Author Guidelines

Thank you for choosing to submit your paper to LJH. These instructions will ensure your manuscript matches the journal’s requirements in order for it to move smoothly through peer review, production and publication. Please take the time to read and follow them as closely as possible.  

1.  The Peer Review Process

All manuscripts must be submitted via the LJH submission portal on the UG Journal Management System (https://journals.ug.edu.gh/index.php/ljh/about/submissions). LJH has a process where any submitted manuscript is first screened internally by the editorial team. If the submission is not a good fit for the journal, it can be rejected at this point and will not proceed to the peer review stage. The author may be given some feedback about which outlets might be a better fit and some initial comments for improving the quality of the manuscript. Other details taken into consideration during the initial screening include correct language usage, avoidance of plagiarism and compliance with the LJH Author Guidelines (available on the journal’s website). It is important to note that papers which do not adhere to the LJH instructions for authors will not be taken into consideration for publication. Manuscripts that successfully go through the internal review process are then anonymized and assigned to two peer reviewers with relevant expertise for a double-blind peer review. The duration from the time of submission to acceptance/rejection and publication of a manuscript depends on how quickly the editors obtain quality reviews from reviewers. Difficulties in finding peer reviewers in the research area(s) of the study may also lead to a rejection of a manuscript by the editors. The final decision on publishing an article is taken by the editorial board.

2.    AUTHOR GUIDELINES

MANUSCRIPT FORMAT

Submissions should be typed double-spaced, fully justified, and in Times New Roman Font Size 12 (for the main paper as well as endnotes, quotations, and reference list) on 8.5” x 11” or A4 paper as a Word document.  The normal span of submissions is as follows:

1. article: 5,000-8,000 words (inclusive of abstract, key words, references, and endnotes)
2. review: 1500-2,000 words
3. interview: 2,000-4,000 words

ABSTRACT AND KEYWORDS

The manuscript of an article should include an abstract in English of not more than 150 words as well as five keywords, placed immediately after the abstract. Typically, the abstract states the purpose, approach/methodology, major findings and implication/conclusion of the study.

DOUBLE-BLIND PEER REVIEW AND CONFIDENTIALITY

For the purpose of double-blind peer review, the first page of each manuscript should not bear the name of the author. Nor should there be any detail in the body of the paper to give away the author’s identity and institutional affiliation. Plethoric references to one’s earlier publications are not allowed. Neither are citations from the author’s papers in press/in preparation or forthcoming publications. Members of the editorial team shall treat submitted papers with the utmost confidentiality. 

AUTHOR IDENTIFICATION

Each contribution should be accompanied by a separate sheet indicating the title of the paper as well as the following information about the author: (1) full name (family name last); (2) institutional affiliation; (3) current status, e.g., Student Researcher, Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Professor, etc. (4) a short declaration that the manuscript has neither been published nor submitted elsewhere for publication and (5) a 100-150 word biographical note.

SUBMISSION

ALL contributions should be submitted through the LJH submissions portal (https://journals.ug.edu.gh/index.php/ljh/about/submissions). Manuscripts submitted via e-mail will not be considered. However, contributors who, in exceptional cases, have difficulties submitting their manuscripts via the journal website should alert the editor via the journal’s official email address editorljh@ug.edu.gh. Contributors should kindly note that, as a rule, LJH does not publish papers from the same author in consecutive issues of the journal. Similarly, LJH does not publish multiple articles by the same author in one issue. Authors may check the status of their submissions using the journal’s tracking system on the LJH submissions portal (https://journals.ug.edu.gh/index.php/ljh/about/submissions).

 ZERO CHARGES FOR ARTICLE SUBMISSION AND ARTICLE PROCESSING

Authors should note that LJH does not charge any fees, whatsoever, for submission and processing.

ARTICLE STRUCTURE

The article should be structured as follows: 

• Introduction
• Body of the paper (possibly subdivided – each section should be titled accordingly)
• Conclusions

The section headings (Level 1) should be in boldface letters. Example:

1. The section headings (Level 1) should be in boldface letters.

The subsection headings (Level 2) should be in boldface and italics. Example:

      1.2 The subsection headings (Level 2) should be in boldface and italics.

If there is another level, these subheadings (Level 3) should be in italics. Example:

      1.2.1 The next level subheadings should be in italics.

Numbered sections

Articles should be divided into clearly defined and numbered sections. Subsections should be numbered 1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2, ...), 1.2, etc. (Do not include the abstract in section numbering). This numbering should also be used for internal cross-referencing (e.g., As mentioned in Section 3, Lamptey (2021) insists…). Subsections should be given a brief heading. Use a capital letter only at the beginning of the first word in the (sub)heading and at the beginning of words that have to be spelled with capital letters in English. Each heading should appear on its own separate line. The main sections should be numbered as follows:

1. Introduction
2. Literature Review
3. Material and Methods
4. Results
5. Discussion
6. Conclusions
   Appendices

If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc.

CONSISTENCY IN USE OF LANGUAGE

Spelling, punctuation, and usage should, as much as possible, be consistently British (She avers, ‘Human behaviour can sometimes be understood in the light of responses to the “family code of honour,” societal organisation and even cultural artefacts’) or American (She avers, “Human behavior can sometimes be understood in light of responses to the ‘family code of honor’, societal organization, and even cultural artifacts.”)

Please note that should the punctuation, spelling, and usage in a quoted text conflict with those of your adopted style, this should not occasion a variation of the source text nor a [sic] tag in your paper.

 GENDER-SENSITIVE LANGUAGE

Contributors are encouraged to use bias-free and inclusive terms, e.g.: 

• “human resource development” instead of “manpower development” 
• “to operate/run the front desk” for “to man the front desk”
• “comprehensive plan” or  “vision” for “master plan”
• “work force” or “labor force” for “manpower”
• “staff hours” for “man-hours”
• “the President’s first/inaugural speech” for “the President’s maiden speech”
• “neutral zone” or “uninhabited territory” for “no-man’s land”
• “skill” for “workmanship” 
• “husband and wife” for “man and wife”
• “strong enough” for “man enough”
• “To each according to their ability” for “To each according to his ability”
• “non-identical twins” for  “fraternal twins”
• “the French” for “Frenchmen” 

For more information on gender-sensitive language, please consult http://www.escwa.un.org/information/conference/1400199.pdf

REFERENCE STYLE

LJH  uses the 7th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association – APA Style (https://apastyle.apa.org/) for references and in-text citation. All contributors should please use the APA style 7th Edition to rigorously prepare their manuscripts for submission. Manuscripts which do not adhere to these guidelines will be returned to the authors.

CITATIONS

In line with APA style, citations should be done in the text, not in endnotes or footnotes.  In-text parenthetical citation could take one of the following forms: 

1. “The sea was both hostile and docile, the ultimate trickster. It was as large as it was small, as long as you could claim a portion of it for yourself” (Danticat, 2013, p. 199). *Direct quotation (in text) of less than 40 words
2. Ajayi (2005) argues: 

            wealthier states have had the privilege of extended periods of running protectionist economies. The development of globally competitive industries in these countries can be linked both to the important protectionist policies that shielded business enterprise in its infancy and to creativity. England, for example, was already a great industrial power before it adopted free trade in the 1840’s …. Thus, the notion  of free trade is illusory….Every state’s economy is  protectionist by most standards. (p. 224) 

*Direct indented block quotation of more than 40 words.

3. In the opinion of Spivak (1988), some of the most radical criticism emanating from the West is motivated by the palpably hegemonic desire of maintaining the West as the dominant subject in discourse and of power (p. 271). *Paraphrased
4. Further evidence of the relevance of proverbs to everyday life can be found in Tamale (1999), Hussein (2005), Yankah (1985/2012), and Mieder (2014). *Synthesized

As works by Clavell (1975), Onyewuenyi (1993), Steegstra (2005), and Bugul (2014) show, cultural conflicts dialectically engender cultural coexistence and transformation. *Synthesized

5. Although Anderson‟s Imagined communities(1983/2006) is largely predicated upon the political history of the Global South, few can contest the light it sheds on the genesis and survival of all modern nation-states. *Summary

NB: Please note that footnotes should only be used sparingly for further explication of ideas.

CITATION OF YOUR OWN TRANSLATED PASSAGES

Place your own translated passage in brackets just below the original text, e.g.:

In the words of Eliacheff and Heinich, “ il y a aussi des épouses dont la passion se porte plutôt sur le statut social du ménage, qu’elles sont chargées de représenter et d’incarner ” (2002, p. 79). 

[“there are also some wives whose passion rather centers on the social status of the household which they are obligated to represent and embody” (2002, p. 79, own translation)].

REFERENCE LIST

All cited works should be collated at the end of each paper under the heading “References” (boldfaced and centered).

The reference list should:

1. begin on a new page
2. arrange authors’ names in alphabetical order
3. incorporate all the cited works in the paper
4. respect the APA 7th edition format (https://apastyle.apa.org/)                                         

SYMBOLS

Conventional, current typefaces are to be used. Special symbols and diagrams should be avoided as much as possible.

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

Papers submitted are assessed in these areas:

1. Overall general academic merit
2. Theoretical grounding in the relevant and current literature
3. Critical engagement with existing literature has clearly brought out the gap to be filled by the paper, thereby ensuring its extension of the frontiers of knowledge in the paper’s field
4. Currency of pertinent cited works
5. Quality of argumentation and reasoning
6. Sophistication in language usage and expression
7. Technical aspects (i.e., crafting of abstract and key words, respect of journal’s house style, and APA documentation model, etc.)

FEEDBACK FROM LJH

The LJH team intends to provide feedback to contributors between three and six months upon receipt of submissions. At the end of the peer review process, the editor takes a decision on the publication of the paper, guided by the verdict of the reviewers to whom the paper has been sent. Typically, reviewers are requested to make one of the following pronouncements on the paper: 

• It is suitable for publication in its current form
• It is publishable subject to minor changes
• Substantial thematic, structural, and/or linguistic changes are required for possible resubmission and further review
• It is not suitable for publication

Once a decision on publication is made, LJH conveys this, together with reviewers’ comments and recommendations, to the contributor. If the paper has been accepted for publication, the Editor will indicate, in the letter of acceptance, the volume, number, and year in which it will be issued. The dates of submission, acceptance, and publication will be inscribed on the published article.

TYPE PROOFS

Authors will be sent typeset proofs of their manuscripts for their final input before publication. Please note that at this stage, major revisions are not acceptable.

CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE

Attribution-Noncommercial- Noderivates 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0): The license allows others to “download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially” (Source: https:creativecommons.org/licenses).

Copyright Notice

Copyright

The copyright of all papers published in Legon Journal of the Humanities is vested in the journal. By agreeing to publish the accepted version of the paper in LJH, contributors automatically cede copyright of the manuscript to the journal. This notwithstanding, contributors may use parts of their published articles for non-commercial purposes, e.g., course material, conferences, and academic profile webpage. 

Access and Attribution

While LJH published papers (new and archived) can be freely downloaded from its website in compliance with its gratis open access policy, hard copies of current and recent issues as well as offprints of specific papers can only be provided on demand.

Citation of a paper from LJH should include name of quoted author, journal title, volume number, issue number, title of paper, pages, year of publication, and Digital Object Identifier (DOI)/Uniform Resource Locator (URL).