People Centred: The Journal of Development Administration is accredited, indexed and ready to disseminate African knowledge globally

People Centred: The Journal of Development Administration (JDA) publishes research on development in Africa and the Global South. It is hosted by Mtandao, the Africa Social Work and Development Network (ASWDNet). It comes out twice a year. Authors pay no fees, and readers pay nothing to read it. This post sets out the journal’s current accreditation and indexing.

Accredited by the Department of Higher Education and Training

JDA is on the approved journals list of the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), South Africa. Articles in journals on this list count towards the research output of South African public universities. For authors at South African institutions, a paper in JDA counts in the same way as a paper in any other accredited journal.

Indexed in the Directory of Open Access Journals

JDA is indexed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). DOAJ checks each journal’s peer review, open licensing, editorial transparency and publication ethics before it lists the journal. DOAJ withdrew its Seal from all journals in April 2025, so its standard is now shown by indexing alone.

Accredited with African Journals Online

JDA is accredited with African Journals Online (AJOL), the main platform for peer reviewed journals published in Africa. AJOL rates its journals under the Journal Publishing Practices and Standards (JPPS) framework. JDA holds two stars out of three.

Ready for Scopus

Scopus is the abstract and citation database run by Elsevier. JDA meets the basic conditions for a Scopus review:

• Peer review of all research articles
• Print and online International Standard Serial Numbers (ISSN): 2218 4899 and 2788 8169
• English titles and abstracts
• References in Roman script
• A public statement on publication ethics
• A regular record of two issues a year

The next step is a Scopus application.

Open access with no fees

JDA is a diamond open access journal. Authors keep copyright, and articles carry a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International (CC BY NC 4.0) licence. Its articles also appear on ScienceOpen and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI).

Types of manuscripts

The Journal accepts manuscripts in the form of original research reports, research summaries, book reviews, literature review articles including systematic reviews, think pieces, reports of practice and original frameworks. Other forms of papers may be published at the discretion of the Editor.

What the journal publishes

The journal considers articles on the administration of development in Africa. It puts people at the centre of development and calls this development with a human face. Areas covered include the following, and the list is open to related topics.

• Development administration: Development management, governance, resource mobilisation and fundraising, social services and development, and disaster management.
• Community and grassroots development: Community development, village development, neighbourhood development, rural development, community based organisations, non government grassroots work, community models of development, participatory development, social action for development and Indigenous development.
• Human and inclusive development: Human development, child development, inclusive development, disability and development, gender and development, poverty, Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV and AIDS), and counselling.
• Livelihoods and sustainability: Agriculture and livelihoods, and sustainable development.
• Creativity, media and technology: Creative development, media for development, and Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).

Submit your work

Submit your manuscript through the JDA submission portal on ScienceOpen. Questions go to asw@africasocialwork.net.

Important URLs

• People Centred: The Journal of Development Administration (journal website)
• JDA on African Journals Online (database)
• JDA on DOAJ (directory)