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LEGAL STUDIES
Legal Studies is the journal of the Society of Legal Scholars (SLS). It aims to include a varied range of scholarly articles in each issue, including doctrinal, conceptual and socio-legal analyses and seeks to publish work which truly represents the broad range of interests across all legal scholarship. The journal warmly welcomes contributions from all those who wish to reach a broad international and UK readership.
Submission guidelines
Submission instructions
Legal Studies uses ScholarOne Manuscripts, for online manuscript submission and peer review. The system brings with it a whole host of benefits including:
- Quick and easy submission
- Administration centralised and reduced
- Significant decrease in peer review times
All submissions to the journal must be submitted online at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/lest.
Full instructions and support are available on the site and a user ID and password can be obtained on the first visit. If you require assistance then click the Get Help Now link which appears at the top right corner of every ScholarOne Manuscripts page. If you cannot submit online, please contact Dr John Pearson in the Legal Studies Editorial Office.
Submitting an article to Legal Studies implies that it has not been published elsewhere and is not being considered for publication elsewhere.
Submission specifications
Legal Studies welcomes submissions of no more than 10,000 words exclusive of footnotes. Footnotes should not be excessive in length or in number. The editors reserve the right to request that authors reduce footnote text in advance of peer review and/or publication.
In submitting papers authors should observe the following:
- Contributions should be submitted on A4 pages in text of 10pt or larger, double line spaced and with margins of at least 2.5 cm.
- Contributions should begin with the title of the article, followed by the author's name and position. An Abstract should precede the article.
- Footnotes should appear on the same page as the relevant text, and be indicated by Arabic numerals.
- Internal cross referencing should be to footnotes only (not pages).
- References to statutes and cases should follow the style of Halsbury’s Laws of England, 4th edition. The Editorial Office and publisher are unable to check the accuracy of references and the onus of accuracy falls on the author.
- Papers should adhere to the style guidelines included below.
- Authors are asked to make sure their typescript is carefully checked and finalised particularly with regard to internal cross referencing and the citation of references. Afterthoughts cannot be incorporated on proofs.
Keywords
Please include 3 to 6 keywords to be published with your paper. The first keyword should be the relevant sub-field of law (for example Environmental Law). The next keyword(s) should be any sub-topic/niche topic within this (for example Climate Law). Ideally, at least one of these first two keywords should cover one of the Society of Legal Scholars (SLS) Subject Sections. Any other keywords should address further themes or specifics of your paper. If your paper focusses on a particular case or piece of legislation or considers a particular geographic region then those should be included as keywords.
Tables, figures and graphics
Please ensure that all tables, figures and graphics are provided in an editable format and should be of a suitable quality and resolution to be printed. Do not embed these files in the manuscript – they must be supplied in separate files, one file per figure. Please indicate the position of figures, tables and graphics in the text as follows:
Table 1: INSERT TABLE 1 ABOUT HERE
Figures, tables and graphic reproduced from already published work must be accompanied by the permission of the original publisher (or copyright holder, if not the publisher). Full information on how to prepare and supply tables, figures and graphics can be found here and should be followed with care.
Use of colour
Charges apply for all colour figures that appear in the print version of the journal. At the time of submission, contributors should clearly state whether their figures should appear in colour in the online version only, or whether they should appear in colour online and in the print version. There is no charge for including colour figures in the online version of the journal but it must be clear that colour is needed to enhance the meaning of the figure, rather than simply being for aesthetic purposes. If you request colour figures in the printed version, you will be contacted by CCC-Rightslink who are acting on our behalf to collect Author Charges. Please follow their instructions in order to avoid any delay in the publication of your article.
Pre-submission English-language editing
Authors whose first language is not English should ensure that their final draft is carefully checked, preferably by a native speaker of English, for accuracy. Authors for whom English is a second language may choose to have their paper professionally edited before submission to improve the English. Cambridge University Press offers a language-editing service in conjunction with a third-party provider American Journal Experts: www.cambridge.org/academic/author-services. Authors would pay for this service individually and there is absolutely no commitment that their paper will be accepted to a Cambridge-published journal if they use this service. Cambridge is providing this service in order to provide a convenient option for prospective authors, which comes with the reassurance that we have checked the quality of the provider, and will be continuously monitoring the quality of the service.
Peer review process
After initial review by the Editorial Office suitable manuscripts will undergo a process of double-blind peer review. To this end please make sure that your paper is anonymised before submission by eliminating any reference to your name or other elements that might enable the reviewer to immediately recognise the author. Decisions on papers will normally be made within ten weeks.
Book reviews
Legal Studies also publishes book reviews. When writing a book review please keep the following in mind:
- Book reviews should be no longer than 2,000 words exclusive of footnotes.
- Authors should read book reviews previously published in Legal Studies to get a sense of scope, structure and writing style.
- Book reviews should be submitted via https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/lest in the same way as research papers and follow the same style guidelines.
Queries relating to book reviews should go to the Book Review Editor Dr Phil Handler.
Style guidelines
Please note that failure to follow the style guidelines may result in the return of your manuscript for reformatting before it is considered as a submission.
Headings
Three levels of heading are permitted. Level one is ALL CAPS and may be numbered 1., 2., 3. etc if desired. Level two is Bold, initial cap on first word only, may or may not be numbered (a), (b), (c). Level three is SMALL CAPS and may or may not be numbered (i), (ii), (iii).
Spellings
These should be English, not American, and should take the 'ise' form, not 'ize' (except in quoted material, which should follow the original in every respect).
Full stops
Full stops should not be used after initials, law reports or in abbreviations, eg para, ss, Sch, ie, etc, All ER, AC, HL, etc.
Abbreviations
Legislation abbreviations for sections, etc, should be in full at start of sentences. Abbreviations with initials just appear in brackets following word, eg World Trade Organisation (WTO). NB no quote marks. For other abbreviations use (the Convention), if article referring to only one, or (the 1950 Convention), if different conventions referred to in article, etc. Always abbreviate UK, UN and USA.
Italics
All words to appear in italics should be underlined or italicised in the typescript. Please use only for emphasis, case names, book titles and foreign expressions not in everyday use. Do not use italics for common latin expressions for example, a fortiori, ad hoc, ante, bona fide, certiorari, cf, de facto, de jure, eg, etc, et seq, ibid, ie, inter alia, intra vires, ipso facto, obiter, per, per se, prima facie, pro rata, ultra vires, vice versa, viz.
Quotes
Keep as original, including ize spelling etc. Quote marks should be single, with double for quotes within quotes. Material of three or more lines' length will be distinguished by indentation. Indented quotes should not have quotation marks. Interpolations should be indicated by the use of square brackets. To indicate omitted words, three full points . . . separated equally from one another and from any preceding or succeeding words or quotations marks are sufficient.
Numbers
Spell out 1-10 unless units of time eg hours, days, years etc. 9999. 10,000. 1994–1998. Twenty-first, fifty-third, etc (always spell out). Always US$ and US$6 million (no spaces).
Footnotes
Add ‘ibid’ for repeated footnote refs. Include above and below in footnotes when cross refereeing to other footnotes. Substitute ‘Above n 3’ etc if references are repeated.
Cross references
These should be to footnote number and associated text, to avoid having to insert page numbers on proof (in case a contribution is withdrawn, for instance).
Reference style
Bibliographical references should be in the following form:
A Bloggs Name of Book (London: Butterworths, 1995) pp 3-5
B Cloggs Name of Book (London: Butterworths, 2nd edn, 1996) ch 3
Y Zoggs 'Chapter title' in X Yoggs (ed) Name of Book (London: Butterworths, 3rd edn, 1998) p 88
Subsequent references in all cases should be to Bloggs, above n 2, p 6 (or Ibid, p 6 - only if referring to note immediately above).
Journal references should be in the following form:
A Bloggs 'Name of article' (1993) 14 LS 281
B Cloggs, D Doggs and E Floggs 'Name of article' (1993) 14 LS 281
References to statutes and cases should follow the style of Halsbury’s Laws of England, 4th edition.
References to statutes should be made in the following manner:
Badgers Act 1973, s 8(2)(a).
Counter-Inflation Act 1973, Pt II (ss 3-11 and Schs 4-6)
Finance Act 1965, s 19(1), Sch 7
Prices Act 1974, Schedule
Agriculture Act 1970, Sch 5, Pt II
Gas Act 1972, Sch 4, para 35.
If one statute is referred to many times, use the following form: the Badgers Act 1973 (the Act) [and use 'the Act' for future refs], or the Badgers Act 1973 (the 1973 Act) and the Prices Act 1974 (the 1974 Act) [and use 'the 1973 Act' and 'the 1974 Act' thereafter]. For common acronyms - eg FA for Finance Act, etc - use the full name first, with the acronym in brackets and use the acronym thereafter.
Statutory Instruments should be referred to by name and date (ie short title) followed by the number - eg Local Authorities (Smallholdings) Order 1974, SI 1974/396 (note that as with statutes no comma should appear between the word 'Order' or 'Regulation', etc and the date.
Rules of court: Rules of the Supreme Court 1965 and the County Court Rules 1981 should be cited without reference to their SI number, eg:
RSC Ord 1
RSC Ord 15, r 6A(4)(a)
CCR Ord 5. r 3(3)(b)(ii)
Reports:
UN Working Group Report Title (Doc no, 1982)
Report Title,Working Paper (Doc no, 1982)
AB Smith, personal communication
Report Title, on file with author
A Smith ‘Title’ The Times 9 December 2001 at A4
Webpages:
See website available at http://www.eel.nl.
A Bloggs Name of Article on Web (2004), available at http://www.gov.org.
Conferences:
Paper Name Conference Name (London, 1999)
Command papers:
House of Commons Select Committee Name of Report Cm 641, February 2003, p 6
Parliamentary papers:
House of Commons Select Committee Name of Report Tenth Report of Session 2002–03, HC 654, 6 February 2003 (HMSO, 2003) p 6
HC Official Report (6th Series) col 267, 2 December 2004
Standing Committee E, cols 571–572, 12 February 2004, John Hayes
Hansard:
Hansard HC Deb, vol 257, col 167, 6 February 2003
Cases. Each time a case is referred to in the text, the case reports must be set out in a footnote. One report reference is sufficient - and the Law Reports or the All England Law Reports are preferred, or the Weekly Law Reports if neither of the above as reported the case. 'v' for 'versus' should be lower case italic, without a full stop. 'Re' should be used in place of 'In re', 'In the matter of', etc. 'Ex parte' should be abbreviated to Ex p, with a cap E where it begins the case name and a lower case elsewhere, eg Ex p Green but R v Southampton Trustees, ex p Davies.
Where a case is subject to a discussion which requires repetitions of its name, its full title should be used initially but subsequent references may be abbreviated (and it need not be cited in a footnote each time, except for 'at' page references).
The conventional use of round or square brackets in conjunction with the date of the report should be followed - ie square brackets where the date is an essential part of the report citation but round brackets where the volumes of the series are independently numbered - eg [1972] Ch, [1983] 2 All ER, (1976) 65 Cr App R.
After submission
Copyright
Upon acceptance of their contribution, authors will be asked to assign copyright to the journal’s copyright holder The Society of Legal Scholars (SLS) via a Copyright Transfer Form. Any material subject to copyright restrictions other than those owned or controlled by the contributor must be accompanied by appropriate permissions from the relevant copyright holder(s).
Gold Open Access
Legal Studies authors have the option to pay an Article Processing Charge (APC) to make just their article Gold Open Access, current charges can be found here. Details of the process and Creative Commons licensing options can be found on the Copyright Transfer Form.
Green Open Access
Legal Studies encourages authors to take full advantage of its flexible Green Open Access policy. The Submitted Manuscript may be posted on a personal webpage, departmental, institutional or subject repository or social media site at any time. The Accepted Manuscript may be posted on a personal webpage, departmental, institutional or non-commercial subject repository immediately on acceptance. While the journal does not allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript on commercial repositories or the Version of Record anywhere, we encourage authors to post an earlier draft and abstract of their journal article and a link to the Version of Record that sits on the Cambridge website, to direct visitors to the definitive, citable work. Full details of this policy can be found in the Copyright Transfer Form.
Copyediting
The journal reserves the right to copyedit and proofread all articles accepted for publication, but authors will be consulted in the case of any substantial changes.
Proofs
A working e-mail address must therefore be provided for the corresponding author. Authors will be sent a PDF proof and asked to return their corrections within 5 working days. Only essential typographical or factual errors may be changed at proof stage. Further instructions will be sent with the proof. Corrections and amendments of contributions at proof stage are very expensive.
Author copy
Authors will receive a link to a freely accessible version of their article online for their personal use and to distribute to their personal contacts, subject to the conditions of the Copyright Transfer Form.
Online-Ahead-of-Print
All contributions will be scheduled for publication in the appropriate issue of Legal Studies. To reduce time between acceptance and publication, contributions may appear online as FirstView publications in advance of their scheduled publication in an issue. Designated issue number may be unknown at the time of FirstView publication.
Last updated 8 November 2017