Instructions for the Preparation of Papers

Exclusive submission Policy: Legal Issues Journal operates an exclusive submission policy. Authors will need to confirm that their manuscript has been submitted solely to LIJ and is not currently published, in press, or submitted elsewhere.

Ethical requirements: For studies involving data, data collection must have been approved by your institution’s Ethics committee. For all papers, confirmation of adherence to ethics is required. See below.

Word length

Full papers (research and reviews)

There is no strict word limit for full papers, but for papers longer than 10000 words (including references and footnotes), authors needs to explain in the cover letter why a longer paper is justifiable.

Case comments / Short reports

Short Reports should be of an overall maximum length of 2500 words, including Summary and References; and 2000 words if tables and/or figures are included (proportionate to length). Verbosity is strongly discouraged.

Documents Required

Cover Letter

Please provide a brief explanation of the matter(s) the paper addresses and how. Please also address briefly:

• • Why the paper is important to the readership of LIJ?
  • How does the research advance knowledge or thought in the areas covered?
  • What are the novel contributions of the research?

Please also confirm that the material is original research, has not been previously published, and has not been submitted for publication elsewhere while under consideration.

Main Document

A single Word document file, comprising the text (including title and abstract) and tables. The name (s) and affiliation(s) of the author(s) should NOT be included. Figure files (if any) should be attached separately. Please include the abstract and keywords in the main document.

Please follow the Referencing style – accessible here…

Papers not following the style guidelines will not be sent for review. Please check the guidelines carefully.

Abstract / Summary:

A short summary of the paper of no more than 200 words. It should be a summary of the paper and state the sample size where relevant. Please describe:

• • the issue
  • the research question
  • the sample
  • the key findings
  • a brief explanation as to what next e.g. what these findings mean for practical purposes. Avoid statements such as ‘in the paper, we aim to…’

The Abstract should be included in the Main Document.

Title Page

Must include:

• • Title of the article
  • Authors’ names, email addresses, and affiliations with mail addresses.
  • Identify the corresponding author with an *
  • Three suggested reviewers’ names, affiliations, reasons for suitability, and contact emails.
  • Confirmation of compliance with ethics
  • The sources of support for the work received in the form of grants/etc. and if no support has been received, include confirmation accordingly.

• • *The abstract should NOT be included in this document.

All submissions must be in .doc or .docx format.

Additional requirements

Accessibility to Diverse Audiences

Authors are strongly encouraged to use language that is accessible to a wide readership. Papers should be succinct and omit unnecessary words. Papers that are difficult to follow will not be accepted for peer review. Authors who have not received professional training in Academic Writing and Publishing are encouraged to do so.

Language

Non-native English speakers should have their manuscripts checked by a native English speaker before submission. Alternative language editing services are also available here. Either American English or British English spelling can be used, but not interchangeably.

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments may be included at the end of the main text.

Disclosure Statements

Ethical statement/approval, Conflicts of interest, and Funding statements should be added before the Reference section of the submitted paper.

Ethical Approval

To be publishable, research must comply with accepted ethical standards. A confirmation that: a) informed consent of participants (or their legal guardians) was obtained; and b) that the relevant institutional approval was obtained, is essential.

In relation to secondary, a confirmation that authors assert adherence to ethical requirements would suffice.

Conflicts of Interest

Disclose at the time of submission any competing interests that they may have, providing for each co-author, details of all known financial, professional, and personal relationships with the potential to bias the work.

Where no known conflicts of interest are known to exist, please include the statement:

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Funding

Identify the sources of funding, providing the name of the funder and reference.