Nairobi, Kenya, 29 June 2020 (ECA) - On 22nd June 2020, the African Land Policy Center (ALPC) held the first Editorial Board Meeting for the African Journal on Land Policy and Geospatial Sciences (AJLP&GS). The Editor in Chief of AJLP&GS is Professor Moha El- Ayachi of the IAV Hassan II University in Morocco. The IAV Hassan II is a node in of the Network of Land Governance in Africa (NELGA).
Held virtually due to COVID-19 containment measures, the meeting reviewed the strides made by the Journal since it released the first Issue in May 2018.
In her remarks, Joan Kagwanja, the ALPC Coordinator, emphasized the role of the Journal in advancing the African Union agenda on land on the continent by providing a platform for African academicians to share their knowledge. The Journal is contributing to knowledge generation, documentation and sharing, she said. She called upon African scholars to use the platform to share their research findings and point to new policy and programmatic directions towards the realization of Agenda 2063.
Guest Speaker, Prof. Kimani Njogu, underscored the role of journal in the decolonization of knowledge production on Africa. Saying that Africa is a site of knowledge generation but with limited openings for publishing by scholars on the continent and in the diaspora, he challenged the Editorial Board to use the Journal to articulate perspectives that challenge the view that Africa is only a source of data and not of rigorous theoretical and methodological reflection about land. Knowledge production is tied to power and politics, he emphasized. The Journal can be a space for decolonization of Africanist knowledge and the affirmation of the African voice on land policy and use, informed by community practice.
Speaking from Lafayete University, USA, Professor Rex Ahene, a Member of the Editorial Board, indicated that the Journal will serve upcoming and established academics in the diaspora who have found it hard to publish Africa-centric articles in the North due to what is perceived as ‘legitimate knowledge’ and editorial policies skewed against scholars from the South.
Professor Moha El-Ayachi informed the Editorial Board that the AJLP&GS meets international standards including having an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN), the Digital Object Identifier (DOI), a list of Editorial Board Members, a well-articulated peer review policy, an established publishing schedule and a clear copyright policy. Indexation with Web of Science and Google Scholar are underway.
The AJLP&GS is a major outlet for high quality articles on land policy development, land administration and land information systems, monitoring and evaluation as well as issues related to youth, women, natural resources, prevention, management and resolution of land related conflicts and urbanization.
The online Journal is found at https://revues.imist.ma/index.php?journal=AJLP-GS&page=issue&op=view&path%5B%5D=1322. It is published under a Creative Commons regime.
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