The AJSW is published by the National Association of Social Workers (Zimbabwe). The journal currently publishes a regular issue 6 times a year and special issues where available.
Publications are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-commercial 4.0 International License
The AJSW is indexed and accredited with:
African Journals Online (AJOL) | University of Zimbabwe Accredited Journals (UZAJ) | SCOPUS (Elsevier’s abstract and citation database) | Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) | Society of African Journal Editors (SAJE) | Asian Digital Library (ADL) | African Social Work Network (ASWNet) | Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) – South Africa | SJR | CNKI – China | Journal Publishing Practices and Standards (JPPS)
Editorial Board
Associate Professor Gidraph Wairire, Chief Editor (University of Nairobi, Kenya); Dr Edmoss Mtetwa, Editor (University of Zimbabwe), Dr Jacob Rugare Mugumbate, Associate Editor (University of Wollongong, Australia); Dr Vincent Mabvurira, Associate Editor (North-West University, South Africa) and Dr Getrude Dadirai Gwenzi, Associate Editor (University of Johannesburg)
Assistant Editors
Rudo Mukurazhizha (Midlands State University); Cedric Edwin Bhala (Bindura University of Science Education); Wilberforce Kurevakwesu (Women’s University in Africa) and Tatenda Nhapi (University of Johannesburg).
International Advisory Board
Professor Pius T. Tangwe (University of Fort Hare, South Africa)
Mr. Nigel Hall (former Editor) (Kingston University, United Kingdom)
Professor Rodreck Mupedziswa (University of Botswana)
Mr. Jotham Dhemba (University of Swaziland)
Dr. Chamunogwa Nyoni (Bindura University of Science Education, Zimbabwe).
Associate Professor. Moffat C. Tarusikirwa (Zimbabwe Open University)
Dr. Leonorah T. Nyaruwata (Zimbabwe Open University)
Dr Kwashirai Zvokuomba (Zimbabwe Ezekiel Guti University; University of Johannesburg)
The AJSW is now published 6 times a year
IMPORTANT NOTICE
The African Journal of Social Work (AJSW) publishes articles that are accessible online free of charge. The number of manuscripts submitted to the journal increased tremendously following the journal's indexing and accreditation with the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), South Africa; SCOPUS, Elsevier’s abstract and citation database; and several other indexing systems. The increase means we need to increase frequency of publications. But this comes at a cost. To cover this cost, the publishers introduced charges for authors after peer review and acceptance. This option will ensure that articles remain open access. Most of our writers are affiliated with universities and government departments that provide funding for publishing. We are hoping authors will have access to such funds. This practice is widely used by other publishers. Fees will apply to all manuscripts submitted after 22 February 2021 as follows: African countries: ZAR875/USD60 per manuscript peer reviewed and accepted International: ZAR1460/USD100 per manuscript peer reviewed and accepted The peer review process is not impacted by the introduction of these charges. Acceptance of manuscripts is not ensured by the potential of a writer to pay, they are accepted based on their quality and how they meet the requirements of the journal available here.
Regular Issue
The regular issue considers manuscripts that address issues of primary concern to social work in Africa, including but not limited to social work methods, theories, practice, education and policy. Papers can be submitted any time. If you are not sure your paper meets these requirements, try our Open journal.
Special Issues
We are interested in issues that pertain to social work that are new, current or have not been researched. Manuscripts are through a call, so do not submit any time. Each special issue will have a guest editor/s. In each year, we target between 1 or 2 special issues. At times it takes time to wait for special issue calls, try our regular issue. If you have a special issue idea, see guidelines below.
Policy
The African Journal of Social Work (AJSW) is a refereed journal that serves as a forum for exchanging ideas and knowledge and discussing issues relevant to social work practice, education and research in the African region. The journal is committed to reflecting culturally relevant and decolonised African social work. The AJSW uses a double-blind peer review process. We ask authors to value communities that they research by being open in dealing with them, including them in the review process, providing opportunities for co-analysis and co-authoring and providing them with results of our research in accessible formats. The journal publishes empirical papers but also accepts reviews, philosophical, theoretical, historical, methodological or epistemological articles. In addition to these articles, the journal is interested in brief notes and analysis of up to 1000 words on policy, programmes, legislations, organisations or interventions on social work that would be of interest to African social workers and the international social work fraternity. Other submissions may include book reviews, media reviews, published article commentary or replies, suitable bibliographies, curriculum development or teaching aids, think pieces, news from professional associations and professional interviews.
To help with our objective of decolonizing African social work, we anticipate that authors will have a majority of their citations from the continent including African books, articles, definitions, concepts, theories, frameworks and orature (oral literature) that is abundant in Africa but has not been adequately tapped in social work.
Ethics and Malpractice Statement
The AJSW has adopted ASWNET’s African Research Ethics and Malpractice Statement (AREMS) to improve ethical researching, editing, reviewing and publishing. You can access AREMS here.
TEMPLATE FOR MANUSCRIPTS -MS WORD/.DOC
Use the template below to make it easy to draft your manuscript. Simply download the template and replace the text in the template with your own. It saves time for you, for editors and the staff that does formatting.