The African Journal of Bioethics is a biannual, peer-reviewed open-access journal dedicated to advancing scholarship, dialogue, and capacity-building in bioethics across the African continent. Published in June and December, the journal seeks to foster pan-African harmonisation of ethical standards in healthcare, research, and emerging technologies by addressing the unique social, cultural, and structural contexts that shape ethical decision-making in Africa.

The journal embraces a broad disciplinary scope, drawing from medicine, public health, philosophy, law, anthropology, gender studies, sociology, environmental science, and information technology. It positions itself at the intersection of these disciplines to explore how ethical principles can be meaningfully applied to African healthcare systems, population health challenges, and scientific innovation.

The African Journal of Bioethics publishes rigorous research including articles, reviews, case analyses, and commentary. The journal particularly welcomes contributions that address regional health inequities, indigenous knowledge systems, community engagement approaches, and localised ethical dilemmas while strengthening Africa’s voice in international bioethics discourse.

The journal is published by Pluto Journals in partnership with the Africa Bioethics Network. It maintains a completely charge-free policy and publishes all content under a CC BY 4.0 open-access license on ScienceOpen.

The African Journal of Bioethics creates a space for rigorous, multidisciplinary research that reflects the diversity of bioethical challenges across Africa. The journal’s mission is to promote ethical excellence, build scholarly capacity, and facilitate meaningful dialogue on pressing bioethical issues shaping health and research landscapes throughout the continent. The journal is committed to enhancing standards of experimental and observational research ethics, advancing human rights-based approaches to healthcare, and supporting equitable, inclusive, and culturally grounded ethical frameworks.

The journal carries research articles, reviews, case analyses, and commentary. We particularly welcome contributions that address regional health inequities and indigenous knowledge systems, examine community engagement approaches and localised ethical dilemmas, explore clinical ethics and health systems governance, investigate research ethics and participant protection, engage with environmental and planetary health ethics, address artificial intelligence and digital health technologies, and examine human rights principles in healthcare delivery. The journal seeks to strengthen Africa’s voice in international bioethics discourse while promoting ethical policy development and sustainable, ethically responsible health systems across the continent.

Editorial Board: 

Editor-in-Chief

Mercury Shitindo, Africa Bioethics Network,Kenya / University of Zaragoza, Spain

Co-Editors-in-Chief

Dr. Farah Nabil; Health in Harmony / World Health Organization,Egypt

Dr. Kirubel Mussie; Institute for Biomedical Ethics, University of Basel, Germany

Please see the submission guidelines here.

Editor-in-Chief: Mercury Shitindo

Africa Bioethics Network,Kenya / University of Zaragoza ,Spain

Email: mshitindo@africabioethicsnetwork.org

Phone: +254704403156

Society Information: Africa Bioethics Network

Nairobi, Kenya

Website: https://africabioethicsnetwork.org/

Society Website: https://www.africanjournalofbioethics.org/

The Journal is published biannually in June and December.

As of 1 January 2026, the journal is Open Access and the Open Access statement, Open Access license terms, copyright terms as well as a statement on its absolute lack of author charges can be found here. The African Journal of Bioethics maintains a fully charge-free policy to all manuscript submissions and processing.

The journal is published Open Access on ScienceOpen. This means the Reuse rights of published material is all under the open CC BY 4.0 license as stated here. 

This journal follows Pluto Journals’ Ethics and Code of Conduct policy, which aligns with the ethical standards endorsed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). In particular:

1. We expect all authors to state in their article if they have a conflict of interest which could potentially bias their opinions – for example funding or employment.
2. All named authors on the articles should confirm that they have jointly participated in the research and writing of the article, and that no author has been omitted from the list of authors.
3. We require authors to warrant that their articles are original, have not been previously published, and do not plagiarise or otherwise copy someone else’s work without attribution. (If the article is a translation, we are happy to consider this for publication but the authors must inform the editors on submission.)
4. We also require authors to warrant that their article does not defame, libel, or bring another person into disrepute, and neither does it contain anything illegal (e.g. copyright infringement).
5. Editors and reviewers must disclose any potential conflicts of interest that could influence, or be perceived to influence, their handling of a manuscript. Conflicts may include personal relationships, academic competition or financial interests related to the work under consideration. If a conflict exists, editors and reviewers must decline to participate in the review or editorial decision-making process. The journal maintains procedures to ensure that editorial decisions are made without bias and based solely on scholarly merit. Editors are not involved in decisions about papers in which they have a conflict of interest and such submissions are handled by another qualified editor
6. All submissions are checked for originality during the editorial review. The reviewers’ role includes the process of checking and dealing with text similarity and suspected plagiarism. Plagiarism includes the unattributed use of another author’s words, ideas, data, or images, as well as excessive text recycling from one’s own prior work. Reviewers are responsible for reporting potential misconduct concerns to the Editor, who handles concerns according to the COPE plagiarism flowchart https://members.publicationethics.org/sites/default/files/plagiarism-submitted-manuscript-cope-flowchart.pdf. Manuscripts found to contain significant plagiarism are rejected, and if plagiarism is discovered after publication, the journal may issue a correction or retraction and notify the authors’ institution as appropriate. The editor is responsible for guiding the process and for publishing corrections, retractions or expressions of concern when appropriate. All authors will be informed and their consent (where possible) obtained before any changes are made. Appropriate measures will be taken, including possible retractions of articles, when cases of scholarly misconduct are detected.
7. Retraction of articles may be required when there is clear evidence that the findings are unreliable due to misconduct (e.g., data fabrication, plagiarism) or honest error; when the work has been previously published elsewhere without proper attribution; or when the research or publication process was unethical. Retraction notices are published promptly, clearly identified as such and linked to the original article, which remains in the public record but marked as retracted. The notice will include the reasons for retraction and who is retracting the article.
8. Corrections (errata or corrigenda) are published by the journal to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the scholarly record. If an error is identified that affects the publication’s reliability, but not its overall conclusions, a correction will be issued. Corrections will clearly describe the change, reference the original article, and be freely accessible. Minor errors that do not affect the interpretation of the work will not typically warrant formal correction.
9. Appeals: should an author wish to appeal a decision of Reject, they should write to the Editorial Executive. Two members of the Editorial Board not involved in the original review process for the article will reconsider the article and reviews and to submit their recommendations. Only one round of appeal will be permitted per manuscript.