Amending the Guidelines of the Ethiopian Journal of Social Sciences and Language Studies (EJSSLS)

Abstract

The Ethiopian Journal of Social Sciences and Language Studies (EJSSLS), whichis hosted by the College of Social Sciences and Humanities, of Jimma University,released its First Issue in June 2014. According to The Editorial of the first issue ofEJSSLS, the journal had been established for three main reasons:The first reason is the existence of a number of disciplines; diversified researchbased postgraduate programs, and large number of instructors who have beeninvolved in research. Second, for the College, having its own journal encouragesmore instructors (from other universities also) in the area of social sciences andlanguage studies to involve in research and publications. Researchers from thisCollege have been publishing their manuscripts in the Ethiopian Journal ofEducation and Sciences and somewhere else for the college did not have its ownjournal. Though the Ethiopian Journal of Education and Sciences has contributeda lot in this regard, because of its limited capacity, scope and focus areas, it couldnot host manuscript contributors from the College of Social Sciences andHumanities as needed. Third, the college now has enough experiencedresearchers, assistant professors, and instructors who have terminal degrees.Hence, problems related to sustainability of publication, internal reviewers andeditors have been reduced (Tesfaye, 2014, p.i).In addition to addressing the three aforementioned reasons, the Journal waslaunched with the vision of being one of the most preferable journals in Africa and withthe mission of disseminating quality publication to the wider readership. To makerealizable these vision and mission, basic requirements such as well equipped journaloffice, editorial board and international advisory board members were assigned, andconstitution/guidelines was ratified tentatively. The Journal at its inception had 8editorial board members all from College of Social Sciences and Humanities of JimmaUniversity representing the then departments.Since its inception in June 2014 to the present reputable stage, the journal haspassed through ups and downs; it has encountered challenges such as delay of reviewprocess, burden of the job on a few editorial board members, passivity of most of theinternational advisory board members, lack of incentives for the editors of the journal,manual management of manuscripts, attempts of hacking or downing of the webpage ofthe journal, absence of plagiarism checker, and resistance of most manuscriptcontributors to follow the journal’s guideline, to mention just a few but predominantones.Despite these challenges, because of the commitment of some of the editorialboard members and some concerned internal and external reviewers, appreciativeauthors, supportive deans and administrative director of the College, the Journal haspublished a number of quality publications from Ethiopia and out of Ethiopia both onlineand in print, and now it has reached a stage of reputability. It has surpassed threevolumes and six issues which is the minimal requirement for reputable journal(Legislation of Jimma University, 2015). Consequently, the number of articlescontributed to the journal started rising. All these imply the importance of improving theguidelines of the Journal. At the inception of the journal, its guideline was not complete;yet it was accepted by the editorial board just to launch the Journal. For example, itlacked policies related to correction and retraction of manuscript. Further, as comparedto the Journal’s emerging stage, now it requires copy right modification, correction andretraction policy, language policy, more supportive editorial board and internationaladvisory board members, full time managing editor, copy editor, content and layouteditor, and secretary, just to mention some. Hence, to better fulfill its vision and mission,it is important not only to improve the guidelines of the Journal based on the lessons thathave been learnt from the past four years’ experiences, but also to endorse it.After incorporating these additional elements, for further comment, the guidelinehas been dispatched to the editorial board members and the consultant office of theUniversity. After considering the given comments, it has come in its present form. Butthis does not mean that the guideline is complete; it will be improved further as needsarise. Hence, you are cordially invited to give your scholarly suggestions 1 .Using this opportunity, I would like to thank all those who have contributed to thebetterment of the guideline. I am also very grateful to Ato Birhanu Beyene (ex memberof Jimma University, school of Law) and Dr. Birhanu Abera (Addis Ababa University),who supplied me with the materials that are very helpful in preparing the guidelines ofthe Ethiopian Journal of Social Sciences and Language Studies. Last, but not least, myheartiest thanks goes to Mr. Yosef Alemu, legal consultant of the University, Dr. TesfayeRefera, Publication Director of Jimma University, and Mr. Chimdi Wakuma, lawgraduate, and an academic staff of Jimma University, who gave professional commentson the content and structure of the guideline.

Tesfaye Gebeyehu (PhD)

Editor-in – Chief of EJSSLS

Reference

Jimma University Academic Legislation (Draft) (2015).Tesfaye Gebeyehu (2014). Editorial.

Ethiop.j.soc.lang.stud. 1(1), i. eISSN: 2408-9532;

Web:Address: http://www.ju.edu.et/cssljournal/.