Book Writing

Emerald Publishing Guide for African Authors
with a foreword by Dr Buhle Mbambo-Thata, Chair, IFLA Africa Section, and Executive Director, UNISA Library, South Africa Original version created by: Dr Lucy Lu Academic Director – MBA Programme Newcastle University Business School yang.lu@newcastle.ac.uk

Published in cooperation with the IFLA Africa section

www.emeraldinsight.com

Table of Contents
1. Introduction 2. Preparing an academic paper 2.1 Understanding the publishing process 2.2 Identifying the most relevant journal and content 2.3 Planning and organization 2.3.1 Choice of topics and supporting materials 2.3.2 Single author or collaboration? 2.3.3 Joint authorship 2.3.4 The challenges of collaborative research 2.3.5 Timing 2.3.6 Following the Emerald house-style guidance 3. Writing an academic paper 3.1 Where to start 3.2 Different types of research and academic papers 3.2.1 Different types of research 3.2.2 Different academic papers 3.3 Creating a structured abstract 3.4 How to write a literature review 3.5 Designing an appropriate research strategy 3.6 Academic structure and writing style 3.7 Key issues and policy agendas 4. Submitting an academic paper 4.1 The cover letter 4.2 Communicating with Editors (reviewers) 4.2.1 Role of Editors 4.2.2 Role of reviewers 4.3 Responding to reviewers and resubmission 5. Author’s check-list 6. Emerald A-Z of academic journal writing guide 7. Key references and further readings 3 3 3 4 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 7 7 7 8 8 8 9 9 10 10 10 10 10 10 11 11 11 13

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1. Introduction
The value of electronic publishing for African Publishing
It has been said that African scholarly content is invisible in published works across disciplines. The “invisibility” of African scholarship can be attributed to several factors, including poor communication of research. It is debatable whether the “invisibility” is real or perceived, but that it is not the subject of this introduction. This introduction seeks to engage with... [continues]

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