About the Journal

Establishment, Host and Scope

AJESMS was established in 2001 under the able leadership of Prof. Jophus Anamuah-Mensah, the first Vice Chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), with the collaboration of Prof. I. O. Osafehinti, (then a Visiting Professor from the Department of Mathematics Education, Lagos State University’ Lagos, Nigeria). AJESMS is hosted by the Centre for School and Community, Science and Technology Studies (SACOST) in the Institute for Educational Research and Innovation Studies (IERIS) in UEW.

SACOST is poised to promote interdisciplinary research and development activities on the African continent, particularly, on those that focus on informal and indigenous activities in the STEM disciplines. SACOST is recognized and connected both nationally and internationally. The published volumes of the journal are also available online at African Journals Online (AJOL) at the link https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ajesms

The journal is an international publication that aims at generating fresh scholarly inquiry and exposition in the fields of mathematics education, science education and related disciplines. AJESMS offers a forum for familiarizing the world with the goings-on in research endeavours and original thoughts in these important fields of human learning. Editorial decisions are made by our Editorial Board of active researchers who manage the peer review process and decide which manuscripts should be published.

Online Submission

As a consequence of the multidisciplinary and wide readership, authors are requested to write their manuscripts in a manner and style that is intelligible to specialists and non-specialists alike. As a multidisciplinary journal, the editorial team comprises discipline-specific Consulting Editors who are responsible for the submissions in their respective research fields, Managing Editor, an Editor-in-Chief, and Online Journals System (OJS) Administrator.

To submit your article, you must visit the AJESMS portal at the link and Register and Login as an author. Then type in the article information that will be required (e.g. title, authors, affiliation, etc.); make sure you include the information for ALL the authors; and finally, "upload" your article electronically. You will need to have all your content available in electronic form. AJESMS accepts texts OpenOffice, Microsoft Word or RTF document file format. You will also require a reliable Email address which we can use to communicate with you; as well as the emails for every listed author.

Also, make sure your manuscript meets the following criteria before you begin the submission:

• The manuscript has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor). Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
• The text is single-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.
• The text adheres to the APA style and referencing requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines, which can be found in “Author Guidelines”.

Peer-Review Policies

Research Articles and Review Articles published in the AJESMS are subject to peer review. Manuscripts are submitted online. All manuscripts undergo an initial assessment by the Editorial Office (comprising the Managing Editor and Associate Editors) to ensure that they comply with the guidelines.

Manuscripts are then assigned to the Managing Editor to decide whether or not they fall within the remit of the journal. The Managing Editor may also refer to Associate Editors for their assessment. All manuscripts should be written in a style suitable for non-specialists.

All manuscripts deemed potentially suitable then undergo a similarity detection process using a CrossRef Similarity Check software. When a similarity report is indicative of potential plagiarism, the report and manuscript will be sent to the Editor-in-Chief to determine whether or not material has been plagiarised and, if so, the extent of the plagiarism and advise the Managing Editor. In the case of suspected plagiarism, the Plagiarism Policy will come into effect. When the similarity report indicates no plagiarism detected, the Managing Editor assigns the manuscript to the Associate Editor responsible for the discipline in which the manuscript falls. For more information, see https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ajesms/about/submissions.

The Editorial Office agree on a manuscript that is deemed suitable for review, and appoint and invite Reviewers online. The selection may include Reviewers who are not on the recommended list. Manuscripts that will require major changes will be referred back to the authors for the necessary revisions.

Reviewers are given 14 days to submit a report. At least two reports are required to make a decision. The review process is double-anonymous, that is, both authors’ and reviewers’ identities are concealed.

Once at least two reports have been received, the Editorial Office makes a decision on the manuscript. If Reviewers’ recommendations diverge, the Editors can refer the manuscript to a third Reviewer or decide to implement the recommendation

Authors are given 30 days to revise a manuscript needing minor revisions and 60 days to revise a manuscript needing major revisions. Revised manuscripts are submitted online. You will need to log in and select the article in your submissions page. The resubmission is done in the review stage, there is no need to start a new submission. At the review stage you will need to do two things to resubmit once you have revised your document: Upload the new file in the revisions section. To upload a new file, click on ‘Upload file.’ A new window will open to allow you to upload your file(s). Select the appropriate option from the dropdown menu to indicate that you are not submitting a revision of an existing file.

The Editorial Office then make a decision on minor revisions and refer major revisions to one or more Reviewers (the original Reviewer/s when possible) for their recommendations before making a decision.

Appeals

Authors can appeal a decision in writing to the Editor-in-Chief.

Accepted manuscripts are received by the Editorial Office are sent to the Production Office where they enter the production queue to undergo copy-editing, layout and proofing. Research Articles and Review Articles are produced for publication in date order of acceptance, but can, at the discretion of the Editorial Office and for compelling reasons, be assigned to a particular issue.

Even in cases where AJESMS does not invite resubmission of a manuscript, some authors may ask the Editorial Office to reconsider a rejection decision. These are considered appeals, which, by policy, must take second place to the normal workload. In practice, this means that decisions on appeals often take several weeks. Only one appeal is permitted for each manuscript, and appeals can only take place after peer review. Final decisions on appeals will be made by the Managing Editor.

Decisions are reversed on appeal only if the relevant Associate Editor is convinced that the original decision was a serious mistake. Consideration of an appeal is merited if a reviewer made substantial errors of fact or showed evidence of bias, but only if a reversal of that referee's opinion would have changed the original decision. Similarly, disputes on factual issues need not be resolved unless they were critical to the outcome.

If an appeal merits further consideration, the Managing Editor may send the authors' response and the revised paper out for further peer review.

Final Production Process and Publishing

Accepted manuscripts are received by the Editorial Office where they enter the production queue to undergo copy-editing, layout and proofing. Research Articles produced for publication in date order of acceptance, but can, at the discretion of the Editorial Office and for compelling reasons, be assigned to a particular issue.

Manuscripts and supplementary material undergo copy-editing to ensure, among others, that the language is clear and suitable for a non-specialist reader, that the text conforms to the house style, that the figures are presentable and that the referencing is correct. Authors are given the opportunity to approve the copy-editing changes made and to address any queries at this stage; however, major text changes are not permitted at this stage.

Edited manuscripts then undergo layout. Supplementary material does not undergo layout

Proofs are checked first by the Editorial Office and then sent to Authors for correction. Only minor corrections such as typos and corrections to layout can be made at this stage. Figures should be carefully checked as they may have been redrawn or relabelled. Any major changes at proof stage will incur a cost and result in a delay. Final corrected proofs are not returned to authors unless requested. No changes can be made after the proof has been approved for publication. Any essential corrections can be published in a subsequent issue. 

Any delays during the Production Process as a result of missing deadlines or failure to address queries will delay the publication of the article. Major delays will necessitate the manuscript being re-scheduled to avoid delaying the publication of the issue.

License Agreement and Author Copyright

Authors will be informed as soon as their articles are published online. Articles are openly accessible from the website and may be distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence and so reprints are not provided. Authors are welcome to deposit the final published version in institutional repositories or personal archives.

An electronic Table of Contents, which includes summaries of selected articles and links to the articles and full digital issue, is sent once the issue has been published. This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

All content is open access; all articles are published under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY 4.0).  To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Sources of Support

The African Journal of Educational Studies in Mathematics and Sciences receives sponsorship from Directorate of Research, Innovation, and Development Fund, UEW, through its publisher, Centre for School and Community, Science and Technology Studies, IERIS, UEW.

Article Processing Charge 

AJESMS depends, in part, on the payment of Article Processing Charge (APC) to finance its operations. An article processing charge of Fifty US Dollars applies to each paper accepted after peer review. This article processing charge is to cover the costs of peer review, copyediting, typesetting, long-term archiving, and journal management. We accept payment in USD (i.e., $60.00) or its equivalent in Ghana cedis.

An invoice will be emailed shortly after acceptance to the corresponding author for payment. Only official invoices issued by the AJESMS Editorial Office are valid. We do not authorize any third party to collect the APCs.

There are no charges for rejected articles, no submission charges, and no surcharges based on the length of an article, figures or supplementary data. Some items (Editorials, Corrections, Addendums, Retractions, Comments, etc.) are published free of charge.

Local VAT or Sales Tax will be added if applicable.

Below is the detailed information on how to pay an invoice.

AJESMS Editorial Office accepts following payment methods:

Credit Card

Payment by Credit Card is the preferred payment method. Please click Credit Card and follow the instructions to pay by credit card. [To be updated ASAP]

Payment by Wire Transfer

If you are unable to pay by credit card, we also accept wire (bank) transfer, using the details below:

Account Name                  : Samec Consult Limited

Account Number ($A/c)   : 3021600000039

Bank Name                       : GCB Bank Limited

Bank Address/Branch       : University of Cape Coast Branch

Bank SWIFT Code           : GHCBGHAC

[Please ensure that transfer fees are paid by you as the “sender”]

For further questions regarding the publication, contact the AJESMS Editorial Office at the email ajesms@uew.edu.gh; or phone +233244961318.