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.
Articles and papers should be accompanied by a (200-500 word) abstract and biographical note.
Contributions may be submitted in the form of:
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].
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.
By sending us your article you agree with our Terms & Conditions
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:
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.
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
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:
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 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
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.
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.
© 2012 Journal of Law, Information & Science and Faculty of Law, University of Tasmania.