Ethical Charter
The Global Africa editorial board is committed to ensuring the highest standards of research integrity and quality across all its publications. The journal's ethical framework applies to all participants in the editorial process — editors, authors, reviewers, and translators — and is binding from the moment of submission through to publication and dissemination.
This charter is based on the guidelines issued by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the best practices in academic publishing. Every participant in the process is deemed to be aware of it and is required to comply with its principles.
Charter of Editors
The editors of Global Africa are responsible for the quality and integrity of the journal's content. They are committed to applying the following principles across all stages of the editorial process.
The editor-in-chief of Global Africa is responsible for deciding which submitted articles will be published. This decision is guided by the editorial board's policies and is constrained by legal requirements, including copyright, plagiarism, and defamation laws. The editor may confer with other editors or reviewers in making this decision.
Editors shall evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.
The editor and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher as appropriate.
Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in the editor's own research without the express written consent of the author. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.
Editors should recuse themselves from considering manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the submitted work.
When an editor is presented with compelling evidence that the substance or conclusions of a published paper are erroneous, the editor should facilitate publication of a correction, retraction, expression of concern, or other note as appropriate. All reported or suspected cases of research misconduct must be investigated, even if a manuscript has already been accepted or a paper published.
Editors should strive to ensure that peer review is conducted fairly and without bias. The journal uses a double-blind review process. Editors should not use manuscript management systems to mask their own identity when reviewing manuscripts submitted to their own journal.
Editors should ensure that reviewers are appropriate and do not have conflicts of interest with respect to the research, the authors, and/or the research funders.
Charter of Authors
Authors submitting manuscripts to Global Africa are bound by the following obligations. Compliance is required from the time of submission and throughout the publication process.
Originality and Plagiarism
Authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others, that this has been appropriately cited or quoted. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.
Plagiarism policy: All submitted manuscripts are subject to plagiarism detection. Any manuscript found to contain plagiarized content will be immediately rejected. If plagiarism is detected in a published article, the article will be retracted and the authors notified.
Multiple, Redundant or Concurrent Publications
An author should not in general publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.
It is also expected that the author will not submit for consideration a manuscript that has been published previously, except in the form of an abstract, a published lecture or academic thesis, or an electronic preprint — provided this is clearly declared at the time of submission.
Acknowledgement of Sources
Proper acknowledgement of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite all publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work. Information obtained privately, as in conversation, correspondence, or discussion with third parties, must not be used or reported without explicit, written permission from the source.
Authorship of the Paper
Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors.
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All listed authors must have made a substantive intellectual contribution to the work
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Where there are others who have participated in certain aspects of the project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors
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The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included on the paper
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All co-authors must have reviewed and approved the final version of the paper and agreed to its submission for publication
Citing Reviewers
Authors must not attempt to influence the review process through the suggestion of reviewers who are known to be favorable to their work, or through the improper suggestion of potential reviewers. Authors may suggest reviewers but the final selection rests with the editors.
Conflict of Interest
All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.
Reviews and Professional Publications
When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their own published work, it is the author's obligation to promptly notify the journal editor and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper. If the editor or publisher learns from a third party that a published work contains a significant error, it is the obligation of the author to promptly retract or correct the paper.
Digital Fabrication
Authors should not fabricate, falsify, or inappropriately manipulate data or images. Manipulation of images is only acceptable if the entire image is adjusted consistently and does not selectively enhance or diminish particular areas. Selective enhancement or suppression of information constitutes scientific misconduct.
Data integrity: Global Africa reserves the right to request original data from authors during editorial review or after publication. Refusal to provide data or evidence of manipulation will result in retraction of the manuscript or published article.
Charter of Reviewers
Global Africa employs a double-blind peer review process. Reviewers play a central role in ensuring the scientific quality of published work. This charter defines the responsibilities and obligations of all peer reviewers.
Peer review assists editors in making editorial decisions and, through editorial communication with authors, may also assist authors in improving their manuscripts. Reviewers who feel unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or know that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editors and excuse themselves from the review process.
Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments. They should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors.
Any reviewer who feels unable to complete the review of a manuscript within the stipulated time should notify the editors so that the manuscript can be sent to another reviewer. Reviewers should adhere to the deadlines agreed upon with the editorial board.
Any manuscript received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor. Reviewers must not retain or copy manuscripts submitted to them for review.
Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the submission.
Reviewers must not use data, arguments, or interpretations from the manuscript they are reviewing in their own research without the explicit written consent of the authors. All information obtained during the review process must be kept strictly confidential.
Reviewers should alert the editor to any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge. Reviewers should report to the editor any evidence of plagiarism, data fabrication, or other forms of scientific misconduct discovered during the review process.
Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the submitted work. In cases of doubt, reviewers should contact the editor for clarification.
Reviewers must declare any potential conflict of interest at the time of accepting a review assignment. Failure to disclose a conflict of interest may result in the exclusion of the reviewer from future review assignments.
Reviewers should not attempt to identify the authors of manuscripts submitted to them for review. In cases where the reviewer suspects they know the identity of the author, they should inform the editor immediately. The double-blind nature of the review process must be respected at all times.
Charter of Translators
Given Global Africa's commitment to multilingualism (French, English, Arabic, Swahili), translators play a crucial role in the journal's publication process. This charter defines the professional standards expected of all translators working with the journal.
Fidelity
Translators are expected to produce translations that faithfully render the meaning, tone, and nuance of the original text. Translators must preserve the scientific and academic integrity of the source material while ensuring linguistic accuracy and readability in the target language. Any significant interpretive choices must be flagged to the editorial board.
Professional Secrecy
Translators must treat all manuscripts entrusted to them as strictly confidential. They may not share, discuss, or disseminate any part of a manuscript under translation with any third party without the explicit written authorization of the editorial board. This obligation of confidentiality persists after the completion of their work with the journal.
Respect for the Editorial Board
Translators commit to complying with the editorial guidelines, terminology preferences, and stylistic conventions established by the Global Africa editorial board. They must:
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Respect the deadlines set by the editorial board
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Signal any passages that present translation difficulties and propose solutions in collaboration with the editors
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Accept and incorporate revisions requested by the editorial board without compromising the quality of the translation
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Refrain from making substantive changes to the content or meaning of the source text without editorial authorization
Compliance with the Behaviour Standard
Translators are expected to uphold the highest standards of professional conduct in all interactions with the editorial board, authors, and other journal stakeholders. Violations of this charter — including breaches of confidentiality, misrepresentation of translation quality, or failure to meet agreed deadlines without justification — may result in termination of the working relationship with the journal.
Translators working with Global Africa are considered part of the editorial team and are subject to the same ethical standards as all other participants in the publication process.
Unethical Behavior and Confidentiality
Unethical Behavior
Global Africa is committed to investigating all allegations of unethical publishing behavior. This includes, but is not limited to, plagiarism, data fabrication or falsification, duplicate publication, inappropriate authorship, undisclosed conflicts of interest, and manipulation of peer review.
Reporting misconduct: Any person who believes they have witnessed unethical behavior in relation to a manuscript submitted to or published in Global Africa should report it directly to the editorial team at redaction@globalafricasciences.org. All allegations will be investigated in accordance with COPE guidelines.
Promotion & Use of Confidential Professional Publications
Any information obtained during the editorial and peer review process is privileged and confidential. This information must not be used for personal advantage or shared with third parties outside the editorial process.
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Editors must not use unpublished material from submitted manuscripts in their own research without the author's explicit written consent
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Reviewers must not appropriate the ideas, data, or interpretations of manuscripts under review for personal use
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Translators must not retain or copy any part of manuscripts entrusted to them beyond the period of their engagement with the journal
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All participants must maintain strict confidentiality regarding the identities of authors and reviewers involved in the double-blind review process
Privacy
Global Africa is committed to protecting the personal data of all participants in the publication process — authors, reviewers, editors, and translators. The collection and processing of personal data is governed by applicable data protection legislation.
The journal collects only the personal data necessary to manage the submission, review, and publication process. This includes: names, institutional affiliations, email addresses, ORCID identifiers, and manuscript-related communications.
Personal data collected in the context of the submission and review process is used solely for the purposes of managing the editorial workflow. It will not be shared with third parties without the explicit consent of the individuals concerned, except where required by law.
Author contact details and bibliographic information may be shared with indexing databases and archiving services as part of the journal's open access and discoverability commitments.
Personal data related to published articles is retained indefinitely as part of the permanent scholarly record. Data related to rejected manuscripts is retained for a period of three years after the rejection decision, after which it is securely deleted. Reviewer identities in the double-blind review process are never disclosed publicly.
For any questions regarding the journal's data protection practices, or to exercise your rights under applicable data protection law, please contact the editorial team at redaction@globalafricasciences.org.