In November   of   2002, Academic   Journals commenced publication of the African Journal of Biotechnology (AJB) as monthly publication. From its beginning, the journal aims to have a truly global editorial board and reviewers. Thus, as a deliberate policy, the editorial board and reviewers are selected from across the world. The journal also adopted a double-blind review system.

The first issue of the journal saw the publication of 4 articles. A total of 12 articles were published at the end of 2002. These articles received significant positive response from researchers. The following year, AJB continue to receive significant support from researchers through their manuscript submission. Same year, the journal witnessed significant submission from both within and outside of Africa. 145 articles were published by December of 2003. The number of published articles declined in 2004 to 118. This trend was reversed in 2005 and this saw the total number of published articles at the end of the year rising to 284.

With the unexpected growth of the African Journal of Biotechnology between 2002 and 2005, Academic Journals was encouraged to start new journals. Our goal was to bring the open access model to other areas of research and broaden the opportunities for African researchers to publish their manuscripts using the open access model. This led to the establishment of seven new journals in 2006.

African Journal of Agricultural Research
Biotechnology and Molecular Biology Research
Educational Research and Reviews 
International Journal of Physical Sciences
International NGO Journal
Scientific Research and Essays

The new journals were well received by researchers and submissions were received both from across the world. At the end of 2006, the total number of articles published by Academic Journals surpassed 1,000 articles.
2006 was very significant year for Academic Journals for two major reasons. First our experiment with open access publishing has not only succeeded, but we managed multiple journals successfully. In addition, our scepticism about availability of internet is being overcome as more people gain access to the internet. This means that more researchers now have access to articles published by Academic Journals. Secondly, after years of operating with mostly ad-hoc staff, we were able to generate adequate revenue to recruit full time employees. Academic Journals was restructured, several full-time employees were recruited, and the CEO resumed full time to lead the management and provide strategic direction for the company.

Encouraged by the success of 2006 and renewed confidence in our mission of enabling African scholars have access to high quality peer reviewed articles, Academic Journals launched 12 new journals in 2007 bringing the total numbers of journals to 20. In the same year, the total number of articles published since inception of Academic Journals exceeded 2,000 articles.

The following year, although there were plans to launch more journals, the task of managing 20 journals was quite challenging and the resources in terms of recruitment of new of employees and office space was simply unaffordable. The total number of published articles at the end of 2008, exceed 3,500.

Academic journals witnessed major changes in 2009. New office space was rented, and the number of employees doubled to over a hundred persons. Several new journals were launched. At the end of the year, 77 journals were published, and the number of total articles surpassed 7,000.

The growth continued into 2011 and Academic Journals continue to expand its resources to accommodate the growth. By the end of 2011, there were more than two hundred and twenty employees and 107 journals. The same year also the total published articles exceeding 25,000 and by the end of 2016, the total number of published articles surpassed 50,000.

Inclusion in Jeffrey Beall’s List
In 2012, Academic Journals name was included in Jeffrey Beall’s list. This significantly impacted on Academic Journals. Several editors resigned from the various editorial board. The number of manuscript submission declined, including several withdrawals.  This decline was steep and fast, and impacted on our ability to support our team. At the end of the year, under this very difficult condition, Academic journals was forced to downsize the number of employees. Almost half of all members of the team was affected by the downsizing. Over a hundred and twenty employees lost their jobs.

In 2014, Academic Journals submitted a formal appeal to Jeffrey Beall. The appeal was very detailed, highlighting item by item as stated in the requirements of Jeffrey Beall. Academic Journals provided clear answers to all of Jeffrey Beall’s requirements. In his response, Jeffrey Beall stated, “that Academic Journals looks pretty good” and “is the most detailed appeal document that I have ever seen” and that “Predatory might be too harsh of a word for this one”. However, Jeffrey Beall declined to remove Academic Journals from his list. He cited low quality and also mentioned an article similarity with another previously published article. However, the mentioned article was published prior to the Academic Journals’ implementation of the iThenticate software for plagiarism detection.

Academic Journals considers Jeffrey Beall unfair and insincere with regard to the inclusion of Academic Journals in his list. Since Academic Journals met all the requirements as stated, it would have been only appropriate and fair for Jeffrey Beall to remove Academic Journals from the list. Academic Journals doubts the sincerity of the Jeffrey Beall’s list. We perceive that the list is deliberately biased towards open access journals. In addition, we consider Jeffrey Beall’s methods questionable and lacking in rigor in a matter as important as the evaluation of academic publishing. We welcome a fair, transparent and rigorous evaluation of all our activities.

Academic Journals remains resilient and will continue to pursue its purpose. We will continue to bridge this critical gap in the dissemination of researches from Africa to a global audience and create an excellent publishing platform for both African and non-African researchers.

Nyerhovwo John Tonukari (Founder & President)
Tonukari is a Professor of Molecular Biotechnology at the Delta State University, Abraka. He obtained his B.Sc. in Biochemistry (First Class Honours) from the University of Maiduguri, Nigeria in 1987, M.Sc. from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria in 1990 and Ph.D. from Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA in 2000. He was also briefly at the University of Naples, Italy in 1992 and Washington University, St. Louis, USA in 1994. He is a recipient of the Thoman Fellowship, USA (1999), the Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship, USA (1994) and Federal Government (Nigeria) Postgraduate Scholarship (1990).

Professor Tonukari was previously a Research Associate at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Nigeria (1991 to 1996); Postdoctoral Fellow, James R. Randle Research Center, Archer Daniels Midland Company, Decatur, USA (2000 to 2002); and Associate Scientist, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi, Kenya (2002 to 2004).

Professor Tonukari is the founder Academic Journals whose objective was to enable African researchers to have access to up to date, high quality peer reviewed articles, and also to enable researchers across the globe have access to articles published by African researchers without any form of restriction. Professor Tonukari is the editor of the African Journal of Biotechnology and the Nigerian Journal of Science and Environment. He has authored and co-authored several academic and opinion articles, a book and two patents.

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