The African Economic and Management Review (AEMR) is an international, Africa-focused peer-reviewed journal publishing sound theoretical and empirical research in economics, business, management and related social sciences. It encourages applied economics and sound business practices that contribute to economic development in Africa, and the dissemination of research on business practices and corporate governance in Africa and beyond.

AEMR supports research in Africa by providing constructive, achievable editorial feedback to help authors improve their manuscripts. It welcomes relevant contributions from researchers worldwide and maintains academic standards through initial editorial assessment and double-blind peer review.

No publication charges

Publication in the African Economic and Management Review (AEMR) is completely free for all authors. There are no submission fees, article processing charges (APCs), editing charges or publication fees.

Open access and copyright

Authors retain copyright. The journal’s current publication licence is Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Readers may copy, share and adapt licensed material, including for commercial use, provided they give appropriate credit, link to the licence and indicate changes. No additional restrictions may be imposed. Third-party material is covered only where the article explicitly states that it is included in the licence; otherwise permission may be required. Authors grant the journal the right of first publication. This policy takes effect on 6 October 2026. Earlier articles retain the licence expressly stated in their published version unless the rights holders authorise a change.

Publication ethics and editorial integrity

This policy follows the principles of the COPE Core Practices and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing. This is a commitment to those principles, not a claim of COPE membership or DOAJ inclusion.

Originality and authorship

Submit original work that is not under consideration by another journal. Disclose related papers, preprints and overlapping data. Credit all sources and obtain permission for third-party material where needed. Every listed author must have made a substantial contribution, approve the submitted version and accept responsibility for the work. Explain individual contributions; gift, guest and ghost authorship are unacceptable. Authorship changes require a reason and the agreement of all affected authors.

Research ethics and participant protection

For research involving people, report the ethics committee, approval identifier and consent process, or explain any lawful exemption. Protect confidentiality and disclose consent for identifiable information. Respect applicable research, data-protection and animal-welfare requirements. Missing documentation is investigated; it is not automatically treated as proof of misconduct.

Data, methods and reproducibility

Describe data sources, sampling, variables, methods and limitations sufficiently for scrutiny. Provide a data-availability statement and, where lawful, supporting data and code in a suitable repository. Explain confidentiality, licensing or other access restrictions and how legitimate requests can be considered. Fabricated data, falsified results, misleading images and invented references are prohibited.

Funding and competing interests

Disclose funding, the funder's role and financial or nonfinancial competing interests. Editors and reviewers must declare conflicts and recuse themselves where impartiality is affected. An editor's own submission is handled by an independent editor. Publication is free for all authors; financial capacity does not influence decisions.

Editorial assessment and peer review

Initial editorial checks support authors in resolving substantive research concerns before external double-blind peer review by appropriate independent specialists. Author and reviewer identities are masked during that review. Initial assessment is not external peer review. Review material is confidential; reviewers must not exploit unpublished work. Decisions remain with the Chief Editor through the authorised editorial office. Acceptance and fixed decision times are not guaranteed.

Screening and responsible use of automated tools

Editors assess attribution and text reuse. Any similarity report is interpreted in context; a score alone does not prove plagiarism. Human editors verify findings and make decisions. Authors must disclose substantive generative-AI use and verify its output; AI tools cannot be authors. Reviewers must not upload confidential manuscripts to unapproved external tools. Automated output does not replace specialist human peer review.

Misconduct, complaints and appeals

Send evidence-based concerns or a reasoned appeal to aemr@nokspublishing.com, identifying the manuscript or article. The editor documents the concern, gives the affected parties an opportunity to respond and follows relevant COPE guidance. Where appropriate, institutions or other responsible bodies are contacted. Complaints involving the handling editor are referred to an unconnected editor or adviser; concerns about the Chief Editor are referred to the publisher for independent consideration. Appeals are assessed on evidence and procedure, not merely disagreement with an outcome.

Corrections, expressions of concern and retractions

Readers and authors may report errors through the journal email. Material errors that do not invalidate the work receive a clearly identified correction linked to the article. Unresolved serious concerns may warrant an expression of concern. Unreliable findings, serious misconduct or other justified grounds may warrant retraction. Notices explain the reason and link to the original; retracted articles normally remain accessible and clearly marked. Removal is exceptional, for compelling legal, privacy or safety reasons. Changes are documented rather than silently replacing the scholarly record.

Digital preservation and self-archiving

The journal's OJS archive provides access to published articles. Website availability and routine backups are not equivalent to independent long-term preservation.

Current status, 6 October 2026: the PKP Preservation Network plugin is enabled and its preservation agreement has been accepted. OJS reports that the PKP PN can accept deposits from this journal, but no deposits are recorded yet. Successful preservation deposits remain pending verification; this journal does not yet claim completed PKP PN, LOCKSS, CLOCKSS or Portico coverage.

The publisher's implementation plan is to verify completed PKP PN deposits, monitor failures and document preservation status. The publisher will establish and verify separate backups of the database, uploaded files, public assets and configuration, with a tested restoration procedure. Preservation copies must retain article files, metadata, licences and version/correction history. If the journal ceases operation, the publisher should notify the preservation provider and support continued access under its agreement.

Authors may immediately deposit preprints, accepted manuscripts and published versions in institutional or subject repositories without an embargo. Identify the version and add the final citation, DOI and applicable licence when available. Earlier articles retain their stated licence. Repository deposit complements the journal's preservation plan. Contact aemr@nokspublishing.com to report missing files or access problems.