About the Journal
Focus and Scope
The UDS International Journal of Development is an online, open-access peer-reviewed journal of the University for Development Studies, Ghana. It is a multi-trans and inter-disciplinary journal with a development focus. It publishes works that are analytical, evaluative, basic, applicative and/or descriptive. It accepts papers from varied disciplinary areas; including the Humanities, Social Sciences, Physical and Applied Sciences, Medicine and Allied Health Sciences, Business and Commerce as well as Information Technology. Articles must show relevance to development. Emphasis is on empirical research that builds on and/or ground theory. However, manuscripts of high quality on theoretical aspects of development-related disciplines as well as book reviews are considered for publication.
The UDS International Journal of Development provides a forum for researchers and development-related professionals to re/present findings on critical research and /or analysis of development issues with an emphasis on, but not exclusive to the Ghanaian as well as African settings.
Mission
To provide on a regular and sustained basis, an excellent scholarly journal for reporting empirical research findings, policy analysis, topical issues, theoretical concerns, and reviews on development.
The review process involves sending papers to at least two experts for review. The manuscript is a confidential document. Please do not discuss this document with anybody else. Any communication with the author of the manuscript must be done through the Journal Editorial office.
The referee provides advice to the Editor-in-Chief, who makes the final decision, together with members of a well-selected panel We will normally pass on your comments (anonymously, of course) to the author.
As a practice, the author and the reviewer are not known to each other. Even if we do not accept a paper, we would like to pass on constructive comments that might help the author to improve the paper, or in preparing a fresh paper. For this reason, please give detailed comments (with references, where appropriate) that will help the Editor-in-Chief to make a decision on the paper and the authors to improve it. Send detailed comments separately and make your recommendations and any confidential comments to the Editorial Secretary by electronic means. Corrections can also be made on the actual text itself and highlighted for the benefit of the author and the editor.
Publication Frequency
Biannual: In May and November
Open Access Policy
This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.
Peer Review System
The Journal’s peer-review system is double-blind. Manuscripts submitted, go through a pre-review process to ensure that they conform with the guidelines provided for authors. Manuscripts which do not conform with the guidelines are sent back to authors with comments attached for corrections and resubmission. Manuscripts that conform with the guidelines are forwarded to reviewers. For each manuscript, there are two reviewers. Reviewers are given two weeks to review each manuscript.
A conference review has also been included in the review process. Usually, with the conference review, reviewers from the various disciplines are invited to a two-day conference review, during which they sit and review the manuscripts which were sent to them at least two weeks before the conference. The intention is to get the manuscripts reviewed in good time in order to meet scheduled publication times.
When reviewers are done reviewing manuscripts, they are forwarded to authors with the reviewers’ comments and decision. Corrected manuscripts received from authors are forwarded to reviewers to ensure that authors have effected changes and/or made inputs. When reviewers are content with corrections, the manuscripts are then forwarded to the Editor-in-chief for the final review. After which manuscripts are uploaded onto the Journal’s website by the Editorial Secretary.
Plagiarism Policy
The UDS International Journal of Development (UDSIJD) asserts that plagiarism in any form is not acceptable in scholarly publications, and therefore states that when plagiarism is identified in an article that is submitted for publication in UDSIJD, fitting penalties would be applied.
Definition:
Plagiarism involves the "use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work." [1995 Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary].
Policy:
Manuscripts submitted to UDSIJD must be original, unpublished, and not pending publication elsewhere. Any material taken verbatim from another source needs to be clearly identified as different from the present original text by (1) indentation, (2) use of quotation marks, and (3) identification of the source. Any text of an amount exceeding fair use standards (herein defined as more than two sentences or the equivalent thereof) or any graphic material reproduced from another source requires permission from the copyright holder and, if feasible, the original author(s), and also requires identification of the original source; e.g., previous publication.
The Journal uses automated software to check for plagiarism in all submitted manuscripts. The results of this automated detection are forwarded to the Editorial Secretary and will serve as the preliminary check for plagiarism. Plagiarism may also be identified during the review process by the technical reviewers assigned to the manuscript.
When plagiarism is identified, the Editorial Secretary responsible for the review of the manuscript and the Editor-in-Chief will agree on punishable measures according to the extent of plagiarism detected in the manuscript.
Submission and Processing Fees
There are no charges for submission and article processing.