About the Journal

Focus and Scope

The African Journal of Nephrology is the official journal of the African Association of Nephrology (AFRAN) and publishes peer-reviewed papers relating to clinical or basic research in nephrology and hypertension, as well as nephrology education. The Journal considers submissions of original and review articles, case reports, technical reports, practice guidelines and images in nephrology.

Peer Review Process

The peer review process is handled via the OJS online editorial system. A single-blind approach is used, with authors not aware of the identity of reviewers. The Editor-in-Chief or a senior editor screens all submitted manuscripts and rejects unsuitable manuscripts at this point. Submissions without ethics approval and those which have not been formatted according to the author guidelines are most likely to be rejected immediately. See the Instructions for Authors and the AJN Style Guide.

Articles selected for peer review are sent to 2-3 reviewers with the appropriate expertise. Reviewers are asked to complete the review within 3 weeks. The editor collates their reports and makes one of the following decisions: accepted (minor/no revisions), rejected, or revisions required.

We aim to provide initial feedback to authors within 6 weeks of submission. Revised manuscripts may be dealt with by the editor, or sent back to the reviewers. Members of the editorial board may be called upon to make additional recommendations. The Editor-in-Chief has the final decision on the acceptance or rejection of all manuscripts.

Publication Frequency

AJN publishes articles continuously as they are accepted, in a single issue each year. This ensures that your research is made available to the scientific community much earlier.

Open Access Policy

African Journal of Nephrology is an Open Access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author.

Plagiarism and other Scientific Misconduct

Plagiarism is the use of another's work without acknowledgement. This ranges from major plagiarism of large amounts of text to minor plagiarism without dishonest intent (e.g. when an author uses parts of an introduction from an earlier paper) and even self-plagiarism (the reuse of one's own work without citing the original version). Manuscripts submitted to the journal will be scanned using anti-plagiarism software to verify originality. Other forms of scientific misconduct include duplicate publication, the falsification or fabrication of data, and undeclared conflicts of interest.

If any questions are raised about a manuscript undergoing review, the Editor-in-Chief may contact the author(s) and request a response. In most instances there is no deliberate intention to deceive and concerns are easily resolved.

Submissions containing plagiarism or evidence of other forms of scientific misconduct will not be considered for publication. Already-published manuscripts may be retracted. Misconduct will be reported to the institutions and funding agencies of the authors concerned.

Use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools and resources

Authors are solely responsible for ensuring the authenticity, validity and integrity of the content in their manuscripts. Any use of content generated by an AI application must be declared and appropriately referenced. Not acknowledging such use could amount to plagiarism. Concealing the use of AI tools is unethical and violates the principles of transparency and honesty in research. Note that AI may generate references to non-existent works and all citations therefore need to be carefully checked. Please consult the ASSAF and SciELO guidelines on AI for more information.

Publication Fees

All articles submitted from 01 January 2024 are, upon acceptance for publication, subject to a flat fee of $100 for article-processing charges. This applies to all categories of articles, with the exception of invited reviews.

Copyright and Permissions

Copyright on articles published is owned by the author(s). All articles are published under the following Creative Commons license: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

This license facilitates free, immediate access and unrestricted reuse. Anyone may copy, distribute or reuse any article, as long as the authors and original source are properly cited. No permission is required from the authors or the publishers.

Authors are permitted to deposit all versions of their articles in an institutional or subject repository.

Corrections and Retractions

In the event that an error is discovered in a paper, the author(s) or the editorial team may publish a short correction. If a serious problem is discovered, AJN reserves the right to retract the paper. The editorial board may be consulted to provide input but the Editor-in-Chief has the right of final decision on the matter.

Disclaimer

This journal is hosted by the Stellenbosch University Library and Information Service on request of the journal owner/editor. The SU LIS takes no responsibility for the content published within this journal, and disclaim all liability arising out of the use of or inability to use the information contained herein. We assume no responsibility, and shall not be liable for any breaches of agreement with other publishers/hosts.

Digital Preservation

The African Journal of Nephrology is in the process of migrating from the Stellenbosch University preservation platform to the PKP PN (Preservation Network) platform.

ORCID iD

ORCID iD is a persistent, unique, numeric identifier for individual researchers and creators. It distinguishes you from researchers and creators with the same or similar names. ORCID iD is similar to ResearcherID, Scopus Author ID, ISNI and other systems for identifying and distinguishing researchers and creators.

After Registration, can you Edit your Profile and then insert the ORCID iD, or please send your ORCiD ID, along with the name of the journal, to scholar@sun.ac.za to add to your Profile. Stellenbosch University researchers/authors can create an ORCID iD here.

Sponsors

The African Journal of Nephrology is hosted by Stellenbosch University on the Open Journal Systems platform. Publication costs are funded, in part, by the South African Nephrology Society.

Journal History

The Journal was established in 1997, with Professor Maher Fouad Ramzy as the founding editor. Current editor, Professor Alain Assounga, has served since 2012 (volume 15). In 2016, the Journal was re-launched as a fully online, open access publication. Professor Razeen Davids managed the Journal's migration to the Open Journal Systems platform, hosted by Stellenbosch University. Previous issues have been uploaded back to 2009.

We require copies of the issues published between 1997 and 2008 so that they can be digitized and uploaded to make a complete record of all published AJN papers available. Please contact Razeen Davids at mrd@sun.ac.za if you are able to assist.