For authors

Author guidelines

Everything you need to prepare, register, submit and follow a manuscript in Journal Law and Justice, in one place.

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At a glance

  • Manuscripts are uploaded as Word files (.docx) written in the journal template.
  • Every research article is checked for originality and goes through double-blind peer review.
  • Publishing in Journal Law and Justice is free of charge.
  • Fees, partners and payment never influence an editorial decision.

Journal Law and Justice publishes original, peer-reviewed work. These guidelines explain what the editors expect from a manuscript and how it travels from your computer to publication. The journal template and the publication policies are part of these guidelines.

Before you submit

  • Check that the manuscript fits the focus and scope of the journal.
  • The manuscript must be original, not published before and not under review at another journal.
  • All authors have read and approved the final version and agree to its submission.
  • Research involving people, animals or personal data has the approvals it needs (see research ethics).
  • Every source you use is cited; text, data or images taken from others are clearly marked (see plagiarism and similarity).

Preparing the manuscript

Write the manuscript in the journal template and keep its styles, so the editors and the production team can work with the file directly. Upload it as a Word file (.docx). PDF files are not accepted as the main manuscript file.

Unless the template for your issue says otherwise, a research article contains:

  1. Title: specific and informative, without abbreviations.
  2. Authors: full names, department, institution, city and country of every author, the ORCID iD when available, and the e-mail address of the corresponding author.
  3. Abstract: one paragraph with the purpose, methods, main results and conclusion.
  4. Keywords: three to six terms that describe the content.
  5. Introduction, methods, results, discussion and conclusion.
  6. Acknowledgements and funding, including grant numbers.
  7. Declarations: conflicts of interest, author contributions and, where relevant, ethics approval and data availability.
  8. References in the style of the template, ideally managed with a reference manager.

Figures and tables are numbered, cited in the text and placed where they belong in the template. Use images that are sharp at their printed size and give the source of any figure you did not create.

Submit the complete manuscript with author names, affiliations and acknowledgements. The anonymous copy for the reviewers is prepared by the journal's editorial system, so you do not need to remove anything yourself.

Research and publication ethics

The journal follows the COPE Core Practices. Please read the policies on publication ethics, authorship, conflicts of interest, data sharing and the use of AI tools by authors before you submit. A manuscript that does not meet them is returned or declined, whatever its stage.

Registering an account

  1. Open the author registration page.
  2. Fill in your name, e-mail address, affiliation and country. Add your ORCID iD if you have one.
  3. Confirm your e-mail address with the link we send you (the link stays valid for seven days).
  4. Log in with your e-mail address and password. Your author profile lists your manuscripts and invoices.

Submitting the manuscript

  1. Log in and open Submit a manuscript.
  2. Choose the issue or section you are submitting to, when the journal offers a choice.
  3. Upload the manuscript (.docx) and any supplementary files.
  4. Enter the title, abstract, keywords and every co-author exactly as in the manuscript.
  5. Confirm the submission declarations and, if you like, write a short note to the editor.
  6. Send the submission. You receive a confirmation e-mail with a link to track your manuscript.

Register as an author Submit a manuscript Track a manuscript

What happens after submission

  1. Step 1

    Submit

    Upload the manuscript in the journal template.

  2. Step 2

    Initial check

    Scope, format and similarity are checked by the editors.

  3. Step 3

    Peer review

    Independent experts assess the manuscript.

  4. Step 4

    Revision

    You have 7 days per revision, at most 3 rounds.

  5. Step 5

    Decision

    The editors accept or decline, based on the reviews.

  6. Step 6

    Production

    Copyediting, layout and proofs you check.

  7. Step 7

    Published

    Online in an issue with a DOI and a certificate.

You can follow every step on the tracking page and talk with the editors there. All decisions and requests also reach you by e-mail.

Peer review and revision

Each research article is reviewed by at least two independent experts in a double-blind process. When revisions are requested you have 7 days to upload the revised manuscript with a point-by-point response. A manuscript goes through at most 3 review rounds. Details are on Peer review and revision.

Publication fee

Journal Law and Justice does not charge authors for submission or publication.

Articles are published open access. Authors keep the copyright and publish under the licence named in the copyright and licensing policy; see also open access.

After acceptance

  1. Copyediting: the editors may ask you to answer queries about the text.
  2. Layout and proofs: check the proof carefully; only corrections of errors are possible at this stage.
  3. Publication: the article is published in an issue with its DOI and a certificate for the authors.
  4. Corrections after publication follow the corrections and retractions policy.

Questions

Write to the editorial office at [email protected]. The contact page lists every way to reach us.

Related policies