African Review of Economics and Finance (AREF)
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The African Review of Economics and Finance (AREF) is the official journal of the African Finance and Economics Consult (AFEC). The journal acknowledges that the word 'economics' is plural and all economies are positioned, situated, and embedded in particular societies. Therefore, how the economy is studied must necessarily be plural. From this perspective, the journal welcomes high quality articles in theoretical and empirical economics, be they orthodox, heterodox, or economics as an interdisciplinary social science, with special emphasis on African economies and/or how they relate to other economies in Africa or the rest of the world. There is no limit on the topics of interest. Contributions can be either innovation in economic theory or rigorous new applications of existing theory in areas such as behavioural economics and decision theory, game theory, general equilibrium theory, contract theory, public finance, financial economics, industrial organisation, labour economics, political economy of development, urban and regional political economy, and agrarian political economy.
At the same time AREF publishes papers of high quality dealing with the confrontation of relevant economic theory with observed data through the use of adequate econometric and transdisciplinary methods. Empirical papers may cover topics such as estimation of established relationships between economic variables, testing of hypotheses derived from economic theory, policy evaluation, simulation, forecasting, econometric methods and measurement.
As a general interest journal, AREF emphasizes the replicability of empirical results or transparency of method where papers are qualitative in orientation and may not be replicable. Replication studies of important results in the literature - both with positive or negative results - may be published as short papers in AREF. Authors are expected to make available their data set in case readers, editors or referees should want to replicate results reported in submitted contributions.
Also, AREF welcomes critical reviews of recent books relevant to its scope, proposals for special issues, and biographical essays/interviews with leading (political) economists. Such articles/proposals should be sent to franklin.obeng-odoom@helsinki.fi
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A potentially publishable paper in AREF should meet the following criteria:
- The motivation for the paper should be clear and compelling. Typically the motivation will include a clearly specified research question and a statement as to why this question is interesting. However, a paper whose primary motivation is to synthesize or even survey earlier work might also be publishable.
- The analysis in the paper should be correct and should be appropriately rigorous given the research question.
- The paper must be sufficiently original to warrant publication. Typically, this originality arises from new theoretical results or new empirical findings, but it may arise from new interpretation or synthesis of known material
- The paper should be well written. In particular, the logical structure of the paper should be clear, and the paper should be relatively free from errors of grammar and usage.
If any of these methods of submission fails, please review the profiles of the editors and submit your article to the one with the closest expertise/research interests to the paper.
AREF distinguishes itself as the number one journal in Africa and leading platform for engaging critically on matters of developmental concern. Authors of submitted papers will normally hear back from AREF within 6 weeks of submission or less. Invitations to revise and resubmit present choices and ideas, not mandates (limited exceptions).
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The African Review of Economics and Finance is a globally revered peer-reviewed, scholarly publication featuring articles, review essays and book reviews. In particular, the journal favours articles with theoretical and empirical results that have important implications for the understanding of African economies and other regions of the world, including but not limited to foreign exchange markets, real estate markets, balance of payments, environment, financial markets and institutions, asset pricing, forecasting, impact of culture and institutions on growth and development. The journal is published twice a year. All papers submitted to the journal are double blind reviewed. The principal criteria of acceptance are originality, rigour, practical relevance, and quality. Submitted articles should be well written and free of spelling and grammar errors. Only original articles that are not under consideration for any other publication are considered for publication.
Submission
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