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Taylor & Francis

Prepare your manuscript for Journal of Southern African Studies.

Review the checklist, choose your article type, and turn your draft into a cleaner submission package.

Checked 2026-08-02
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Article types

Review
Perspective
Editorial
Letter
Clinical Trial
Protocol
Lectio

Readiness requirements

Review the key details below, or download the complete checklist with every stored source-backed requirement.

Abstract length

  • Provide an author-written abstract of no more than 300 words.
  • Abstract: a short abstract of 150–300 words should precede the introduction.

Keywords

  • Include or confirm the keywords required by the journal. Articlo checks this item and flags anything that still needs author input.

Reference style

  • Articlo formats your supplied references to the journal's stored style and checks that citations match the reference list; source validity is not verified.
  • We do not encourage long footnotes: they should generally be confined to citations of sources and brief points.
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  • Throughout footnotes do not use op. cit. and cf., although ibid. is acceptable when repeating a citation from the immediately preceding footnote.
  • They must be embedded in the text, not manually entered by the author (i.e. any footnote additions or deletions will automatically change all the footnote references throughout the paper to accommodate the changes).
  • For all citations of internet-based and social media sources, including discussion forums and websites, a description and assessment of their status and verifiability will also be required.

Figure and table rules

  • Keep every figure and table numbered, captioned, and cited in the manuscript.
  • Group tables at the end of the manuscript.
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  • Four-figure numbers should have a comma, thus 4,000.
  • Tables: typed on separate pages, these should be collated at the end of the text and numbered using Arabic numerals.
  • Figures: Text figures should be prepared in black and white, generally using appropriate computer software.
  • Captions should be submitted in a separate file.
  • Corrections are expensive and the editors reserve the right to charge for new artwork/amendments to labels required as a result of an author’s mistake or last-minute corrections.

Funding statement

  • You should declare only the acquired funds and grants that are directly relevant to the work reported in your article; for example, This work was supported by the [Funding Agency #1] under Grant [number xxxx]; [Funding Agency #2] under Grant [number xxxx]; and [Funding Agency #3] under Grant [number xxxx].

Cover letter

  • All misprints should be corrected, and authors can make only minor alterations subject to prior permission from the editors.

Article structure and word limits

  • Review: Books for review: should be sent to Mattia Fumanti, Department of Social Anthropology, The University of St Andrews, 71 North Street, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9AL, UK.
  • Dates in the text should be written out in full thus: 24 September 1998.
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  • Corrected proofs should be returned to the editor concerned within 48 hours.
  • Decades should be written ‘the 1950s’.
  • Older volumes are held by our official stockists, to whom all orders and enquiries should be addressed: Periodicals Service Company, 351 Fairview Avenue, Suite 300, Hudson NY 12534, USA.
  • These instructions will ensure we have everything required so your paper can move through peer review, production and publication smoothly.
  • Your research funder or your institution may require you to publish your article open access.
  • Use our APC finder to view the APC for this journal.
  • Submissions: should be sent by e-mail attachment (ideally as a Word file) to jsas.editorial@gmail.com.
  • It should be clear and informative, giving an indication of the scope of the paper and its main arguments.
  • Their preferred position in the text should be indicated.
  • They should be on a scale to permit reduction to half their original size.
  • This should be formatted in bold and left-aligned.
  • Generally numbers up to ten should be expressed in words.
  • Chapters in books: when cited as a whole, should be as follows: W.
  • Authors must always keep the editors informed of their whereabouts.
  • We do not normally publish papers that are primarily policy recommendations or reports of research that are not firmly grounded in academic literature.
  • Image descriptions are typically used by systems such as pronouncing screen readers to make images accessible to people that cannot read or see the object due to a visual disability.

Artificial intelligence disclosure

  • Add or confirm the author-written Artificial intelligence statement; Articlo flags it if author input is still needed.
  • Please read our guidance on using AI tools in your research and manuscript preparation to understand scenarios where their use may be permissible, and the required information that must be disclosed.

Manuscript structure

  • Article length: should normally not exceed 10,000 words of text, including footnotes.
  • As explained in point 8 above, acknowledgements, if any, should be included as a section at the end of the text.
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  • If a subsidiary level of sub-headings is required, this should be italicised and left-aligned.
  • Letter: Numbers or letters should not be used in sub-headings.
  • Footnotes should be numbered sequentially throughout the article in Arabic numerals and placed at the foot of each page.
  • The development of sub-themes in footnotes should be avoided.
  • This should be placed in an extended footnote at the appropriate place in the paper or in a methods section if more appropriate for the particular discipline.
  • Abstracts should not contain footnotes.
  • Work/authors referred to in the text should be cited in full in the footnotes: The first letter of most words in titles of books, articles and chapters should be capitalised (except words like ‘a’ and ‘the’).

Study reporting guidelines

  • Care should be taken that lettering and symbols are correct.

Language and text style

  • Abbreviations and acronyms: These should be used sparingly and should be explained at the first occurrence.
  • Abbreviations, acronyms and other conventions (capitals, italics, symbols) should be used consistently throughout the paper, and typed without full points.
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  • Quotations: of more than fifty words should be indented in the text and typed without quotation marks.
  • Use single quotation marks in the text for shorter quotes, with punctuation outside the final quote mark.

Title page and author information

  • Where books and articles are referred to more than once, a short title should be used.
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What your package checks

Abstract: 300 words
Paper: 10,000 words
Declarations: Acknowledgements, Artificial intelligence

Source transparency

This preparation guide uses published journal-specific author requirements. Journal instructions can change, so authors should complete a final review before submission.

Open official guideline source