Glossary

Glossary

AJSW (African Journal of Social Work) — Mtandao’s flagship journal, hosted on behalf of the National Association of Social Workers, Zimbabwe (NASWZ), covering social work practice, education and research across Africa.

JDA (Journal of Development Administration) — one of Mtandao’s people centred journals, covering development policy, administration and governance.

SINCCD (Journal of Social Issues in Non-Communicable Conditions and Disability) — one of Mtandao’s people centred journals, covering chronic illness, disability and related social issues.

Journal of Ubuntu, Nyingi wa Ubuntu — Mtandao’s journal focused specifically on Ubuntu philosophy and its application.

Ubuntu — an African philosophy of interconnectedness and relational responsibility, operating across five levels: family, community, society, environment and spirituality, often summarised as I am because we are, though that phrase captures only one of the five levels.

Ukama — a concept of relationality closely associated with Ubuntu, describing the web of relationships a person exists within.

Ujamaa — a concept of familyhood and collective self-reliance, associated with African socialist and communal thought.

Kufungisisa — a Shona expression meaning thinking too much, used to describe experiences of depression and anxiety in a culturally grounded way.

AREMS (African Research Ethics and Malpractice Statement) — Mtandao’s own ethics statement, grounded in Ubuntu and aligned with the San Code of Research Ethics.

San Code of Research Ethics — an ethics code created by the San people of South Africa, built around five principles: respect, honesty, justice and fairness, care, and process.

AIEC (African Independent Ethics Committee) — a Mtandao aligned committee currently offering ethics advice and ethics clearance, though not yet full ethics approval.

Hwe mu dua — an Akan adinkra symbol meaning measuring rod or rod of investigation, used as the symbol for this course to represent close examination and quality standards.

Adinkra — a system of symbols originating with the Akan people of Ghana, each carrying a specific proverb or meaning, traditionally stamped onto cloth.

Decolonised review — a review approach that gives African theory, vernacular language, orature and lived experience the same standing as any other form of evidence, rather than measuring a manuscript only against imported academic convention.

Orature — oral forms of knowledge such as proverbs, idioms, songs and stories, treated in this course as legitimate, citable evidence.

Screener — the role responsible for the first check on a new submission, against basic criteria such as word count, file type and journal fit.

Copy editor — the role responsible for language, grammar, punctuation and house style, working after a manuscript has been accepted rather than before.

Double blind review — a review process in which neither the author nor the reviewer knows the other’s identity, the default approach at AJSW and Mtandao’s other journals.

Malpractice — serious breaches of research or publishing integrity, including data fraud, plagiarism, undisclosed conflict of interest, and absence of informed consent.

ASWDNet review template — Mtandao’s standard template for submitting a completed peer review, covering the main parts of a manuscript.

Mfundo — Mtandao’s e-learning platform, hosting this course alongside others such as the Research Ethics Course and Ubuntu: The Basics.