entrusted to them.
Compliance with the Rules of Good Conduct
The editorial board and the translators undertake to work in accordance with the Nairobi Recommendation (UNESCO, 1976). Translators undertake to respect intellectual property rights and also enjoy respect for their rights as authors. They also undertake to refer to the conventions of good practice applicable in the sector and the country in which they work.
Unethical Behavior and Confidentiality
Unethical Behavior
The editorial board will seek to identify and prevent any behavior contrary to the ethics of publication. It undertakes to conduct an investigation in the event of a complaint lodged against the journal, in accordance with the procedure described below. The perpetrator must always be able to answer for the alleged offence. The editorial board will publish the corrections, apologies, explanations deemed necessary.
Procedure in Case of Unethical Behavior of Publication
A complaint denouncing an unethical practice of publication can be lodged at any time, by anyone, with the editorial board of the journal.
The person filing the complaint must provide the elements justifying his complaint. Any complaint is taken into account by the editorial board and treated until conclusion. Any complaint will be treated, whatever the date of publication of the article concerned. The documents relating to the handling of this complaint will be kept by the editorial board.
Measures implemented in the event of a complaint to the journal:
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Interview with the author, in the case of a misunderstanding of the journal's ethical charter;
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Sending a letter to the perpetrator, detailing the violation;
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Sending a letter to the author's employing organization;
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Publication of an editorial informing the readership;
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Withdrawal of the article from the journal, as well as the indexing databases, and information to the readership;
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Embargo on any new article by this author for a fixed period;
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Refer to an outside organization or body with the authority to handle the complaint.
Privacy
Editors, authors, and reviewers are required to keep all details of the writing and peer review process of submitted manuscripts confidential. Unless otherwise stated in an open peer review, the peer review process is confidential and conducted anonymously; the identity of the evaluators is not disclosed. Reviewers must maintain the confidentiality of manuscripts. Whether or not a submitted manuscript is published, correspondence with the journal, reviewers' reports, and any other confidential material should not be published, disclosed, or made public in any way without prior written consent.