1) Text size
The size of the texts varies according to the section:
In the file, texts must not exceed 50,000 characters, including spaces and notes (note: in word processing software, the box "Include all notes in the calculation" must be checked in the Statistics dialogue window).
The texts in the sections "Conjoncture" or "Document" are shorter, up to 40,000 characters.
Texts in the Research section can be up to 55,000 characters long.
NB: if the texts are submitted in English, you should add about 10% to estimate the volume of the translation into French.
2) Presentation rules
The text should be presented in the simplest possible way:
Justified text, in Times New Roman 12 for the main text and Times New Roman 10 for the footnotes;
Accented capitals;
Single line spacing, no paragraph indents;
No paragraph breaks within sections.
Subheadings should break up the text into clearly identifiable sections (the journal recognises only two levels of headings).
First level in bold roman (two line breaks before, one after)
Second level in italics (one line break before, one after)3) Footnotes
For all articles in the journal (except for the Bibliographical chronicle / Book debate section), all notes must be placed at the bottom of the page, using the automatic call-up of the word processing software (note numbers increase throughout the article, do not start at note “1” on each new page).
By convention, footnotes are never placed in titles and subtitles.
In the footnote itself (to be distinguished from the footnote reference), the footnote number should not be superscripted and should be followed by a full stop[1].
In the text of the notes, “see” and not “cf.” is used to refer to a reference.
The call for a note (in the text) is placed before any punctuation mark.
4) Summaries, keywords and introduction to the author
The text must be accompanied by five keywords (maximum), an abstract of 600 characters maximum in French and an abstract of 600 characters maximum in English (accompanied by a translation of the title of the article).
At the end of the article, the author must mention his or her institution (laboratory, university, etc.)
5) References
Bibliographical references should not be included in the body of the text – the bibliography consists of footnotes. The text should not include a final bibliography.
Titles of books and journals are in italics, those of articles in roman and in French inverted commas (including English titles).
Ex: G. Capps, “A Bourgeois Reform with Social Justice? The Contradictions of the Minerals Development Bill and Black Economic Empowerment in the South African Platinum Mining Industry’, Review of African Political Economy, vol. 39, no. 132, June 2012, pp. 315-333.
In French, by convention, for the titles of books, we capitalise the beginning of each word up to the first noun when it is preceded by a definite article.
Ex: M. Dupré and W. Shi, La Présence chinoise en Afrique de l’Ouest : le cas du Mali et du Bénin, Working paper, Agence française de développement, August 2008.
But we will write: M. Dupré and W. Shi, La Première Présence chinoise en Afrique de l’Ouest : le cas du Mali et du Bénin, working paper, Agence française de développement, August 2008.
M. Dupré and W. Shi, Une présence chinoise en Afrique de l’Ouest: le cas du Mali et du Bénin, working paper, Agence française de développement, August 2008.
For authors of collective works, an ‘and’ separates the penultimate and final names of the authors, book directors or file coordinators (even when there are only two).
Ex: F. Colonna and B. Harshav, “Educating Conformity in French Colonial Algeria”, in F. Cooper and A. Stoler (eds.), Tensions of Empire. Colonial Cultures in a Bourgeois World, …
For chapters of collective works, after the announcement of the authors and the title of the chapter, a comma is placed before the references of the work (see the example above).
In English, titles of books or articles are capitalized (see example above).
In references to works published abroad, the cities of publication are translated into French (London, not London).
In references to foreign periodicals, translate the dates of publication into French (→ Ex: 1er septembre, and not 1st September or September 1st) and use ‘n°’ for number (and not No. or Number).
Never enter an author’s name in capitals.
The following models should be used for the first references:
- for scientific articles :
Initials of the author’s first name and surname without capitals, “Title of the article in roman in inverted commas”, Title of the journal in italics, vol. X, n° X, p. XX-XX.
Ex: J.-P. Dozon, “Quand les pastoriens traquaient la maladie du sommeil”, Sciences sociales et santé, vol. 7, n° 3-4, 1985, p. 26-56. (for pages, no pp. but a p. followed by a space) - for book chapters :
Initials of the author’s first name and surname without capitals, “Title of the chapter”, in Initials of the director’s first name and surname without capitals, Title of the book, Place of publication, Publisher, year. - E.g. N. Kasfir, ‘State, Magendo and Class Formation in Uganda’, in N. Kasfir (ed.), State and Class in Africa, London, Frank Cass and Company, 1984, pp. 84-104.
- for the books :
Initials of the author’s first name and surname without capitals, Title of the work, Place of publication, Publisher, Year.
E.g.: J. van Slageren, Les Origines de l’Église évangélique du Cameroun: missions européennes et christianisme autochtone, Leiden, Brill, 1972. - for references to interviews:
Interview with X, place of interview, date of interview.
Ex: Interview with the police commissioner, Garoua, 1 November 2002. - for references to press articles:
Name of author (if available), “Title of document”, Name of newspaper (or radio, television, etc.), date, page. - in all cases, if an internet link refers to the cited document, add it at the end of the reference between < > :
Ex: W. Oludayisi, ‘Major parties vie to win control of election police, says monitoring chief’, Nigeria Election Online, 16 April 2007, http://allafrica.com/stories/200704160081.html.
References already cited once will be noted in the following text:
- for scientific articles: J.-P. Dozon, “Quand les pastoriens…”,art. cité, p. 29.
- for book chapters: N. Kasfir, “State, Magendo…”, art. cit., p. 92.
- for books: J. van Slageren, Les Origines de l’Église…, op. cit. p. 89.
NB: art. cit. in Roman; op. cit. in italics
6) Detached quotations
If the quotation is longer than 4 lines, it is detached from the text with a line break before and after, a text indentation of 1cm and the quotation in size 11. At the end of the quotation, the footnote is placed inside the inverted commas. The full stop comes after the inverted commas are closed.
7) Other typographical rules
Centuries are indicated in Roman numerals.
E.g.: 20th century
Numbers are spelled out from one to fifteen, for tens (twenty, thirty…) and hundreds (one hundred, two hundred…). For all others, Arabic numerals are used (16, 21, 101), as well as for percentages (1%).
When they are pronounced, acronyms are written with a capital letter only on the first letter (Unesco, Unita…).
In the texts, the names of institutions in English are not italicised, except when they are temporary plans, movements or structures (Growth and Transformation Plan).
Expressions transcribed from foreign languages (gender mainstreaming), common nouns transposed directly into the French text (policing), or proper nouns used as such or as adjectives (Askaris) are in italics, but without inverted commas.
Latin expressions in French are in italics (a priori, in situ, a fortiori, a contrario…).
