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African Affairs
H-index 7

African Affairs

0001-9909

Published by: Oxford University Press

https://academic.oup.com/afraf

Ranking & Metrics

Discipline name Position Best Scientists Publications D-Index
Political Science 225 7 7 5

Additional Metrics

Number of Best Scientists*: 13
Documents by Best Scientists*: 13
Top 100 Ranked Scientists*: 0
SCIMAGO H-index: 88
SCIMAGO SJR: 0.862
Impact Factor: 2.2

Overview

Top Research Topics at African Affairs?

African Affairs covers a variety of subjects, including Gender studies, Politics, Political economy, Colonialism and Law. The Politics study featured in the journal draws connections with the study of State (polity). The Political economy study tackled is a key component of adjacent topics in the area of Democracy.

Topics in Colonialism were tackled in line with various other fields like Ethnology and Ancient history.

  • Gender studies (12.09%)
  • Politics (12.05%)
  • Political economy (11.65%)

What are the most cited papers published in the journal?

  • Africa in the world: a history of extraversion (541 citations)
  • Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age (372 citations)
  • ETHNICITY, PATRONAGE AND THE AFRICAN STATE: THE POLITICS OF UNCIVIL NATIONALISM (363 citations)

Research areas of the most cited articles at African Affairs:

The published papers are organized to address concerns in the fields of Politics, Political economy, Law, Democracy and Gender studies. The journal articles explore research in Government and overlapping concepts in Economic growth to expand the discourse in Politics. The published papers deal with Gender studies in conjunction with Colonialism and similar fields in Decolonization.

What topics the last edition of the journal is best known for?

  • World War II
  • Law
  • China

The previous edition focused in particular on these issues:

African Affairs focuses largely on the fields of Political economy, Economic growth, Politics, Law and Criminology. Issues in Political economy were discussed, taking into consideration concepts from other disciplines like Independence, Opposition (politics), Commons, Political history and Term (time). Topics in Economic growth explored in the journal were investigated in conjunction with research in Race (biology), Wine, The Internet, China and Consumption (economics).

The journal explores topics in Politics which can be helpful for research in disciplines like Service economy and Projection (mathematics). Constitutional court, Administration (government) and Inheritance are all topics related to Law research discussed. It facilitates discussions on Criminology that incorporate concepts from other fields like Resistance (psychoanalysis), Nomination, Movement (music), Boko haram and Spanish Civil War.

The most cited articles from the last journal are:

  • Fighting fences and land grabbers in the struggle for the Commons in N≠a Jaqna, Namibia (1 citations)
  • Refugees And Patronage: A Political History Of Uganda’s ‘Progressive’ Refugee Policies (1 citations)
  • How regional norms shape regional organizations: The Pan-African rhetorical trap and the empowerment of the ECOWAS Parliament (1 citations)

Papers citation over time

A key indicator for each journal is its effectiveness in reaching other researchers with the papers published at that venue.

The chart below presents the interquartile range (first quartile 25%, median 50% and third quartile 75%) of the number of citations of articles over time.

The top authors publishing in African Affairs (based on the number of publications) are:

  • Mercedes Mackay (40 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • Douglas Rimmer (38 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • Lucy Mair (36 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • Peter Woodward (34 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • Christopher Clapham (31 papers) absent at the last edition.

The overall trend for top authors publishing in this journal is outlined below. The chart shows the number of publications at each edition of the journal for top authors.

Only papers with recognized affiliations are considered

The top affiliations publishing in African Affairs (based on the number of publications) are:

  • SOAS, University of London (116 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • University of Birmingham (113 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • University of Oxford (77 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • University of Edinburgh (61 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • University of Sussex (48 papers) absent at the last edition.

The overall trend for top affiliations publishing in this journal is outlined below. The chart shows the number of publications at each edition of the journal for top affiliations.

Publication chance based on affiliation

The publication chance index shows the ratio of articles published by the best research institutions in the journal edition to all articles published within that journal. The best research institutions were selected based on the largest number of articles published during all editions of the journal.

The chart below presents the percentage ratio of articles from top institutions (based on their ranking of total papers).Top affiliations were grouped by their rank into the following tiers: top 1-10, top 11-20, top 21-50, and top 51+. Only articles with a recognized affiliation are considered.

During the most recent 2021 edition, 72.97% of publications had an unrecognized affiliation. Out of the publications with recognized affiliations, 0.00% were posted by at least one author from the top 10 institutions publishing in the journal. Another 10.00% included authors affiliated with research institutions from the top 11-20 affiliations. Institutions from the 21-50 range included 30.00% of all publications and 60.00% were from other institutions.

Returning Authors Index

A very common phenomenon observed among researchers publishing scientific articles is the intentional selection of journals they have already attended in the past. In particular, it is worth analyzing the case when the authors participate in the same journal from year to year.

The Returning Authors Index presented below illustrates the ratio of authors who participated in both a given as well as the previous edition of the journal in relation to all participants in a given year.

Returning Institution Index

The graph below shows the Returning Institution Index, illustrating the ratio of institutions that participated in both a given and the previous edition of the conference in relation to all affiliations present in a given year.

The experience to innovation index

Our experience to innovation index was created to show a cross-section of the experience level of authors publishing in a journal. The index includes the authors publishing at the last edition of a journal, grouped by total number of publications throughout their academic career (P) and the total number of citations of these publications ever received (C).

The group intervals were selected empirically to best show the diversity of the authors' experiences, their labels were selected as a convenience, not as judgment. The authors were divided into the following groups:

  • Novice - P < 5 or C < 25 (the number of publications less than 5 or the number of citations less than 25),
  • Competent - P < 10 or C < 100 (the number of publications less than 10 or the number of citations less than 100),
  • Experienced - P < 25 or C < 625 (the number of publications less than 25 or the number of citations less than 625),
  • Master - P < 50 or C < 2500 (the number of publications less than 50 or the number of citations less than 2500),
  • Star - P ≥ 50 and C ≥ 2500 (both the number of publications greater than 50 and the number of citations greater than 2500).

The chart below illustrates experience levels of first authors in cases of publications with multiple authors.

Career Paths for Students Interested in African Affairs

If you're a student and have been motivated by reading various African Affairs topics, you might consider a career in this research area. There are several career paths to consider. For example, you can become a professor or a research coordinator focusing on African Affairs. Some individuals in this field also choose to become librarians who have a deep understanding of these subjects and can guide others effectively in their research.

For instance, if you're based in Wyoming and interested in the latter, you can check out the following guide on how to become a librarian in Wyoming. This guide provides detailed instructions, including the educational requirements and qualifications needed to start your career in librarianship.

Regardless of the path you choose, a career in African Affairs can be incredibly rewarding and fulfilling, offering numerous opportunities to contribute meaningfully to this field of study.

Top Publications

  • Fitting China in: local elite collusion and contestation along Kenya’s standard Gauge Railway

    (2022)
    25 Citations
  • The Sahel crisis since 2012

    Clionadh Raleigh;Héni Nsaibia;Caitriona Dowd

    (2021)
    20 Citations
  • Refugees And Patronage: A Political History Of Uganda’s ‘Progressive’ Refugee Policies

    Alexander Betts

    (2021)
    18 Citations
  • Misinformation Across Digital Divides: Theory And Evidence From Northern Ghana

    (2022)
    16 Citations
  • Women’s rights and critical junctures in constitutional reform in Africa (1951–2019)

    (2021)
    7 Citations
  • Bureaucratic fragmentation by design? the case of payroll management in the democratic Republic of Congo

    (2022)
    1 Citations
  • Corrigendum to: How to rig an election

    Nic Cheeseman;Brian Klaas

    (2021)
    0 Citations

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Best Scientists Contributing to This Journal

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