The African Studies Companion

This online and print publication seeks to bring together a wide range of sources of information in the African studies field, from an international perspective, now covering both print and electronic resources. This third, revised, expanded edition is published both in a print edition and as an online version and builds on two previous editions of Studies Companion: A Resource Guide and Directory. Throughout the guide, the compiler seeks to provide contacts and links to those whom he considers to be key players and major contributors.

According to the writer, the majority of listings identify primarily general, multidisciplinary sources of information, and for the most part those in English.

The contents are arranged in 23 sections, with sub-sections. The guide starts off listing online resources that aim to provide broad web coverage of the African continent and/or the field of African studies. Each resource is described and evaluated. Information sources deemed the best by the compiler – in terms of content and scope, authority, currency, organisation and structure – are highlighted by the use of an i symbol, and the date last accessed and verified is indicated for every resource.

An updated and annotated listing of the major general African studies resources in print format is provided, together with current bibliographies, continuing sources, and indexing and abstracting services. Also included in this section are products available in dual print/online formats, on CD-ROM, or in microform. New features in this section are links to publishers’ online catalogues (where available), facilitating access to extra information on titles; references to online reviews, and reviews that have appeared (print and/or online) in two of the principal journals that publish reviews of new Africana reference works on a regular basis: Choice/ChoiceOnline, published by the Association of College and Research Libraries, and African Research & Documentation, published by the UK-based Standing Conference on Library Materials on Africa (SCOLMA).

New individual sections are devoted to the major biographical sources, cartographic sources/map sales and vendors, listings of reference tools and resources on African languages, guides to film and video resources, and a section on Africanist documentation and African studies bibliography, all covering material both in print and electronic formats. Additional new sections – primarily of online resources – cover listings of the principal African studies online discussion forums, news sources for Africa and guides to African newspapers, together with a directory of academic and special libraries in Africa with African studies collections, and national archives in Africa. Additionally, there is an annotated guide to websites and Internet documents on information and communication development in Africa—an area the author considers crucial to the dissemination of African scholarship, together with the issue of access to electronic resources and online databases by scholars in the countries of Africa.

The section on journals and magazines includes a substantial number of journals available online. It is preceded by listings of guides and directories to journals online, and some entries for electronic table of contents alerting services.

While the guide emphasises multidisciplinary African studies periodicals – and primarily those in the social sciences and the humanities – it also includes a number of the “leading, more specialist journals of long standing”. There are also entries for some of the wide-circulation current affairs magazines on Africa, together with a selection of African literary, cultural, and arts magazines. Information is provided for each entry, including publisher and editorial contact information, email addresses, websites, year first published, ISSN, frequency, subscription rates, an outline of scope and contents or mission statement, and submission guidelines.

A new feature in this third edition of the African Studies Companion is an indication whether the journal is included in the H-Africa African Studies Journals-Table of Contents service (which includes archives of table of contents of past issues); and, for African-published serials, in International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications' (INASP) African Journals Online table of contents service. The guide also indicates whether back runs of the journal can be accessed via JSTOR, the digital archive of a large number of core scholarly journals. Details of JSTOR coverage (volumes/years) are also provided, together with JSTOR’s journal URL.

For authors or librarians seeking to contact publishers, the guide provides listings of over 300 publishers worldwide active in the African studies field, and/or publishing African literature. Fields of activity/areas of publishing or specialisation are indicated for each entry, and there are indexes to fields of activity by publishers in Africa, Europe, and in North America. The guide includes publishers in Africa, primarily those publishing in English, but also including certain imprints in francophone Africa publishing scholarly books, or creative writing by African authors.

Updated sections retained from the previous edition include expanded annotated listings of the dealers and distributors of African studies materials; African studies societies and associations; African and international organisations; foundations, donors, government and aid agencies (that are active in Africa, aim to support African studies research and/or training, conferences, scholarship programmes, or fellowships), as well as awards and prizes, and a listing of abbreviations and acronyms in African studies.