The Society for Advancement of Criminal Justice
(An Academic Society under the SJA)
SUBMISSION POLICY
We at the Society for Advancement of Criminal Justice (SACJ), at the National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS), appreciate the importance of academic discourse in the evolution of criminal law. In order to foster a conductive environment to promote constant and holistic research in the area of criminal law, criminal justice and its allied disciplines, we accept submissions on rolling basis. Through our publications, we seek to promote discourse about the various nuances and developments in the field Criminal Law and its related disciplines. With the above objectives in mind, we welcome all submissions from students, academicians, law practitioners and every other criminal law enthusiast. The scope of submissions is not restricted and we intend to publish entries related to any aspect of both domestic and international criminal law, the criminal justice system and the allied disciplines of the subject like Criminology, Victimology, Forensic Science, Juvenile Justice etc.
Conditions for Publications
1. All submissions to the NUJS Society for Advancement of Criminal Justice should be the original work of the author(s). Any form of plagiarism will result in automatic disqualification. As a precondition for submission, the society shall have the right to submit the submitted content to any anti-plagiarism software.
2. All submissions shall be accepted for publication with the assumption that they do not infringe upon copyrights and any other rights held by any person. The author(s) will hold the sole responsibility for any sort of breach in this aspect. The website or the Society will not be liable and responsible for the same.
3. The submitted content should not contain any obscene, offensive, downright insulting, defamatory or racially prejudiced material. Any submission which is deemed to be offensive or attacks any particular caste, creed, religion, race or sex shall be rejected for publication.
4. Once the submitted content is accepted for publication, the copyright shall immediately transfer to the website and the Society for Advancement of Criminal Justice. The author(s) grant an irrevocable, transferable, non-exclusive and royalty-free license to the NUJS Society for Advancement of Criminal Justice to store, display, reproduce, publish, distribute and promote their submissions in the website, retrieval systems, media handles including but not limited to social media handles. Once any piece/ article is submittedd to the society but is under review, the author shall not submit the same anywhere else, including any other page, forum, website and institution. However, in case of the rejection of the submitted piece, the author shall be free to submit and publish the content elsewhere.
Content Guidelines
1. The submissions are accepted under the following categories:-
A. Blogs
B. Case Comments
C. Essays
D. Articles.
2. Blogs must ordinarily be confided to 2000 words (excluding citations). Blogs shall aim to provide an analysis, critique, or opinion about a particular issue, crime or criminal law update or even a case ruling. However, the author is expected to keep in mind that an academic blog submission is strictly different from a newspaper editorial. No abstract is required in case of submission under this category.
3. Case Comments must ordinarily range between 1500-3000 words. Submission under this category would include a comprehensive analysis of recent judicial pronouncements where any part of Criminal Law is dealt with or altered with. The author is expected to critically analyse the law prior to the ruling as well as the subsequent implications of the judgment/ order. The author is expected to make a clear differentiation between a case comment and a case brief. An abstract of not more than 150 words is required to be submitted under this category.
4. Essays can be submitted on specific themes related to contemporary issues. The word limit shall be restricted to 6000 words. The author is expected to make a detailed analysis of the theme/topic. New ideas and perspectives to encourage debate and initiate discourse are encouraged under this category. The author(s) is also required to submit an abstract of not more than 250 words under this category. Further, the winning entries of the annual essay writing competition organized by the society shall be published under this category only.
5. Articles can range anywhere between 3000- 6000 words. Submissions under this category should provide a detailed and comprehensive analysis of a particular theme/topic and its interplay with Criminal Law, Criminal Jurisprudence and Allied Disciplines. It should review the existing literature extensively, develop an argument, explain the relevance of the theme on the subject area and highlight the contemporary developments in that particular issue being discussed. The author (s) is also required to submit an abstract of not more than 300 words under this category.
6. We shall remain flexible with the word limit depending on the content of the submission.
Formatting Guidelines
1. The submission must be word-processed and in Times New Roman. Submissions in any other form including Pdf shall not be accepted.
2. Proper Citations must be done. Citations can only be in the form of footnotes. Only references hyperlinks or endnote citation shall not be accepted.
3. The author may follow any form of Uniform Identifiable Citation Style. However, the citation standard and style followed must remain uniform throughout the submission made. We strongly suggest to use BlueBook (20th Edition) or NUJS Law Review Citation Standard.
4. The main text should be in font size 12 and endnotes in font size 10.
5. Alignment must be justified and line spacing must be set at 1.5.
6. One line gap must be maintained between headings and paragraphs. All paragraphs must begin with a One- Inch indent.
Submission Guidelines
1. Interested authors are requested to send their submissions in MS Word Attachments in .doc/.docx format to sacjblog@gmail.com
2. Co-authorship is permitted for every category of submission. However, the number of Co-Authors shall not exceed to more than Two (2) except in the case of essays. Submissions in the category of essay can have upto Three (3) Co-Authors.
3. All submissions must be accompanied by a cover letter containing the name of the author(s), institutional affiliation(s), academic qualifications including the degrees completed, title and category of submissions and email address of all the co-authors.
4. The body of the submission must contain no identification of the author(s), including the institutional affiliation. Every detail shall be provided in the cover letter only.
5. All Submissions shall be reviewed on a rolling basis. Society for Advancement of Criminal Justice at NUJS follows a disciplined editorial review of the submissions received and exercises absolute discretion in accepting any submission.
Timeline for Review
1. The NUJS Society for Advancement of Criminal Justice strives to ensure timely review of the submission made to it. The review of each category of submission shall be done by the editorial board constituted for the same. However, the office bearers and the faculty advisors of the society have the right to give suggestions to the editorial board/ author(s) of the submitted piece and reserve the right to reject the submissions made.
2. The receipt of submission made to the society shall be acknowledged within Seventy- Two (72) hours from the date of submission. If acknowledgement is not received by that duration, we request to resend the mail.
3. All the submitted pieces shall then be sent to the editorial board for review. The submitted piece shall be blind reviewed and if need be, double blind reviewed by the editorial board. Editorial board shall have the right to send the submissions to independent referees which includes faculty members, alumni of NUJS, experts of that particular area etc for blind review of the submissions made. The identity of such independent referees shall not be disclosed to the concerned authors.
4. Timeline for review shall depend upon the category of the submission made.
5. The Blogs submitted shall be reviewed within a period of Fifteen (15) days from the date of the submission. The author(s) shall then be given a period of Seven (7) days to incorporate all the comments/ suggestions made by the editorial board. Once the final edited piece is submitted back to the Society, publication may take upto Seven (7) more days. The society reserves the right to reject any submission made even after the blog piece is revised by the author(s) as per the suggestions of the editorial board.
6. Case comments shall be reviewed within a period of Twenty-One (21) days from the date of the submission. The author shall then be given a period of Seven (7) days to incorporate all the comments/ suggestions made by the editorial board. Once the final edited piece is submitted back to the Society, publication may take upto Seven (7) more days. The society reserves the right to reject any submission made even after the concerned case comment is revised by the author(s) as per the suggestions of the editorial board.
7. The review period for essays and articles shall be a maximum up to Six (6) weeks from the date of the submission. The author shall then be given a period of Fifteen (15) days to incorporate all the comments/ suggestions made by the editorial board. Once the final edited piece is submitted back to the Society, publication may take up to Fifteen (15) more days. The society reserves the right to reject any submission made even after the concerned essay/article is revised by the author(s) as per the suggestions of the editorial board.
8. The editorial board may or may not tell the author(s) the grounds for rejection of the submission made.
9. The society also considers requests for expedited review of the submissions made by the author. When requesting for expedited review on a priority basis, the author(s) shall mention a reasonable date by which they expect our response. The Society reserves the right to entertain or decline such requests depending upon the feasibility.
10. The submissions made might not be able to be reviewed during the time of end-semester exams at NUJS. The author shall be informed of such a case after he makes the submission.
The authors are expected to communicate on sacjblog@gmail.com with respect to any query regarding the submission made/ planning to be made. In case of any grievance, kindly contact us at sacj@nujs.edu.