Journal of Indian Law & Society is currently soliciting submissions for its second issue due in December, 2010. The deadline for submissions is October 5, 2010. Please send in your submissions under the categories mentioned below. All submissions to the Journal are double blind refereed and edited by the student editorial board. For general queries relating to your submissions, kindly write to us at [email protected]
About the Journal

Journal of Indian Law & Society is a peer-reviewed and student-edited Journal of interdisciplinary studies on law and society. It is based at and published from The National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata. The Journal seeks to present a dedicated forum of debate for work bearing upon the cultural, economic, political and social lives of law in India. Published bi-annually in June and December, the Journal solicits articles, notes and comments covering judicial decisions, legislative developments, and empirical research on Indian legal system, public policy studies and theoretical analysis from related fields of inquiry. We welcome submissions from academics, practitioners, policymakers and students from within the legal community and have a strong preference for articles that are not descriptive but prescriptive and argumentatively focused.

Objectives of the Journal

The Journal subscribes to the view that law is a reflection of a society’s fears, inhibitions, values and aspirations. The body of law therefore must continually evolve to suit the needs of a dynamic world. However, seldom does either perfectly mirror the other. These inaccuracies need to be minimized.

Academic debates, deliberations and discussions are the first step towards conceptualizing an ideal inter-play between law and society. There is a need today to explore and continually question this relationship and the values our society embodies to catalyze the process of evolution. In a globalised world, it is even more imperative to carve out a niche for Indian thought and understanding. This would be best served through a socio-legal understanding of our concerns, based in and influenced by our historical, cultural and economic context. Through the medium of our Journal we seek to influence the body of law to make it more responsive to and compatible with the desired societal goals.

We, therefore invite you to help us in our endeavor to highlight the change that is required and the direction we must take to better serve the common objectives of law and society.

Submission Guidelines

Nature Of Submissions

A. Articles (8000-10000 words, inclusive of footnotes)

Submissions in this category should provide a comprehensive analysis of a particular issue in the law and society domain, with a specific discussion of the legal nuances. It should review the existing literature extensively and also highlight the specific contemporary developments in the issue being discussed. The authors are encouraged to discuss the challenges surrounding the issue and to suggest changes to overcome the same.

B. Notes (5000-8000 words, inclusive of footnotes)

This category is more suited for writings on specific themes. Hence possibly more appropriate for our student contributors. The nature of the note should be analytical apart from being descriptive and they should mainly deal with recent developments.

C. Book Reviews (2000-2500 words, inclusive of footnotes)

In choosing a book for reviewing, authors are encouraged to review a book that offers a unique perspective on any issue affecting Indian society and the legal implications it has. It is recommended that the book chosen is a recent publication (within the last 2 years) in keeping with the contemporary focus of the Journal.

D. Essays (3000-5000 words, inclusive of footnotes)

Submissions in this category should provide a concise overview of a specific issue. New ideas and perspectives are encouraged under this category. The idea is to promote a new understanding of an existing or contemporary problem through a central argument. For the purpose of writing an essay, the author can dispense with an extensive review of the existing literature.

E. Case Comments (2000-3000 words, inclusive of footnotes)

Submissions in this category would include a comprehensive analysis of a recent judicial pronouncement, engaging with the underlying theme of law and society. It should provide an analysis of the law prior to the ruling as well as the subsequent implications of the ruling. The comment could also highlight the inconsistencies associated with the judgment, if any.

F. Legislative Briefs (2000 – 3000 words, inclusive of footnotes)

Legislative briefs are policy tools to generate information and propel debate on legislations. Legislative briefs should be extensively analysed, helping readers grasp the background, objectives and main provisions of a particular legislation. Preparing a brief requires synthesizing complex data, fact and statistics and they should be readily understandable, clear and concise. Use of graphs and tables, along with a one-page summary, is encouraged. Briefs must be objective in reporting facts and provisions, but a short section at the end should list down possible problems or inconsistencies to propel further debate. Facts and figures in briefs should be credibly sourced, mostly from the government surveys, commission reports, international organisations and civil society. For any further guidance, feel free to write to us.

Submission Guidelines

1. Contact Address: The Journal accepts only electronic form of submissions and they should be mailed to [email protected]

2. Deadline: The Journal accepts submissions on a rolling basis. The deadline for submissions for this issue is October 5, 2010. Submissions received thereafter shall be considered for publication in the next issue.

3. Covering Letter: All submissions must be accompanied with a covering letter, containing the name of the author, institutional affiliation, title and category of the submission and a contact address of the author, including the e-mail address. Submissions should be sent as MS word (.doc format) attachments with the title of the article as the file name.

4. Identification Details: The body of the submission must contain no identification of any kind, including the name and institutional affiliation of the author, which must be provided in the covering letter. This is to ensure an impartial review and a fair assessment of your submission.

5. Theme: The Editorial Board has refrained from imposing a theme. A submission is welcome as long as it is in tune with the Objectives of the Journal as outlined above.

6. Decision on Publication: The Journal promptly acknowledges the receipt of submissions and a decision on publication takes around 8 weeks. All submissions made to the Journal are double blind refereed. The issue is out in print within 4 weeks of a decision to publish. Requests for expedited reviews can be forwarded to the Editorial Board when the submission is being considered for publication by other Journals. Please mention the name of the Journal for which the submission is in consideration, one contact person in the Editorial Board of that Journal and a date by which you expect our response. Relaxation of any rules regarding submissions is subject to the discretion of the Board of Editors.

Style Guidelines

1. Form of Submission: Submissions must be in electronic form. All submissions must be word-processed, double-spaced in Times New Roman. Main text should be in font size 12 and footnotes in font size 10. The prescribed word limits are inclusive of footnotes and contributors are expected to strictly conform to length policy and the Submission and Style Guidelines. Kindly go through them carefully before mailing your submissions.

2. Abstract: All submissions must contain an abstract of not more than 250 words describing the relevant conclusions drawn in the paper. There is no requirement of prior submission of the abstract.

3. Title: The Journal does not recommend any specific guidelines regarding the titles and sub-titles. However, the main titles must be centered, typed in small capitals and emphasized in bold. The titles must be uniform, concise and descriptive.

4. Quotations: Quotations should be clearly indicated and it is vital that they are accurate. Double quotation marks should be inserted at the beginning and end of every quotation and where the quotation will run to more than forty words it should be typed as a separate paragraph and left-indented.

5. Foreign words: Foreign words not currently absorbed into the English language should be italicized, e.g., “inter alia”, “bona fide” etc.

6. References and Citations: The Rules of Citation are generally derived from The Bluebook, A Uniform System of Citation (18th Ed.)