About the Journal

The Journal of African Real Estate  Research (JARER) is the official academic journal of the African Real Estate Society (AfRES) and is accredited by the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). JARER (ISSN: 2304-8395) is an open-access journal hosted by the Urban Real Estate Research Unit at the University of Cape Town. JARER is officially published by the University of Cape Town Libraries.

History of the Journal

The journal was established as an initiative of the African Real Estate Society and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in 2008 (Vol1; Issue 1 was published in Jan 2008). In 2012 the JARER  was transferred to the Department of Construction Economics and Management at Wits University. Volumes 2 Issue 1 was published through Wits University with Prof Sam Azasu being the editor-in-chief. A further issue was released in 2014  (Prof Sam Azasu - Editor in Chief) (http://www.afrer.org/journal-of-african-real-estate-research ).  In 2017 the decision was taken by the African Real Estate Society to transfer the JARER  to the University of Cape Town.  The move to UCT resulted in the journal being placed on an electronic journal platform and the following appointments were made - a journal manager (Mr Luke Boyle), Editor in Chief (Prof Felician Komu) and Chief and Associate Editor (A/ Prof François Viruly). The journal has since 2017 been published regularly (twice a year)  with one issue per year being printed as a hard copy. Vol 6 Issue 1 was a special Issue Entitled “ Women in African Real Estate & Urban Development – edited by Karen Gibler and Geci-Karuri-Sebina. 

In 2018 the editorial Advisory board was reconstituted. In 2019 a new editorial team was appointed comprising Prof Abel Olaleye (Editor in Chief ), and Associate Editor (A/ Prof Aly Karam). In 2021 Ms Lesedi Kgaka took over from Mr Luke Boyle as Managing Editor. The present term of office for the editor-in-chief and Associate editor ends in 2022. The JARER has since 2018 been supported by the International Real Estate Business School in Regensburg (Germany).

The Journal of African Real Estate Research does not charge any Article Processing Charge (APC) or any article submission charge.

Keywords: research, real estate, property, Africa, academia, journal, housing, reits, development, land, valuation, urban, markets, investments, education, sustainability

Journal Objectives:
The journal aims to understand African real estate markets, including their structure and workings, and the nature and impacts of efforts to reform them. In this context, real estate markets include different built environment components, including planning, funding and development, construction, management, ownership, and occupation.

In addition, the journal highlights the role and importance of real estate markets in Africa in contributing to: 

  • Real Estate Investment Trusts;
  • Property and Economic Development;
  • Transformation in the Real Estate Sector;
  • Provision of Affordable Housing;
  • Real Estate Legislation and Policy Discourse;
  • PropTech or Real Estate Technology;
  • Equitable Land Management;
  • Innovation in Property Development;
  • Growth of Urban and National economies;
  • Maturity of Property Markets;
  • Market Studies;
  • Financial Sector Development; and
  • Sustainable Real Estate Development and Management.

The journal's aim is supported by providing a forum for debate and the dissemination of research on the key issues relating to the above issues via:

  • The publication of research papers based on the results of completed research projects or programmes;
  • Notes on ongoing or proposed research programmes;
  • Reviews of relevant books; and
  • Letters commenting on papers and contributions previously published or on other matters of relevance.

As well as contributing to the development of the real estate research community in Africa and enabling discourse and dialogue between researchers engaged in research into real estate issues in Africa, the journal will also be used as a means of ensuring that African governments and policy-makers are made aware of the latest thought leadership and research on these issues.

To this end, papers with a strong policy emphasis, either in analysing the impact of existing policies or putting forward proposals for appropriate policies, are strongly welcomed. Additionally, papers that address these issues in Africa - on a local, national and regional basis, or on a comparative international basis - are invited for submission to the journal.

All papers will be subjected to a double-blind (peer review) referring process. Referees will be drawn from an expert Editorial Board, selected for their knowledge of African real estate issues and their knowledge of current real estate research.

Open Access Policy

The Journal of African Real Estate Research is an Open Access Journal and provides immediate free access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. Authors do not pay article processing charges (APCs) or publication fees to publish in JARER, and readers do not pay subscriptions to read JARER publications. JARER is a diamond open access publication. Every article published by the journal is open access, which means that:

- The article is universally and freely accessible via the Internet, in an easily readable format. All publications are deposited immediately upon publication, without embargo. Authors are free to deposit their published research papers on institutional repositories, academic social media and personal or departmental websites.

Author(s) retain copyright and they irrevocably grant(s) to any third party, in advance and in perpetuity, the right to use, reproduce or disseminate the article/book in its entirety or in part, in any format or medium, provided that no substantive errors are introduced in the process, and there must be proper attribution of authorship and correct citation details are given, and that the bibliographic details are not changed. If the article is reproduced or disseminated in part, this must be clearly indicated and can be done without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author.

Archiving

JARER practices preservation and archiving of our content to ensure continued accessibility and relevance for our readership and stakeholders.

Language

JARER is an English language journal, and all articles are in English. This has been a challenge for many of our authors who are not native English speakers. Thus, we work closely with our authors to assist them in developing the language of their papers.

Publisher

The University of Cape Town Libraries is the publisher of JARER. JARER is published in South Africa.

Timeline

The average number of weeks between article submission and publication is 14 weeks.

Publication ethics and publication malpractice statement

Conflict of Interest 

JARER seeks to avoid conflicts of interests for associate editors, in which the relationship to the authors could bias judgement of the manuscript. Therefore, associate editors are generally not assigned manuscripts by an individual who has served as the main graduate student advisor of the associate editor, or where the associate editor had a key advising role for the individual as a graduate student, or where the individual is an active and recent coauthor of the associate editor, or where the associate editor or the editor judges there to be a concern due to some other close relationship.

Authors are required to declare and acknowledge any material conflict of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any people, organizations, companies, or institutions connected to the manuscript.

Peer reviewers are asked to disclose potential material conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to a manuscript they have been invited to review. Every reviewer is required to treat each manuscript received for review as confidential, whether or not they agree to review it.

Research Misconduct

Before publication, the Editorial Team, working with peer reviewers take reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of manuscripts that show evidence of research misconduct. (Research misconduct includes but is not limited to plagiarism, citation manipulation, and data falsification and/or fabrication.) After publication, if the Editorial Team are made aware of an allegation of research misconduct relating to a published article in the journal, the allegations will be addressed by the JARER Ethics committee. Where applicable, they may follow the guidelines published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Appeals

Complaints and appeals should be addressed to the JARER Editor-in-Chief, Abel Olaleye, for further review with the Ethics committee at aolaleye@oauife.edu.ng.