African Arguments is a pan-African platform for news, analysis and opinion. We seek to analyse issues facing the continent and to amplify a diversity of voices. The roots of the project are in the African Arguments book series, published since 2005. We cover topics related to politics, economics, gender, the environment, culture, social affairs, and more. We welcome work of contemporary relevance connected to ongoing research on and from the continent.
African Arguments provides a crucial and unique platform for predominantly African writers to reach an African, and international, audience. We publish original and critical analysis and insight on contemporary affairs in Africa that can be understood by an international audience.
African Arguments is an editorially-independent platform hosted by the Royal African Society (RAS) and the International Africa Institute (IAI).
To submit your piece to African Arguments, please write to africanarguments [at] soas.ac.uk. Please note our following guidelines:
- We seek pieces that provide original and critical insights on current affairs in Africa.
- Pieces should be engaging and accessible for a wide global audience.
- Pieces should be typically 800-1,300 words in length.
Usually, sending your full submission is the best way for editors to judge whether it is a good match for our site.
Please note that we do not routinely pay commission for pieces, except on occasional instances where we agree ahead of time with authors on topics that we commission. Please note also in this regard that the site is not income-generating, as we operate without ads and paywalls, providing a platform and a resource to those interested in African current affairs.
Important note on the use of AI: Since we aim to publish original pieces, please do not use artificial intelligence (AI) to generate text for your submission. We recognise that these technologies are evolving rapidly, but our recommendation to authors is not to use AI for any aspect of composing your pitch and your article. Any use of AI must be disclosed.
The Editors understand that for many authors English will not be their first language. We are always willing to work with authors to improve the language of a draft article on a topic that we wish to publish. It is always better to submit an article with language errors (which can be easily and happily corrected by the Editors) rather than using AI, which could lead to a desk rejection.