Draft Policy

Referencing other works

This journal uses the Bluebook system for citing materials. All citations must be put in as footnotes, no in-text referencing please.

Please refer to https://www.legalbluebook.com/

Outline of our reviewing methods

The double-blind review method, which means that both the reviewer and author identities are concealed from the reviewers, and vice versa, ensures impartiality throughout the review process.

For this reason, authors need prepare their manuscripts in a way that does not give away their identity. To help with this preparation please submit the Title Page containing the Authors’ details and the Blinded Manuscript with no author details as 2 separate files.

The manuscripts are evaluated by the editor-in-chief to determine their appropriateness for the journal. After the preliminary evaluation the Blinded Manuscripts are sent over to the peer reviewers via the other editors. The peer reviews are sent back to the authors by one the editors. Based upon the review, the paper may be rejected, fully accepted, or accepted on condition. In the latter case the editorial board requires the authors to perform minor or major revisions based upon the peer review.

Required content for the Title Page

The title page should include the title, authors’ names and affiliations, and a complete address for the corresponding author including telephone and e-mail address.

Preparation of the Blinded Manuscript

Names and affiliations under the title must be removed to ensure the anonymity of the authors. However, other steps need to be taken for ensuring the correct preparation of the manuscript for double-blind peer review. The following list outlines a few crucial point which might have to be addressed:

• Use the third person to refer to work the Authors have previously undertaken. For example replace any phrases like “as we have shown before” with “… has been shown before” .
• Make sure figures do not contain any affiliation related identifier
• Do not eliminate essential self-references or other references but limit self-references only to papers that are relevant for those reviewing the submitted paper.
• Cite papers published by the Author in the footnote as follows:  ‘[Anonymous, (2010)]’. Please omit further details
• For blinding in the reference list:  ‘[Anonymous 2010] Details must omitted from the reference list as well.’
• Remove references to funding sources
• Do not include acknowledgments
• Name your files with care and ensure document properties are also anonymized.