Editorial team

Reviewer guidelines

What Journal Law and Justice asks of its reviewers: how to answer an invitation, assess a manuscript and write a useful review on time.

  • Follows the journal's current settings
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On this page

At a glance

  • Reviews are double-blind and confidential.
  • Declare any conflict of interest before you accept.

Reviewers are the heart of the journal's quality. These guidelines describe the practical side of reviewing for Journal Law and Justice; the principles are in the journal's reviewer guidelines policy and peer review process.

The invitation

  • Read the title and abstract and accept only if the manuscript is within your expertise and you can finish on time.
  • Decline if you have a conflict of interest, for example a recent collaboration with the authors, a competing project or a personal relationship.

Time limits

Time for a revision
7 days
Review rounds at most
3
Reminder
1 days before the deadline

Assessing the manuscript

Consider in particular:

  1. Originality and relevance: does it add something new to the field and fit the journal?
  2. Methods: are the design, data and analysis appropriate and described well enough to repeat?
  3. Results and conclusions: do the conclusions follow from the results?
  4. Literature: is the relevant and recent work cited, and is anything cited without need?
  5. Presentation: are the structure, language, figures and tables clear?
  6. Ethics: approvals, consent, data availability and signs of plagiarism or manipulation.

Writing the review

  • Fill in every item of the review form, write comments for the author and, if needed, confidential comments for the editor.
  • Be specific and constructive: say what should change and why.
  • Separate essential changes from suggestions.
  • Upload your review file when the form asks for it.
  • Choose a recommendation (accept, minor revision, major revision or decline) that matches your comments.
  • Write respectfully. Personal remarks have no place in a review.

Confidentiality and integrity

  • Do not share the manuscript or use its content before publication.
  • Do not contact the authors; ask the editor through the chat on your review task.
  • Do not upload the manuscript to external services or tools, including AI tools, as described in the AI use policy.
  • Report suspected misconduct to the editor confidentially.

Recognition

  • The editor may rate the quality of your review. Ratings are private and help the journal choose reviewers.
  • You receive a certificate for your contribution when the article is published.

Your invitations, reviews and certificates are on the reviewer desk.

Related policies