Sahel International Journal of Accounting and Finance

The Sahel International Journal of Accounting and Finance (SIJAF) is an international, peer-reviewed, open-access journal publishing rigorous and relevant research in accounting, finance, taxation, auditing, corporate governance and related fields. The journal provides a platform for scholars, regulators and practitioners to examine financial reporting, accountability, capital allocation, financial institutions, risk, technology and responsible financial practice.

SIJAF welcomes theoretically informed, methodologically sound and ethically conducted research from all regions of the world. It has a particular interest in Africa and the Sahel, including scholarship that places experiences from these regions in comparative and global perspective. The journal does not privilege any country, institution, methodological tradition or political position.

About the Journal

SIJAF is an interdisciplinary scholarly journal established to advance research and informed debate on accounting, finance and the institutions that support transparent, efficient and sustainable economies. It publishes work that develops and tests theory, examines professional and regulatory practice, evaluates financial policies and innovations, improves analytical methods and generates credible lessons for organisations, markets and society.

Contemporary accounting and financial questions cross disciplinary and territorial boundaries. SIJAF therefore welcomes contributions from financial and management accounting, auditing, taxation, banking, corporate finance, public finance, economics, law, information systems, business ethics and related fields. The journal values methodological pluralism: archival, econometric, experimental, survey, qualitative, mixed-methods, analytical, computational, comparative and historical studies are considered when the chosen approach is appropriate, transparent and rigorously applied.

Although SIJAF has a distinctive commitment to research concerning Africa and the Sahel, its remit is global. The journal encourages North–South, South–South and cross-regional scholarship and seeks to counter the marginalisation of knowledge produced in developing and conflict-affected settings. Regional relevance alone, however, is not sufficient for publication. Every article must articulate a clear research problem, engage the relevant literature, employ a defensible method and make a contribution that travels beyond the immediate case.

Ownership, Management and Editorial Independence

SIJAF is owned and published by Sahel Academic Publishing Ltd. The publisher provides administrative, production and technical support but does not determine the conclusions of articles or interfere with individual editorial decisions. The Editor-in-Chief has final responsibility for the journal’s scholarly content and acts through an Editorial Board whose members are selected for relevant expertise, integrity and diversity. Commercial considerations, advertising, sponsorship and institutional relationships shall not influence editorial decisions.

Aim and Editorial Mission

SIJAF aims to be a trusted international forum for original research and critical scholarship that advances knowledge, policy and practice in accounting, finance and responsible financial practice. Its editorial mission is to publish work that is conceptually clear, empirically credible, ethically responsible, socially relevant and accessible to both scholarly and policy audiences.

Objectives

SIJAF seeks to:

1. publish original theoretical, empirical and methodological contributions in accounting and finance;
2. deepen understanding of financial reporting, assurance, taxation, financial markets, institutions and corporate decision-making;
3. connect scholarly inquiry with consequential problems of accountability, market integrity, access to finance, risk and sustainable value creation;
4. encourage comparative, interdisciplinary and context-sensitive research;
5. strengthen the international visibility of high-quality scholarship from Africa, the Sahel and other underrepresented regions;
6. facilitate responsible knowledge exchange among researchers, policymakers, practitioners and civil society;
7. advance transparent, reproducible and ethically sound research practices; and
8. uphold editorial independence, procedural fairness and the integrity of the scholarly record.

Scope

SIJAF considers manuscripts that make a substantive contribution within one or more of the following areas:

Financial Accounting and Reporting

Financial reporting quality; accounting standards; International Financial Reporting Standards; earnings quality and management; fair-value accounting; disclosure; accounting conservatism; intangible assets; integrated reporting; financial-statement analysis; and the reporting practices of listed firms, private companies, small and medium-sized enterprises and not-for-profit organisations.

Auditing, Assurance and Professional Practice

External and internal auditing; audit quality; auditor independence; assurance services; audit committees; professional judgement; audit technology; public-sector audit; quality management; professional education; ethics; regulation of the accountancy profession; and emerging assurance needs.

Management Accounting and Organisational Performance

Cost and management accounting; budgeting; performance measurement; management control systems; strategic management accounting; transfer pricing; activity-based costing; behavioural accounting; accounting information systems; decision support; productivity; and organisational resilience.

Taxation, Public Finance and Public-Sector Accounting

Tax policy and administration; tax compliance; tax avoidance and evasion; international taxation; transfer pricing; digital taxation; fiscal transparency; public financial management; government accounting; public budgeting; public debt; public procurement; accountability; and value-for-money analysis.

Corporate Finance, Investment and Capital Markets

Capital structure; dividend policy; corporate investment; valuation; mergers and acquisitions; working-capital management; asset pricing; market efficiency; behavioural finance; portfolio management; institutional investors; financial risk; derivatives; commodities; and international finance.

Banking, Insurance and Financial Institutions

Bank performance; credit risk; prudential regulation; financial stability; monetary transmission; microfinance; insurance; pension finance; financial inclusion; development finance; Islamic accounting and finance; fintech; digital payments; cryptocurrencies; and central-bank digital currencies.

Corporate Governance, Ethics and Sustainability

Boards of directors; ownership and control; executive compensation; shareholder protection; stakeholder accountability; business ethics; fraud; forensic accounting; anti-money-laundering systems; whistle-blowing; environmental, social and governance reporting; climate finance; sustainability accounting; and sustainable investment.

Technology, Analytics and Research Methods

Artificial intelligence in accounting and finance; blockchain; continuous auditing; cybersecurity; digital reporting; big-data analytics; machine learning; archival databases; experiments; surveys; case research; qualitative inquiry; causal inference; time-series and panel-data analysis; event studies; valuation models; and methodological innovations relevant to accounting and finance.

Submissions that are mainly descriptive, lack a clear theoretical or policy contribution, use methods that do not support their claims, or fall outside the journal’s remit may be declined without external review.

Article Types

*Word limits normally include notes but exclude the abstract, references, tables, figures and online supplementary material. Editors may approve exceptions where justified.

Why Publish with SIJAF?

• International and interdisciplinary readership.
• Double-anonymised peer review by subject specialists.
• Open access to the version of record immediately upon publication.
• Transparent editorial, ethics and post-publication policies.
• Particular visibility for robust scholarship from Africa and other underrepresented research settings.
• Persistent article identification and long-term digital preservation.

Journal at a Glance

Author Guidelines

General Requirements

Submissions must be original, within scope, written in clear English and not under consideration by another journal. Manuscripts should present a defined problem, an explicit contribution, an appropriate research design, transparent analysis and conclusions proportionate to the evidence. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyrighted material.

Submission Files

Authors should provide:

• a title page containing the article title, author names, affiliations, ORCID iDs where available, corresponding-author details, acknowledgements, funding, competing interests and author-contribution statement;
• an anonymised manuscript without identifying information;
• editable tables and publication-quality figure files;
• supplementary files, instruments, protocols, data or code where relevant;
• ethics approval and consent information where applicable; and
• a cover letter explaining the manuscript’s fit and contribution and confirming compliance with journal policies.

Manuscript Structure

Original Research Articles should normally include:

1. concise and informative title;
2. structured abstract of 200–300 words (background/purpose, methods, results and conclusion);
3. four to seven keywords;
4. introduction establishing the problem, gap, contribution and research objective;
5. literature review and, where appropriate, theoretical or conceptual framework;
6. methodology, including data sources, sampling or identification strategy, variable measurement, model specification and estimation or analytical procedure;
7. results, including relevant diagnostic, sensitivity and robustness analyses;
8. discussion that interprets findings in relation to theory, previous evidence and the relevant accounting, financial, organisational or regulatory context;
9. conclusion stating the contribution, policy implications, limitations and priorities for future research;
10. required declarations; and
11. references and any supplementary data, instruments or code.

Alternative structures are acceptable for qualitative, historical, theoretical, legal and other traditions when they fit disciplinary conventions and support a clear argument.

Style and Presentation

• Use British English consistently, except in quotations and official titles.
• Prepare text in an editable Word-compatible format, with continuous page and line numbering.
• Define abbreviations at first use and use them sparingly.
• Report dates, currencies, units, statistical symbols and decimal places consistently.
• Define variables clearly and provide sources, measurement units and transformations.
• State the software and version used for empirical analysis where relevant.
• Report coefficients, uncertainty measures, sample sizes and exact probability values wherever appropriate.
• Identify tables and figures in numerical order and cite each in the text.
• Provide informative titles, notes, sources and accessible descriptions where needed.
• Avoid unnecessary duplication, rhetorical overstatement and claims of causality unsupported by the research design.
• Use inclusive, respectful and non-stigmatising language.

Referencing

SIJAF uses APA Style, 7th edition. Authors must ensure that every in-text citation appears in the reference list and every listed reference is cited. Include DOIs as https://doi.org/… links where available. References must be accurate and should prioritise original sources. Fabricated, irrelevant or citation-manipulated references constitute misconduct.

Required Declarations for Published Articles

Every article should carry the following headings, using “Not applicable” or “None declared” where appropriate:

• Ethics approval and consent to participate
• Consent for publication
• Competing interests
• Funding
• Author contributions
• Acknowledgements
• Data availability
• Materials and code availability
• Preregistration or protocol registration
• Use of artificial intelligence tools

Submission Checklist

Before submitting, the corresponding author should confirm that:

1. the manuscript is original, within scope and not under consideration elsewhere;
2. all authors qualify for authorship, approved the manuscript and agreed to submission;
3. the review manuscript is anonymised and the title page is separate;
4. the abstract, keywords, main text, references, tables, figures and declarations are complete;
5. methods, ethics, consent and reporting-guideline requirements have been addressed;
6. data, code and materials are deposited or restrictions are explained in a Data Availability Statement;
7. funding, competing interests, related works, preprints and AI use are disclosed;
8. every citation and reference has been checked for accuracy and relevance;
9. permission has been obtained for third-party copyrighted material; and
10. all files are readable, editable where required and free of identifying metadata in the anonymised version.