# African Affairs Journal: History, Trends, and the Peer Review Process — Jonathan Fisher

An episode of [The IR thinker](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1716817337), 16 Jun 2026, 45 min.

Audio: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/655776911a7d7e0012cbc914/e/6a312c08d54529738e925718/media.mp3

Today, it is a real pleasure to speak with Professor Jonathan Fisher, co-editor of African Affairs — one of the leading journals in the field of African Studies. African Affairs is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the London-based Royal African Society. It was established as the Journal of the African Society in 1901, then it was published as the Journal of the Royal African Society from 1936 until it obtained its current name in 1944. The journal is broadly interdisciplinary, with a primary focus on the politics and international relations of sub-Saharan Africa, though it also draws on sociology, anthropology, economics, history, literature, and the arts where these illuminate debates on contemporary Africa. Co-Editors George M. Bob-Milliar Jonathan Fisher Amanda Lea Robinson Gabrielle Lynch Impact Factor: 2.2 / 5-Year Impact Factor: 2.7 Indexed: Scopus / Web of Science Jonathan Fisher is Professor of Global Security at the University of Birmingham where he also serves as Deputy Director of Research and Knowledge Transfer for the College of Social Sciences. His research centres on the role of ideas and legitimacy within authoritarian systems, with extensive fieldwork across eastern Africa, where his work has examined how guerrilla heritage shapes contemporary governance, conflict, and cooperation, as well as the growing phenomenon of digital authoritarianism. Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:41 The Journal’s Evolving Mission and Research Identity 08:00 Balancing Intellectual Coherence with Disciplinary Diversity 11:19 The Place of Empirical and Theoretical Research in Submissions 13:03 Emerging Trends in Manuscripts and Desired Research Directions 16:27 Underexplored Regions and Research Gaps across Africa 18:40 Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed-Methods Approaches in Publication 24:04 The Most Frequent Mistakes in Article Submissions 25:49 Common Pitfalls for Early-Career Researchers 27:26 Structural and Technical Weaknesses in Academic Articles 29:00 The Impact of AI on Editorial and Peer-Review Processes 31:30 Editorial Reforms and the Journal’s Growing Academic Standing 33:46 The Role and Significance of the Editorial Board 37:14 Supporting Marginalised and Underrepresented Scholars 40:37 Contributions from Latin America, Asia, and China 41:57 Does the Journal Encourage Authors to Suggest Reviewers? 42:43 Future Vision, Priorities, and Strategic Goals of the Journal Follow & Further Resources Substack: https://theirthinker.substack.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/theirthinker/ X: https://x.com/theirthinker Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theirthinker/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theirthinker.bsky.social Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theirthinker/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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