Sahel International Journal of Administration and Governance

The Sahel International Journal of Administration and Governance (SIJAG) is an international, peer-reviewed, open-access journal publishing rigorous and policy-relevant scholarship on administration, governance, public policy and institutional development. The journal brings together researchers, policymakers and practitioners to examine how institutions are designed, governed and reformed, and how public decisions shape development outcomes.

SIJAG 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

SIJAG is an interdisciplinary scholarly journal established to advance research and informed debate on the institutions, actors, rules and administrative practices that shape collective decision-making and public value. It publishes work that explains governance problems, evaluates policies and programmes, tests and develops theory, improves research methods, and generates credible lessons for policy and practice.

Contemporary administrative challenges cross disciplinary and territorial boundaries. SIJAG therefore welcomes contributions from public administration, political science, economics, management, law, sociology, development studies and related fields. The journal values methodological pluralism: quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods, comparative, historical, experimental, computational and theoretically driven submissions are considered when the chosen approach is appropriate, transparent and rigorously applied.

Although SIJAG 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

SIJAG 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

SIJAG aims to be a trusted international forum for original research and critical scholarship that advances knowledge, policy and practice in administration, governance and public policy. 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

SIJAG seeks to:

1. publish original theoretical, empirical and methodological contributions in administration and governance;
2. deepen understanding of public institutions, administrative systems, policy processes and governance outcomes;
3. connect scholarly inquiry with consequential problems of public management, accountability and development;
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

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

Public Administration and Management

Administrative theory; comparative public administration; bureaucracy; civil-service management and reform; public-sector leadership; human-resource management; organisational behaviour; administrative capacity; performance management; public-service motivation; innovation in government; public procurement; public–private partnerships; and state-owned enterprises.

Governance, Institutions and Accountability

Good governance; institutional development; political economy; regulatory governance; accountability and transparency; corruption and integrity systems; legislative governance; judicial administration; electoral governance; democratic institutions; federalism; decentralisation; intergovernmental relations; traditional and indigenous governance; citizen participation; and civic engagement.

Public Policy and Development

Policy design, implementation and evaluation; development administration; social policy; public budgeting; public financial management; fiscal governance; tax administration; monitoring and evaluation; sustainable development; poverty and inequality; gender and inclusion; migration and displacement; humanitarian governance; and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Sectoral and Territorial Governance

Local, urban, municipal and rural governance; education; health; agriculture; food systems; natural resources; energy; environment and climate; disaster risk; security; peace and conflict; culture and tourism; infrastructure; and regional integration.

Digital Transformation and Data Governance

Digital government; e-governance; artificial intelligence in public administration; algorithmic accountability; public-sector data systems; cybersecurity governance; digital inclusion; civic technology; platform governance; and technology-enabled service delivery.

Business–Government–Society Relations

Business administration where it directly engages governance or public policy; corporate governance; responsible business; regulation; public value; non-governmental and civil-society management; social enterprise; public-sector marketing; and cross-sector collaboration.

Submissions that are mainly descriptive, lack a clear scholarly contribution, fall outside the journal’s remit, or use administration or governance only incidentally 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 SIJAG?

• 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. methods sufficiently detailed for evaluation and replication;
7. results presented without duplication across text, tables and figures;
8. discussion that interprets findings in relation to theory, evidence and context;
9. conclusion stating contribution, implications, limitations and future research;
10. required declarations; and
11. references and any supplementary material.

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.
• 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

SIJAG 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.