Submission guidelines

Instructions for Authors

Contributions are solicited under the following heads:

1. Articles – 4,500 – 7,000 words

Articles should contain sustained analysis on legal topics. They may be either doctrinal or theoretical (or both) and must comprehensively deal with all relevant literature on the chosen subject to formulate well-reasoned positions. An Article is therefore ordinarily conservative in its method of analysis.

2.Essays– 3,000 – 4,500 words

Essays, in comparison with Articles, are usually more adventurous in their method, and seek to challenge existing legal paradigms or innovatively address well known problems. It is strongly recommended that essays be considerably more concise, in terms of scope and conceptualization. Fresh approaches to be decided issues are encouraged.

3. Case comments and legislative comments – 1,500 – 3,000 words

Case comments should be a study of any contemporary judicial pronouncement (Indian or foreign) and must contain its analysis, the context in which it has been delivered, its contribution to existing law and must necessarily comment on the judicial process involved. Legislative comments entail a critical analysis of any existing Indian legislation or proposed Bills and their constitutional implications. Critical, comparative pieces dealing with similar issues across jurisdictions are encouraged.

4. Other submissions – 1,500-3,000 words

Other pieces that do not specifically fall into any of the aforementioned sections will also be considered. The Board specifically solicits Book Reviews, short responses to previous publications and notes on an author’s practical experiences in constitutional litigation, judgment deliberation, legislative drafting, etc.

All word limits are exclusive of footnotes.

The contributions should adhere to the following specifications:

1. Citation Format: All submissions must conform to the Oxford University Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities, (4th Edition) citation system. (The same can be accessed at https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxlaw/oscola_4th_edn_hart_2012.pdf.) Speaking footnotes are not discouraged. A submission that is either insufficiently cited or is seen as not adhering to the citation format will be deemed as rejected. 
2. Font specifications: The body of the manuscript should be in Times New Roman, font size 12 with 1.5 line spacing. The footnotes should be in Times New Roman, font size 10 with single line spacing.
3. Abstract: Every submission must be accompanied by an abstract, of not more than 350 words, that outlines the area of study and any important conclusions that may be drawn by the author(s).
4. Joint Contributions: Collaborative articles and essays by up to two authors shall also be considered.
5. Authors: Authors must submit their designations, current institutional affiliations, email and postal addresses and other such relevant details. Such details shall be mailed in a separate document and must not appear anywhere in the manuscript or the abstract.

Submission of Contributions:

Submissions should contain the manuscript, abstract and authors’ details in three separate documents. All documents must be in Microsoft Word’s .doc or .docx format only. Submissions must only be in the form of electronic copies. Your submissions will be acknowledged within 48 hours and subjected to a thorough review process by the peer review group. In case the submission is accepted, the board shall inform the authors of the reviewer’s comments and the authors will be afforded reasonable time to submit a revised draft keeping in mind the reviewer’s comments.

All submissions and other related queries are to be sent to ijcl@nalsar.ac.in

Deadline:

To be considered for the next issue of the journal (2021), we expect the submissions to reach us before November 30, 2023.

Contact:

Phone details: 

• Kartheek Vegesana: +91 7330643612
• Natasha Singh: +91 98109 19725

Email: ijcl@nalsar.ac.in

Peer Review Policy

IJCL follows a tiered review process whereby papers are first reviewed by the Editorial Board, following which they are shortlisted for a peer review process. Peer reviews are integral to IJCL’s publication cycle to ensure that the journal publishes quality content. We aspire to have reviews conducted by persons with domain expertise.

The peer review process is double-blind; that is, both the author(s) and reviewer remain anonymous to each other. The reviewer’s role is to assess the merits of the manuscript and thereafter recommend to the editors whether the manuscript must be accepted, rejected, or conditionally accepted.

Conditional acceptance refers to the situation where the reviewer provides comments on the manuscript that need to be improved upon. Acceptance of the manuscript for publication is then conditional upon the recommended changes being incorporated.

Only submissions that clear the review process will be published.