Sahel International Journal of Economic and Development Studies

The Sahel International Journal of Economic and Development Studies (SIJEDS) is an international, peer-reviewed, open-access journal publishing rigorous and policy-relevant research in economics, development studies and related fields. The journal provides a platform for scholars, policymakers and practitioners to examine the forces shaping economic performance, structural transformation, human welfare, institutions and sustainable development.

SIJEDS 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

SIJEDS is an interdisciplinary scholarly journal established to advance research and informed debate on economic development, public policy and the transformation of societies. It publishes work that explains economic behaviour and development outcomes, evaluates policies and programmes, tests and develops theory, improves analytical methods and generates credible lessons for policy and practice.

Contemporary development challenges cross disciplinary and territorial boundaries. SIJEDS therefore welcomes contributions from economics, development studies, public policy, finance, agricultural economics, environmental studies, political economy, sociology, demography, business and related fields. The journal values methodological pluralism: econometric, experimental, computational, qualitative, mixed-methods, comparative, historical and theoretically driven submissions are considered when the chosen approach is appropriate, transparent and rigorously applied.

Although SIJEDS 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

SIJEDS 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

SIJEDS aims to be a trusted international forum for original research and critical scholarship that advances knowledge, policy and practice in economics, development 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

SIJEDS seeks to:

1. publish original theoretical, empirical and methodological contributions in economics and development studies;
2. deepen understanding of economic systems, markets, institutions, public policy and development outcomes;
3. connect scholarly inquiry with consequential problems of poverty, inequality, employment, productivity and structural transformation;
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

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

Development Economics and Structural Transformation

Economic growth and development; structural transformation; industrialisation; productivity; technological change; innovation; entrepreneurship; informality; labour-market transformation; urbanisation; regional development; economic diversification; and the transition from subsistence to higher-productivity activities.

Macroeconomics, Finance and International Economics

Macroeconomic policy; inflation; monetary and fiscal policy; public debt; exchange rates; financial development; banking; capital markets; financial inclusion; digital finance; international trade; foreign direct investment; global value chains; economic integration; external shocks; and development finance.

Poverty, Inequality and Human Development

Poverty dynamics; income and wealth distribution; social mobility; employment and decent work; education; health; nutrition; demography; migration; displacement; gender; youth; disability; social protection; household welfare; multidimensional deprivation; and inclusive development.

Agriculture, Food Systems and Rural Development

Agricultural economics; farm productivity; food security; value chains; land and labour markets; rural livelihoods; agricultural finance; extension systems; climate-smart agriculture; natural-resource management; pastoral economies; and rural transformation.

Institutions, Governance and Public Policy

Institutions and economic performance; political economy; governance; corruption; public finance; taxation; budgeting; decentralisation; policy design and evaluation; regulation; public service delivery; state capacity; conflict and post-conflict recovery; and the economics of peace and security.

Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development

Energy economics; electricity markets; renewable energy; climate change; environmental economics; natural resources; extractive industries; green growth; circular economy; disaster risk; sustainable cities; infrastructure; and financing the Sustainable Development Goals.

Digital Economy, Business and Innovation

Digital transformation; artificial intelligence and development; platform economies; e-commerce; telecommunications; entrepreneurship; small and medium-sized enterprises; corporate finance; business environment; firm performance; technological adoption; and innovation policy.

Research Methods, Data and Measurement

Applied econometrics; causal inference; impact evaluation; experimental and quasi-experimental methods; time-series and panel-data analysis; spatial economics; computable general equilibrium analysis; microsimulation; economic measurement; survey methods; big data; reproducible research; and methodological innovations relevant to economic and development analysis.

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 SIJEDS?

• 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 economic or development 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

SIJEDS 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.