The African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development (AJFAND)

What The African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development (AJFAND) does

The African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development (AJFAND) is a Nairobi-headquartered, open-access peer-reviewed scholarly journal founded in 2001 by Prof. Ruth Khasaya Oniang'o and operated by the African Scholarly Science Communications Trust (ASSCAT). The journal publishes research on food systems, agriculture, nutrition, and development with a focus on African contexts and currently sits at Volume 26 (2026), reflecting 25 years of continuous publication. Each issue contains approximately 14 peer-reviewed manuscripts alongside editorials, profiles, commentaries, and themed special issues. Authors, academic researchers, policymakers, NGOs, and university libraries across more than a dozen African countries form the primary user base, and articles are freely accessible to readers worldwide.

AJFAND's technology stack is a conventional digital publishing platform built around the ajfand.net website, CrossRef-assigned DOIs for citation management, and a wide network of indexing and distribution partners — Scopus, DOAJ, AJOL, CABI Publishing, EBSCO, Bioline International (University of Toronto), Chemical Abstracts Service, GALE/Cengage Learning, the International Institute of Refrigeration (Fridoc), Cornell University's TEEAL offline library program, and the FAO AGRIS network. The journal also hosts ancillary content surfaces including the GHI Matters newsletter and a "Profiles" section showcasing African researchers, plus a student internship pathway funneling from Rural Outreach Africa.

The journal's revenue mechanics center on Article Processing Charges (APCs) paid by authors, supplemented by institutional partnerships (e.g., Cornell TEEAL, University of Zimbabwe library replication, African Union and university library relationships). The journal is structured as a non-profit under ASSCAT with no disclosed funding rounds, parent company, or external equity investors. AJFAND competes for African scholarly content in a fragmented open-access landscape, leveraging 25 years of indexing presence, the international profile of its Editor-in-Chief, and an extensive distribution footprint rather than differentiated technology.

Name

The African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development (AJFAND)

Legal name

African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development (AJFAND)

Website

https://ajfand.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

AJFAND is a Nairobi-based, open-access peer-reviewed academic journal founded in 2001 that publishes research on African food systems, agriculture, nutrition, and development for researchers, policymakers, NGOs, and university libraries, and is operated by the African Scholarly Science Communications Trust.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Academic Journal Publishing

NAICS

Periodical Publishers (513120)

SIC

Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYEDAGAFAJ

Open Access Scholarly Journals & Monographs

Education/Educational Publishing & Learning Content/Academic & Scholarly Publishing (Journals, Monographs)

SECONDARYMPAJABAG

Open Educational Resources (OER) & Open Access Academic Publishing

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Publishing (Books, News, Magazines)/Educational & Academic Publishing (Textbooks, Scholarly, STM)

SECONDARYEDAGAJAO

OER Licensing, Rights & Open Policy Support (Creative Commons)

Education/Educational Publishing & Learning Content/Open Educational Resources (OER) & Open Textbooks

Keywords

• Academic journal publishing
• Peer-reviewed research
• Open access publishing
• Agricultural research journal
• Food science publishing

Headquarters

HQ city

Nairobi

HQ country

Kenya

HQ region

Africa

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Author Processing Fees: The journal charges processing fees to authors for manuscript review and publication services. This is the primary revenue stream supporting journal operations.
2. Institutional Partnerships: Partnerships with universities and organizations provide some operational support and hosting services

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

AJFAND is an open-access, peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes original research articles, editorials, profiles, and commentary on food, agriculture, nutrition, and development topics relevant to Africa. Since its founding in 2001, the journal has published 26 volumes and is operated by the African Scholarly Science Communications Trust (ASSCAT), with all articles freely accessible to readers worldwide and authors paying article processing fees.

Product overview

AJFAND is an open-access, peer-reviewed academic journal founded in 2001, publishing research on food, agriculture, nutrition, and development in Africa. The core product is the peer-reviewed journal, which includes regular articles, special issues on themed topics, and editorial content. The journal operates as a single-platform publishing system with supplementary content including the GHI Matters newsletter. Articles are distributed through multiple indexing partnerships including Scopus, DOAJ, AJOL, Bioline International, EBSCO, CABI, and Cornell's TEEAL program.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• AJFAND@20: 20th anniversary celebration edition of the journal launched in 2021
• GHI Matters

Products and services

• AJFAND Peer-Reviewed Journal An open-access, peer-reviewed academic journal publishing research on food, agriculture, nutrition, and development in Africa. Published since 2001, currently at Volume 26, featuring peer-reviewed articles, editorials, profiles, commentaries, and special issues intended for African academic researchers, policy makers, development organizations, and university libraries.
• AJFAND Special Issues Themed collections of articles published as special issues covering topics such as Food Justice and Food Sovereignty, Extension Models, African Leafy Vegetables, Biofortification, and postharvest congress proceedings.
• GHI Matters Newsletter A newsletter covering Global Harmonization Initiative matters, food safety, nutrition security, and related policy discussions, embedded within the AJFAND platform and accessible to readers worldwide.

Quantifiable outcome

• 25+ years of continuous publication since 2001
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

14 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Winrock InternationalcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 11 March 2021Prof. Ruth Oniang'o appointed to Winrock International Board of Directors. Winrock is a US-based economic development organization focused on agriculture, social, and environmental issues.
• EBSCO Publishing (USA)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 August 2009Dissemination of AJFAND publications in text, image and electronic formats to reach wider audience through EBSCO databases. Active since August 2009.
• International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 January 2009Digitizing AJFAND articles selected by IIR for inclusion in Fridoc database for European readers. Active since January 2009.
• GALE / Cengage Learning (USA)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 July 2008Inclusion of AJFAND materials in GALE's publishing programs for educational use. Active since July 2008.
• Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 June 2008Indexing and abstract service providing bibliographic citations for journal articles selected for inclusion in CAS products. Active since June 2008.
• CABI Publishing (UK)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 January 2008Publishing of AJFAND full-text articles in CABI's online subscription products including CAB Abstracts, Global Health, and archival services while maintaining journal independence.
• Bioline International (University of Toronto, Canada)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2006Online publishing partnership for AJFAND materials on Bioline website with monitoring of usage, quality assurance, and tracking of readership. Active since April 2006.
• Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerProf. Ruth Oniang'o serves as Board Chair of Sasakawa Africa Association. SAA promotes agricultural technology transfer through demonstration and adoption of improved technologies for smallholder farmers in Africa.
• Cornell University Albert R. Mann Library (TEEAL)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorThe Essential Electronic Agricultural Library (TEEAL) provides replication of AJFAND electronic texts via external hard drives installed in universities and research institutions without internet access.
• African Journals Online (AJOL)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorAJOL provides online hosting and discoverability for African journals including AJFAND.
• Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorDOAJ indexes AJFAND as a verified open access journal meeting scholarly publishing standards.
• Scopus (Elsevier)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorScopus provides comprehensive citation indexing for AJFAND articles, enhancing discoverability and impact measurement.
• Rural Outreach Africa (ROA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRelated organization founded by Prof. Ruth Oniang'o in 1992. ROA is a non-profit that bridges university research with practical needs of rural communities and smallholder farmers. Many ROA interns gain experience through the journal.
• FAO AGRIScoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorAJFAND is designated as an Active FAO AGRIS Data Provider for 2026, part of the Africa Scholarly Science Communications Trust.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Frontiers: Frontiers is a major open-access scholarly publisher with growing African outreach, offering APC-based publishing in food, nutrition, and agricultural sciences that competes for the same author pool.
• MDPI: MDPI is a large open-access publisher with extensive journal portfolio including agriculture and food science titles, competing globally for APC-funded African authors.
• PLOS (Public Library of Science): PLOS operates large-scale open-access journals with global reach and waivers for low-income country authors, including a presence in food security and global health research relevant to AJFAND's audience.
• CABI Publishing: CABI is a long-established agricultural information publisher and AJFAND distribution partner; comparable in subject focus on agriculture, nutrition, and development research, but much larger and broader.
• Hindawi (Wiley): Hindawi operates open-access journals across multiple disciplines including agriculture and food science, offering an alternative APC-based publishing venue for African researchers.
• BioMed Central: BioMed Central is a large-scale open-access publisher covering biology, medicine, and related fields, including food and nutrition topics — competing for the same African researcher submissions at greater scale.

Direct peers

• African Journals Online (AJOL): AJOL is a pan-African open-access journal hosting platform that aggregates hundreds of African scholarly journals including AJFAND, with comparable mission of increasing visibility of African research.
• Africa Journals Trust: Africa Journals Trust is a non-profit supporting African scholarly publishing capacity, directly comparable to ASSCAT in mission and overlap with AJFAND's capacity-building focus.
• Bioline International: Bioline is a non-profit open-access publishing platform for peer-reviewed bioscience journals from developing countries; AJFAND has been a long-standing Bioline partner journal.

Emerging players

• Dove Medical Press: Dove Press is an open-access publisher with journals in nutrition and public health, serving as a comparable APC-based venue for nutrition and food systems research authors.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/AjfandOnline
• Facebookfacebook.com/AjfandOnline
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-african-journal-of-food-agriculture-nutrition-and-development-ajfand

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development (AJFAND)