Scientific peer-reviewing

Editors-in-chief

Clélia Coret, Institut français de recherche en Afrique (IFRA): History, Kenya

Francesca di Matteo, Institut français de recherche en Afrique (IFRA): Political Science, Kenya

Editorial Committee

Florence Brisset-Foucault, Université Paris 1: Political Science, Uganda

Marie-Aude Fouéré, École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS): Anthropology, Tanzania, Kenya

Yonatan N. Gez, Arnold Bergstraesser Institute, Freiburg / Graduate Institute, Geneva: Anthropology, Kenya

Valérie Golaz, INED: Demography, Uganda, Kenya

Merit Kabugo, Makerere University (Uganda): Sociolinguistics, Uganda

Chloé Josse-Durand, Political Science, Kenya

Maëline Le Lay, CNRS: Literature, DRC, Burundi, Rwanda

Henri Médard, Aix-Marseille Université: History, Burundi, Rwanda

Claire Médard, IRD: Geography, Kenya, Uganda

Alexander Makulilo, University of Dar es Salaam: Political Science, Tanzania

Hervé Maupeu, Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour: Political Science, Kenya

Sam Owuor, University of Nairobi: Geography, Kenya

Olivier Provini, Université de la Réunion: Political Science, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda

Anne-Marie Peatrik, Université Paris Ouest Nanterre: Anthropology, Kenya

Marie-Emmanuelle Pommerolle, Université Paris 1: Political Science, Kenya

Christian Thibon, Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour: History, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda

Procedures of the Scientific Committee

The Scientific Committee brings together French and East African academics associated with the IFRA network, working in one of East Africa’s countries (Kenya, Burundi, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, including the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to the geographical scope for which the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs and the National Centre for Scientific Research have commissioned IFRA). It also includes IFRA’s Director and Resident Researcher and a member of the UMIFRE Scientific Committee.

The committee meets every three months (in person or by videoconference) to review articles sent to the editors, share them for reading and evaluation, or identify peer-reviewers in charge of reviewing and commenting on the articles. The committee also discusses upcoming issues, in particular special issues. The committee members work on articles as a pair, whenever possible, as each member of the pair has a different disciplinary background and is specialized on a different country. In-between these meetings, members remain in constant contact while IFRA is responsible for gathering and copy-editing articles.

Articles selection

All East African Reviews issues generally result from two types of scientific activities: field research carried out individually with IFRA support; and a scientific event organised by IFRA (e.g. conference, seminar, workshop...). In the first case, the articles are sent to IFRA after field work, and are published either in a Varia issue or in a thematic issue; in the second case, the articles go through a first round of selection before the event, when the speakers are selected.

Unless otherwise specified, proposals and articles may be written in both languages accepted by the journal: French and English. All members of the Scientific Committee will then receive the article proposals, review them and pre-select those considered most relevant.

The Editorial Secretary checks that the articles follow IFRA’s format (see “Guidelines to Contributors”) and forward them to the Scientific Committee (selecting a paper proposal does not imply that it will be published). Every member of the Scientific Committee receives all the articles but is only required to peer-review articles related to his or her discipline or research themes, or to identify a scholar who can review the articles. After two critical reviews per article, and more if external reviewers are approached for additional advice, authors are informed by email of the acceptance (and minor or major changes, if necessary), or rejection of their article and a peer-review report is sent to them.

The articles are reworked by the authors and sent to the journal, accompanied by an explanatory report indicating the changes. The editors make sure that the articles comments made to them in the peer-review report have been taken into account. The selected articles are copy-edited by IFRA, submitted for final proofreading and validation to each author. Then they are prepared for printed and electronic publishing.