Subject Matter

We welcome scholarly and research articles of any length (preferably 5,000 - 10,000 words) on topics related to law and information science and papers giving information on major new research projects, new technologies and new applications in this area.

Word Length

Articles and papers should be accompanied by a (200-500 word) abstract and biographical note.

Form of Submission

Contributions may be submitted in the form of:

• Email attachments (preferably in Microsoft Word or Rich Text Format (RTF) to: submissions@jlisjournal.org;
  • Post: Editor, Journal of Law, Information & Science, C/o, Faculty of Law, UTAS, Locked Bag 89, Hobart Tas, Australia.
  • Faximile: +61 (3) 6226 7623

  AND be accompanied by a signed Author Agreement (which grants us a license to have your article peer reviewed) [click here to view Agreement online].

Style

The Journal is published in conformity with the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (full PDF). A quick guide can be viewed on the internet at: http://law.unimelb.edu.au/mulr/submissions/quick-aglc. It would greatly facilitate the publishing process if papers are submitted in this reference style.

Terms & Conditions of Submission

By sending us your article you agree with our Terms & Conditions

• All articles and papers must be submitted in English.
• If accepted for peer review (see below), you agree to submit the paper exclusively to the Journal of Law, Information and Science for the period of peer review, or six (6) weeks from the date of submission, whichever is sooner.
• You license the Journal of Law, Information and Science to submit the proposed article to academic integrity review databases, including turnItIn and GLATT, to ensure its authenticity and originality.
• You license the Journal of Law, Information and Science to forward any submission containing copyright infringements to the proper copyright holder.
• All submitted articles must have the Submission and Publication Agreement Journal of Law, Information and Science attached.

How authors can expedite the process

Peer review is necessarily a lengthy process. However, the JLIS is committed to publishing papers in as expeditent a manner as possible, to ensure that critical commentary on the legal implications of new science and technology is contemporaneous and relevant to its advance.

Authors can assist this process by doing the following:

• Send us an abstract, title, and keywords in advance of your manuscript (specifying a date that you expect to submit). This will allow us to secure peer reviewers for your manuscript in advance, which is the most significant bottleneck in the process.
• Make an anonymous copy of your work and send it with the original. The student editors will endevour to remove all identifying information from your work, but this requires reading the text and footnotes to make sure nothing refers back to the author ('in our article','I previously argued'). If you do this in advance it will speed the process up. Make sure that you remove any identifying information from the document properties in Microsoft Word or the relevant publishing software.
• Complete the Author Agreement above, sign it and attach them to your manuscript.

Pre-format your citations. The Journal is published in conformity with the Australian Guide to Legal Citation which can be viewed on the internet at: www.law.unimelb.edu.au/mulr/aglc.htm. It would greatly facilitate the publishing process if papers are submitted in this reference style.

Peer Review

This journal complies with the Higher Education Research Data Collection (HERDC) specifications for peer review.

For the purposes of the HERDC, section 6 of part C, an acceptable peer review process is one that involves impartial and independent assessment or review by qualified experts of the research publication in its entirety before publication. In addition, the JLIS complies, and expects its peer reviewers to comply, with part 6 of the Australian Code for Ethical Conduct of Research, or an equivalent code that meets or exceeds the ethical requirements for peer review in the reviewer's jursidction.

Expectations of reviewers and authors

Participants in peer review are expected to

• Be fair and timely in their review
• Maintain confidentiality about the process
• Declare any conflicts of interest
• Do not take advantage or misuse knowledge gained in the review process
• Only review material which is in their area of expertise
• Give proper consideration to research that challenges or changes accepted ways of thinking.

Authors must not seek to influence the process or outcomes.

Forms of Review

All papers submitted to the journal will be pre-vetted (desk reviewed) by either the Chief Editor, or Special Editor (in the case of special editions. In addition papers will be peer reviewed either as double-blind (standard review) or single-blind expert group review (by agreement of the JLIS Board Only).

Double Blind

Submissions to the journal are ordinarily double-blind peer reviewed unless marked otherwise. This means that neither the reviewers nor the authors identity will be disclosed to the other. The process is as follows:

• Following desk review all identifying information will be removed from the paper.
• The journal will seek two relevant disciplinary experts, who meet the expectations of peer reviewers set out above, to review and comment on the academic rigour and quality of the paper. The reviewer process is set out below.
• The Chief Editor or Special Editor will determine whether the article is publishable based on these reviews and provide anonymised copies of those reviews to the author as the basis of that decision.

Single blind (expert group review)

In certain circumstances the Chief Editor or Special Editor may determine that a single blind review is more appropriate. This may occur when a disciplinary field is too small for works to be truly anonymous (i.e. the ideas expressed in the article will be easily attributable to the author by those with relevant expertise in the subject matter). It may also occur when papers have been presented to a conference of leading disciplinary experts, or have arisen out of a special collaborative project or working group where eminent experts in the field share and critique the presentations. In those circumstances the expert group is in the best position to provide constructive, authoritative review of a manuscript. The process is as follows:

• The Chief Editor or Special Editor will ensure that an experts group is large enough to provide for expert feedback (ordinarily a minimum of five experts other than the author(s));
• The paper will be circulated to the expert group;
• The expert group will review and comment on the academic rigour and quality of the paper. The reviewer process is set out below.
• Reviews will be provided to the Chief Editor or Special Editor
• The Chief Editor will determine where there is sufficient independent, impartial and critical feedback from the expert group to make a determination on the academic rigour of the manuscript. If not the relevant editor will undertake a double blind peer review process using reviewers from outside the working group.
• The Chief Editor or Special Editor will determine whether the article is publishable based on these reviews and provide anonymised copies of those reviews to the author as the basis of that decision.

The review process

Reviewers are provided with an auditing document separate to the anonymised manuscript. This document asks the reviewer to a) tick one of three boxes relating to publishability (publishable, publishable with changes, not publishable). The reviewer is requested to write a 1-3 paragraph overview of the paper and, if they consider changes are necessary, list these by number.

Reviewers are not requested to make typographical or copy edits. However, if the grammar, style or expression makes the manuscript hard to read they may comment on this.

Stoplight system. The responsible editor will consider both peer review recommendations and overviews. If the Editor determines that the article can be published they will combine the recommendations of both reviewers in numbered form (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1,2.2,2.3 etc) and highlight each number indicating

• a) in green, that a comment should be considered by the author,
• b) in yellow, that a comment should be considered and responded to by the author, or
• c) in red, that the comment must be complied with for the article to be published.

The author will be asked to provide a nominal date to make any necessary changes. Once these have been done the manuscript will be passed to a copy editor who will check the work for grammar, spelling, format and citations.

Please include a signed copy* of this agreement with any submission to the Journal. A PDF may be found here.

Submission and Publication Agreement to the Journal of Law, Information and Science

Introduction

This Submission and Publication Agreement outlines the terms and conditions under which you, the author (or co-author), agree to allow the Journal of Law, Information and Science to reproduce the manuscript submitted by you and to permit third parties the right to do so. Manuscripts will not be considered for publication until a signed copy of this Agreement has been received.

 

1. Authorship

The Journal of Law, Information and Science practices under the assumption that all submitted works are by original author(s) who own the copyright of the manuscript and that the manuscript has not previously been published or submitted for consideration elsewhere. In signing this Agreement you, the author (or co-author), affirm that:

• The article is an original work created by you and does not violate any copyright agreement;
• All material referenced by you and not created by you is attributed to appropriate authors;
• No substantial section of the manuscript has previously been published;
• The manuscript will not be submitted elsewhere unless and until the Editors of the Journal of Law, Information and Science confirm in writing that they have no intention of publishing the manuscript;
• You consent to the Journal of Law, Information and Science, its editors and its agents uploading or submitting any work provided by you under this agreement to academic integrity software to confirm its originality.
• The manuscript is in no way defamatory and does not infringe the rights of any third party.
• If any of the above affirmations are breached, you, the author (or co-author), agree to indemnify the Journal of Law, Information and Science and its Editors for any loss, damage or any other liabilities that may occur as a result.
  

2. Copyright and Further Publication by Author

Copyright of the article remains with you, the author (or co-author). You, the author (or co-author), permit the Journal of Law, Information and Science to publish your article and to grant third parties the right to do so on the terms and conditions stated below.
While copyright of the manuscript remains with you, the author (or co-author), any further publication by you of the manuscript after the initial publication in the Journal of Law, Information and Science requires permission from the Editors. You are permitted to make additional copies of the published version of your article but they must be distributed at or below cost. You are permitted to make a copy of the article available on your personal server or webpage and put a copy into your institution’s research
Submission and Publication Agreement – University of Tasmania Law Review
publications archive or database, provided full details of publication in the Journal of Law, Information and Science are given.

3. Manuscript Review

You, the author (or co-author), agree that the Editors’ decision to publish your manuscript in the Journal of Law, Information and Science is final. Communications from the Editors during the application review are not to be taken as confirmation that they have accepted your manuscript for publication. The application process may be slowed by the sending of manuscripts to external reviewers and any delay should not be treated as non-acceptance of the manuscript. The Editors retain the right to edit your manuscript to correct any spelling or syntax errors, to conform to requirements of house style and on occasion to enhance expressions or clarify meaning. In signing this Agreement, you authorise the Editors to do so without obtaining prior approval. The Editors will, however, normally consult the author(s) prior to making any major changes.

4. Reproduction

In addition to publishing the manuscript in printed format, the Journal of Law, Information and Science may maximize any available commercial opportunities by publishing in a variety of other formats which may include: the Internet, CDs, online databases operated by third parties, for example Lexis/Nexis or HeinOnline, and any future technology. In signing this Agreement you authorise the Journal of Law, Information and Science and therefore third parties to publish your manuscript in any of these formats as the Editors deem appropriate without any remuneration to the author.

 

SIGNATURES OF ALL AUTHORS*

 

* In cases of co-authors, both (all) should complete and sign the Agreement.