Editor guidelines

These guidelines apply to everyone who handles manuscripts for Journal Law and Justice: the Editor in Chief, the editors and the editorial staff. They put the journal's publication ethics and editorial governance into daily practice.

Roles

• Editor in Chief: screens new manuscripts, assigns a handling editor, makes or confirms the final decision and schedules accepted articles.
• Editors: handle the manuscripts assigned to them through peer review, from inviting reviewers to the decision or, for section editors, the recommendation.
• Editorial staff: copyediting, layout and proofreading of accepted manuscripts. Staff never see reviewer names or review files.

Principles

• Judge every manuscript on its scholarly merit, whoever the authors are and whatever their institution, country or ability to pay.
• Keep manuscripts, reviews and the identity of reviewers confidential.
• Declare any conflict of interest and step aside from manuscripts you cannot judge impartially.
• Act on concerns about misconduct as the journal's policy describes; do not accuse an author before the facts are checked.
• Answer authors and reviewers promptly and politely.

From submission to publication

1. Screening: check the scope, completeness, the template, the declarations and the similarity report. Return a manuscript that does not fit with a short, helpful reason.
2. Handling editor: the Editor in Chief assigns an editor with a deadline. Accept or decline the assignment quickly.
3. Reviewers: invite at least two independent experts without conflicts of interest.
4. Follow-up: remind reviewers who do not answer and replace them when needed, so the manuscript is not held up.
5. Decision: once all reviews are in, weigh them and send the decision with clear guidance for the author. Section editors send a recommendation; the Editor in Chief decides.
6. Revision rounds: authors have 7 days for each revision and a manuscript goes through at most 3 rounds.
7. Production: accepted manuscripts go to copyediting, layout and proofreading, then are scheduled in an issue.
8. Publication: the article is published with its DOI; certificates for the authors, editors and reviewers follow.

Time limits

Time for a revision

7 days

Review rounds at most

3

Reminder

1 days before the deadline

Working on the desk

The editorial desk shows your tasks in order, the deadlines and the chats. Take tasks from the queue, finish them before their deadline and mark them done. Overdue steps are reminded and, when needed, escalated to the Editor in Chief.

Communication

• Write to authors through the discussions of the manuscript, so the record stays complete.
• Never reveal a reviewer's identity to the author, or the author's identity to a reviewer.
• Ask questions about the process in the editorial team chat.

Complaints, corrections and appeals

Handle complaints and appeals as described in complaints and appeals, and errors in published articles as described in corrections and retractions. The reviewer guidelines tell you what reviewers are asked to do.