Every text we receive is read in full, by two members of the committee, and receives a reasoned answer. Submission is free and will remain so.
This page sets out what we are looking for, what we do not publish, what you need to send us and how long we take to answer. It may spare you months of waiting.
Ishango is a think tank. Its motto, Éduquer ou périr — educate or perish — is not a turn of phrase for the occasion: it describes a balance of forces. A society that does not produce its own knowledge ends up consuming other people's, including about itself. The press carries that work on by other means. It publishes books that add to the knowledge available in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and that make it readable here.
The observation that led us to open a catalogue is a simple one. A Congolese researcher finishing a serious piece of work long had two options: look for a publisher in Paris, where the subject is treated as regional, or pay for a print run themselves that nobody would distribute. In both cases the book fails to reach the reader it was written for.
So we publish here, in Kinshasa, doing the work the word publishing implies: a critical reading, copy preparation, proofreading, typesetting, a cover, legal deposit, distribution. We turn down more texts than we publish, and that is the condition for a title in the catalogue to mean something.
What holds an essay in political economy and a collection of short stories in the same catalogue comes down to two requirements. The first is craft: a sentence that holds, an argument that follows, a language the author has made something of. The second is usefulness to the reader here — not utilitarianism, but the idea that a book published in the Congo should find someone to speak to in the Congo.
We do not set themes and we do not commission manuscripts. Nor do we expect a text to share our analyses: an essay that contradicts a publication of the think tank will be read exactly like the others, and published if it is good.
Finally, we read work written in national languages. This is no favour to anyone; it follows from the same idea. A knowledge society that thinks in an inherited language alone shuts out half its readers.
Seven stages, whose progress you follow in your account. Every change of stage is dated and notified to you; no decision is taken without appearing in the history of your file.
You create an account, complete the file and attach your manuscript. A reference in the form MS-2026-014 is assigned at once: that is what you will quote in any exchange. The submission appears in your account immediately.
A managing editor checks that the file is complete and that the text falls within our fields. If a document is missing, we say so in the discussion thread rather than letting the file sit. A text outside our editorial line is set aside at this stage, with the reason given.
Two members of the committee read the text in full, separately, and each writes a report: what the text achieves, what it does not, what could be taken further. A third reader is called in when the two reports diverge.
The committee decides on the papers. Three outcomes only: the text is accepted, it is returned for revision with specific requests, or it is not accepted. No decision is given without written reasons.
If you receive comments, you upload the revised version in your account. Versions are never overwritten: each is kept and numbered, so that the committee reads again knowing the earlier state.
A publishing contract is drawn up: term of the licence, territories, royalty on the retail price, an advance where applicable. You read it, you discuss it, you sign it. Nothing is committed before that signature.
Proofreading, copy preparation, typesetting, cover, ISBN, legal deposit, printing, release in the catalogue and in bookshops. You read the proofs and approve the cover.
These exclusions pass no judgement on the genres concerned. They say only that we have neither the readers nor the distribution networks to serve them properly.
We ask for no printed copy, no letter of recommendation, no curriculum vitae and no submission fee.
A simultaneous submission to other houses does not trouble us: simply say so in your note to the committee, so that we know where we stand if a contract is offered to you elsewhere.
These times run from the admissibility decision, not from the submission. If four months pass without an answer, write to us from the discussion thread of your file. A delay is a failing on our part, never a decision in disguise.
Money. Submission, examination, reading and, where it happens, publication cost you nothing. We do not practise vanity publishing and we charge for no ancillary service. Any request for payment made in our name is a fraud; report it to us.
Your rights, before their time. Until a publishing contract is signed, the text remains entirely yours. The contract you will be offered is an ordinary publishing contract: a licence for a fixed term, specified territories, a royalty on the retail price, annual statements of account.
Exclusivity during the examination. You may withdraw your manuscript at any time before it is accepted, with one click from your account, without having to justify yourself.
Your files are kept outside the public part of the site, under a name that says nothing of their content. Only you and the members of the committee have access, through an address that checks your rights on every download. We pass no manuscript to any third party.
The account is not an administrative formality: it is what gives you the reference of your file, the progress of its examination, the dated history of decisions and the discussion thread with the committee. It takes a minute to create and also serves, if you order from the catalogue, to follow your orders.
A question this page does not answer? Write to us. We would rather answer before a submission than after a refusal.