Eastern African Literary and Cultural Studies

Instructions for Authors

Thank you for choosing to submit your paper to us. These instructions will ensure we have everything required so your paper can move through peer review, production and publication smoothly. Please take the time to read and follow them as closely as possible, as doing so will ensure your paper matches the journal's requirements.

We offer a range of editing, manuscript preparation and post publication services to assist you in preparing your manuscript for submission, increase your chance of acceptance, or broaden the readership of your article. General guidance on every stage of the publication process is available at our Author Services website.

This journal uses Routledge's Submission Portal to manage the submission process. The Submission Portal allows you to see your submissions across Taylor & Francis' journal portfolio in one place. To submit your manuscript please click here.

Please note that book reviews and discussions are not sent out for peer review.

Manuscripts may be submitted in any standard editable format, including Word and EndNote. These files will be automatically converted into a PDF file to undergo a double-blind peer review process. LaTeX files should be converted to PDF prior to submission because Editorial Manager is not able to convert LaTeX files into PDFs directly. All LaTeX source files should be uploaded alongside the PDF.

Complete guidelines for preparing and submitting your manuscript to this journal are provided below.

Submissions should not have already appeared in print, nor should they be under consideration elsewhere.

Eastern African Literary and Cultural Studies uses the Chicago Author-Date style. All submissions should conform strictly to the guidelines supplied in these notes and in the style guide.

Open Access

You have the option to publish open access in this journal via our Open Select publishing program. Publishing open access means that your article will be free to access online immediately on publication, increasing the visibility, readership and impact of your research. Articles published Open Select with Taylor & Francis typically receive 45% more citations* and over 6 times as many downloads** compared to those that are not published Open Select.

Your research funder or your institution may require you to publish your article open access. Visit our Author Services website to find out more about open access policies and how you can comply with these.

You will be asked to pay an article publishing charge (APC) to make your article open access and this cost can often be covered by your institution or funder. Use our APC finder to view the APC for this journal.

Please visit our Author Services website if you would like more information about our Open Select Program.

*Citations received up to 9th June 2021 for articles published in 2018-2022. Data obtained on 23rd August 2023, from Digital Science's Dimensions platform, available at https://app.dimensions.ai
**Usage in 2020-2022 for articles published in 2018-2022.

Peer Review and Ethics

Taylor & Francis is committed to peer-review integrity and upholding the highest standards of review. Once your paper has been assessed for suitability by the editor, it will then be double blind peer reviewed by anonymous expert referees.

If you have shared an earlier version of your Author’s Original Manuscript on a preprint server, please be aware that anonymity cannot be guaranteed. Further information on our preprints policy and citation requirements can be found on our Preprints Author Services page.

Please ensure all listed authors meet the Taylor & Francis authorship criteria.

Word templates

Word templates are available for this journal. If you are not able to use the template via the links or if you have any other template queries, please contact us via our Author Services. 

All articles should adhere to a word limit of up to a maximum of 7,000 words, including all notes and references. Please indicate the word count on the cover page of your submission. Under special circumstances longer papers will be considered; approach the editors if you have queries in this regard.
Book reviews should be between 1000 and 1500 words and review essays between 1500 and 3000 words. A general essay can be up to 5,000 words in length; if it is longer, please contact the editors. An interview article could record a conversation among a group of people or a one-on-one interview in which the writer asks the interviewee/s questions on a subject (between 1 500 and 3 000 words).
All submissions should be accompanied by a cover page that includes the title of the article and the author’s name and contact details. On this cover page, list six to ten keywords.

Abstract: An abstract of up to 200 words must be included, summarizing the content. Citations must not be used within the abstract.

Read more about style guidelines and further author instructions here.