International Journal of Decolonisation and Social Sciences
About
The International Journal of Decolonisation and Social Sciences (IJDSS) is an international, interdisciplinary, open-access scholarly journal dedicated to advancing critical and transformative scholarship on decolonisation, society, culture, knowledge, identity, institutions, and social change.
The journal provides a space for researchers and scholars to examine how colonial histories and continuing forms of coloniality shape contemporary knowledge systems, social institutions, cultural practices, identities, relationships, policies, and everyday experiences. At the same time, IJDSS seeks to move beyond critique by encouraging scholarship that explores alternative ways of knowing, researching, teaching, organising, and transforming society.
IJDSS recognises that knowledge is produced within particular historical, cultural, political, economic, and institutional contexts. The journal therefore welcomes scholarship that questions taken-for-granted assumptions about whose knowledge is valued, whose voices are heard, which research methods are considered legitimate, and how academic institutions can become more inclusive and responsive to the communities they serve.
Although the journal has a particular interest in scholarship emerging from Africa, the Global South, Indigenous communities, and other historically marginalised contexts, IJDSS is international in scope. It welcomes contributions from researchers across regions and encourages comparative, cross-cultural, transnational, and interdisciplinary perspectives.
The journal publishes original empirical research, theoretical and conceptual contributions, reviews, methodological papers, policy analyses, perspectives, critical reflections, and other scholarly works that make a meaningful contribution to understanding and transforming societies.
IJDSS is committed to scholarly integrity, rigorous peer review, intellectual openness, methodological diversity, and respect for different traditions of knowledge. The journal particularly values research that connects academic inquiry with lived experience, community knowledge, social justice, policy, professional practice, and meaningful social transformation.
Research Areas
Open Access
The International Journal of Decolonisation and Social Sciences (IJDSS) is committed to making scholarly knowledge freely available to researchers, students, practitioners, policymakers, communities, and the wider public.
The journal operates under an open-access publishing model, meaning that published articles are made freely available online without subscription barriers. Readers may access, read, download, and use published research in accordance with the journal’s applicable copyright and licensing terms.
IJDSS believes that open access is particularly important for scholarship addressing social issues, communities, public policy, education, development, and knowledge systems. Researchers and institutions that have historically faced limited access to expensive academic databases should not be excluded from knowledge that may directly affect their work and communities.
The journal therefore seeks to promote equitable access to scholarly communication while maintaining rigorous editorial and peer-review standards.
Authors retain appropriate rights in their scholarly work subject to the journal’s copyright and licensing arrangements. Where a Creative Commons licence is applied, the specific licence attached to the published article will govern permitted reuse.
Open access does not mean that the journal compromises scholarly standards. All manuscripts remain subject to the journal’s editorial assessment and peer-review procedures before publication.
Peer Review Policy
IJDSS is committed to maintaining a fair, rigorous, transparent, and constructive peer-review process.
All research manuscripts submitted to the journal undergo an initial editorial assessment before being considered for peer review. The editorial team assesses each submission for relevance to the journal’s scope, originality, scholarly quality, ethical considerations, methodological appropriateness, and compliance with the journal’s submission requirements.
Manuscripts that meet the initial requirements are normally sent to qualified independent reviewers with relevant expertise.
IJDSS uses a double-anonymised peer-review process, where feasible. Authors’ identities are not disclosed to reviewers, and reviewers are not disclosed to authors during the review process.
Reviewers are expected to evaluate manuscripts objectively and provide constructive comments that can assist authors in strengthening their work. Reviews should focus on the scholarly quality of the manuscript rather than the identity, institutional affiliation, nationality, gender, ethnicity, seniority, or personal characteristics of the authors.
Reviewers are expected to declare any potential conflict of interest and should decline an assignment where their relationship with the authors, institution, research, or manuscript could compromise their impartiality.
Possible editorial decisions include:
Accept
Accept subject to minor revisions
Revise and resubmit
Major revision
Reject
The final publication decision rests with the journal’s editorial team and is based on the overall scholarly assessment of the manuscript.
The journal recognises that review processes can involve legitimate differences in scholarly interpretation. Editorial decisions will therefore consider the quality and substance of reviewer recommendations rather than relying mechanically on a particular number of positive or negative reviews.
IJDSS does not guarantee acceptance based on submission, payment, institutional affiliation, academic status, or previous publication history.
Publication Ethics
The International Journal of Decolonisation and Social Sciences is committed to maintaining high standards of research and publication integrity.
The journal expects authors, editors, reviewers, and the publisher to conduct themselves with honesty, fairness, transparency, respect, and accountability.
Authors
Authors must submit original work and must appropriately acknowledge the contributions and sources that have informed their research.
Authors should not submit the same manuscript simultaneously to multiple journals or publish substantially the same work in more than one publication without appropriate justification and disclosure.
All individuals who have made a substantive contribution to the research and manuscript should receive appropriate authorship recognition, while individuals who do not meet authorship criteria should not be listed as authors.
Authors must disclose relevant conflicts of interest and sources of financial or other support.
Research involving human participants must comply with applicable ethical requirements, including informed consent and appropriate ethical review where required.
Editors
Editors are responsible for making fair and independent decisions based on scholarly merit and the journal’s scope and policies.
Editorial decisions should not be influenced by an author’s nationality, ethnicity, gender, religion, institutional affiliation, political position, academic seniority, or personal characteristics.
Editors must protect the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and must manage conflicts of interest appropriately.
Reviewers
Reviewers must treat manuscripts as confidential documents. They must not use unpublished information obtained through peer review for personal advantage or disclose manuscript content without permission.
Reviewers should provide objective, respectful, and evidence-based assessments and should disclose any conflict of interest.
Research Integrity
The journal does not tolerate plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, manipulation of research data, duplicate publication, fraudulent authorship, or deliberate misrepresentation of research.
Where concerns about published work arise, the journal may investigate the matter and, where appropriate, issue a correction, expression of concern, retraction, or other editorial notice.
Use of Artificial Intelligence
Authors may use appropriate artificial intelligence tools to support aspects of research or manuscript preparation, provided that their use does not compromise academic integrity, originality, confidentiality, or the accuracy of the work.
AI tools cannot be listed as authors because they cannot accept responsibility for the content of a manuscript.
Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, citations, interpretations, and conclusions presented in their work.
Where AI has been used substantially in preparing a manuscript, authors should provide appropriate disclosure in accordance with the journal’s requirements.
Author Guidelines
Preparing Your Manuscript
Authors should prepare manuscripts that are clear, coherent, original, and appropriate to the scope of IJDSS.
Manuscripts should normally be written in English and should use clear academic language accessible to an international scholarly audience.
Authors should avoid unnecessary jargon and should explain specialised concepts where appropriate.
Manuscript structure
The precise structure may vary according to the type of manuscript. An original research article will normally include:
Title
Abstract
Keywords
Introduction
Literature review or theoretical/conceptual framework, where appropriate
Methodology
Results/Findings
Discussion
Conclusion
Implications or recommendations, where appropriate
Limitations, where appropriate
References
Authors should use headings and subheadings appropriately to create a logical flow.
Title
The title should accurately and concisely communicate the subject of the manuscript. Authors should avoid unnecessarily long titles, unexplained abbreviations, and promotional language.
Abstract
Research articles should normally include a concise abstract describing the background or problem, purpose, methodology, major findings, and principal conclusion or implications.
Keywords
Authors should provide approximately 4–8 keywords that accurately represent the central themes of the manuscript.
Citations and References
Authors must accurately acknowledge all sources used in their work.
The journal generally follows APA 7th edition referencing conventions for social-science manuscripts unless otherwise specified for a particular article type.
Authors are responsible for ensuring that:
Every source cited in the text appears in the reference list.
Every reference listed is cited in the manuscript where appropriate.
Bibliographic information is accurate.
DOI information is included where available.
Direct quotations are appropriately identified and referenced.
Sources are not fabricated or inaccurately represented.
Originality
Submitted manuscripts must represent original scholarly work.
Authors should disclose if substantial portions of the manuscript have previously been published, presented, deposited, or made publicly available.
Research Ethics
Where research involves human participants, authors should provide appropriate information concerning ethical approval and informed consent.
Where ethical approval was not required, authors should explain the basis for that determination where appropriate.
Data and Materials
Authors are encouraged to make research data, instruments, analytical procedures, or other research materials available where ethically and legally possible.
Confidential, personally identifiable, or otherwise protected information must not be disclosed.
Authorship
All listed authors should have made a meaningful contribution to the research or manuscript and should approve the final version before submission.
The corresponding author is responsible for communicating with the journal and ensuring that all authors are aware of and agree to the submission.
Conflicts of Interest
Authors must disclose any financial, professional, institutional, personal, or other relationships that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the research.
Where no conflict exists, authors should state this clearly.
Funding
Authors should identify financial or institutional support received for the research where applicable.
AI-Assisted Work
Authors remain responsible for all content submitted to the journal, including content produced or modified with AI assistance.
AI-generated material must not be presented as independently produced scholarship, and authors should verify factual claims, references, quotations, data, and interpretations.
Manuscript Review
Submitted manuscripts are subject to editorial assessment and peer review in accordance with the journal’s peer-review policy.
Authors should respond respectfully and substantively to reviewer comments when revisions are requested.
Publication Charges
Any article processing charges or other publication fees applicable to the journal should be clearly communicated to authors before publication. No manuscript should be accepted solely because an author is willing or able to pay a publication fee.
Copyright and Licensing
Authors should review the journal’s copyright and licensing terms before submission. Publication of a manuscript signifies the author’s agreement to the applicable publishing terms.
Final Responsibility
Authors are responsible for ensuring that their manuscript is accurate, ethical, original, appropriately referenced, and compliant with the journal’s submission requirements.
Contact the Journal
For enquiries concerning the journal, its publications, or editorial matters, please contact the journal editorial office.