Supporting female researchers in real estate is an important agenda for the property discipline and is strongly supported by the editorial team at the Journal of African Real Estate Research (JARER). Encouraging women to publish in peer-reviewed scholarly journals enriches the field and is a key element in a successful researcher’s career. To assist in this effort, JARER announces a call for papers for a special issue devoted to highlighting the work of female researchers in property related subjects. This will allow female researchers to showcase their work and provide a perspective of the issues and vision they want to share with the discipline. We are also offering a mentoring program in manuscript development.

Specific criteria that will apply to the papers in this special issue are:

Papers will only be considered with a female corresponding/lead/senior author. Multiple authors and male co-authors are acceptable. Preference will be given to early career authors.

Papers must meet the research mandate of JARER to help in understanding developing real property markets, including urban planning, financing, development, management, ownership, investment and occupation. Papers may focus on Africa, an emerging market or developing country in another region, comparisons with developed countries, or case studies that are applicable to emerging market issues.

Possible topic areas include:

• Economic development as it relates to real property including taxation, incentives, and PPP;
• Environmental issues such as pollution, climate change, natural disasters, and sustainability;
• Financial sector development—lenders, mortgages, financial literacy;
• Housing issues such as affordability, design, and physical accessibility;
• Investment opportunities in emerging markets;
• Innovations and technologies that affect the property sector;
• Legal property issues such as crime, property rights, title, and contracts;
• Real estate industry participants such as brokers and issues such as diversity, bias, gender equity;
• Specialized property types—hospitality, education, health care;
• Transportation access and its influence on prices, affordability, and sustainability;
• Valuation processes;
• Societal and neighbourhood dynamics (including trends in corruption, inequality, exclusion and displacement) as related to real estate trends and practices.

Papers that have a strong policy emphasis, either in analysing the impact of existing polices or putting forward proposals for appropriate policies to address an issue experienced in emerging markets and developing countries, are welcomed. Qualitative as well as quantitative analysis methods are acceptable.

Supportive review process: To encourage early career female researchers to submit their work in a supportive environment, an international group of senior female researchers have volunteered to offer mentorship to early career authors through the submission, review, and revision process.

Two types of mentorship are available:

Level 1. Authors may submit a rough manuscript and request a mentor for advice as to how to complete/revise the paper to increase the chances for acceptance before the manuscript enters the review process. The mentor will also help the authors interpret comments received from reviewers and offer advice as to how to revise and resubmit the manuscript to increase the chances of acceptance.

Level 2. Authors may submit an incomplete project and request a mentor for advice or to help them complete the project and possibly co-author a submission.

The responsibility for completing and submitting the manuscript and any revisions lies with the authors.

Regular submissions without mentorship are also invited and encouraged.