About the Journal

The African Journal of Climate Justice (AJCJ) is a double-blind peer-reviewed journal committed to advancing rigorous scholarship on climate justice, climate law, environmental governance, carbon emissions, carbon markets, and climate-related public policy. Grounded in African and Global South perspectives, the journal provides a platform for original research, policy analysis, theoretical development, and interdisciplinary dialogue addressing the legal, social, economic, and governance dimensions of climate change.

The journal promotes scholarship that examines the unequal distribution of climate impacts, responsibilities, risks, and opportunities across societies, with particular attention to vulnerable populations, environmental rights, sustainable development, and equitable transitions toward low-carbon futures.

Focus and Scope

The journal publishes scholarly articles, research notes, reviews, legal analyses, policy commentaries, and theoretical reflections on:

Climate justice and environmental equity
Climate law, legislation, and regulation
Environmental governance and institutional accountability
Carbon emissions measurement, reporting, and management
Carbon markets, carbon credits, and emissions trading systems
Climate finance and loss and damage mechanisms
Environmental rights and climate litigation
Adaptation, mitigation, and resilience policy
Sustainable development and just transition frameworks
Indigenous knowledge, community participation, and climate governance
International environmental agreements and climate diplomacy
Energy transition, decarbonization, and renewable energy policy
Corporate climate responsibility and ESG governance
Natural resource governance and environmental accountability
Comparative climate policy and legal frameworks in Africa and the Global South

The journal welcomes contributions from scholars, policymakers, legal practitioners, environmental experts, and researchers worldwide, particularly studies that offer insights relevant to Africa, the Global South, and comparative international contexts.

Open Access and Licensing

This journal operates under a Gold Open Access model. All articles are immediately and permanently available online free of charge to readers, with no access restrictions.

License: Content is published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. This permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited and the use is non-commercial.

Publication Frequency

The journal uses a Continuous Publication Model. Articles are published online upon successful completion of editorial assessment, double-blind peer review, and technical copyediting.

While processing times vary depending on reviewer availability and manuscript complexity, the average period from submission to online publication ranges from 2 to 5 months.

Copyright and Author Rights

Authors retain full copyright of their work. By submitting and publishing with the journal, authors grant the journal the right to disseminate and display the article under the agreed Creative Commons license.

Archiving and Digital Preservation

The African Journal of Climate Justice (AJCJ) ensures the long-term preservation and accessibility of published content through inclusion in the LOCKSS and CLOCKSS archival systems. Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) are assigned to all published articles to facilitate persistent citation and discoverability.

The journal adheres to PKP standards for sustainable digital preservation, archiving, and long-term scholarly access.

Privacy Statement

All personal data provided by authors, reviewers, and readers, including names, institutional affiliations, and email addresses, will be used exclusively for the operational purposes of the journal and will not be disclosed to third parties except where required for publication and indexing processes.

Sponsorship and Publishing

The journal is published under HRL Journal Service, an imprint of HypoSTAT Research Inc. Its scholarly reputation is shaped by editors and reviewers affiliated with leading universities, research institutes, international organizations, and environmental policy institutions worldwide.

The journal is committed to academic excellence, research integrity, open science principles, and the dissemination of knowledge that supports effective and equitable climate action.

Journal History

Established in 2025, the African Journal of Climate Justice (AJCJ) was founded to advance scholarly understanding of the legal, governance, and justice dimensions of climate change in Africa and beyond. The journal seeks to bridge academic research, policy innovation, legal practice, and community perspectives to address emerging climate challenges.

Recognizing that climate change is both an environmental and justice issue, the journal promotes research that contributes to fair, inclusive, and evidence-based climate governance while supporting sustainable development and environmental accountability across diverse regional and international contexts.