About the Journal

Focus and Scope

The journal’s focus is on law and socio-legal issues, contemporary and historical. It provides peer-reviewed publication opportunities for undergraduate and postgraduate LJMU Law students to present their research across a wide variety of law-relevant topics.

Submissions

Submissions must be within the scope of the Journal. They have to be written in English. They are required to reach a maximum of 6000 words in length, excluding footnotes and bibliography, in Ariel Font 11, justified and double spaced, using the Oscola referencing system.

Submissions must be accompanied by an abstract of up to 300 words. Abstracts should include the a statement of the article topic, research question, and core arguments.

Submissions must also include up to 6 key words.

Submissions must be anonymous, without any references to, or clues about, the author's identity in the main text, footnotes, and bibliography.

Review Policy

Our review process includes the following steps:

1. Initial review: After submission, we will complete an initial review of the manuscript, focusing on its suitability for publication in the LJMU Student Law Journal, readability, and clarity. We will make one of the following decision: a) commence the peer review process; b) reject the manuscript for publication; or c) return the manuscript to the author for revision before the peer review process can be initiated. In case c), we invite the author to re-submit the amended manuscript and the initial review process will be carried out again with the same possible outcomes.  

2. Peer review: Once the manuscript is ready, we will invite one or two peer reviewers to provide feedback on content, analysis, structure, language, research, and referencing. Reviewers will make one of the following recommendations: a) accept the manuscript for publication; b) reject the manuscript; or c) accept the manuscript for publication, subject to revision. In case c), we will agree a deadline to re-submit the revised manuscript with the author and the review process will begin again with the same possible outcomes. Revisions will be reviewed by a peer reviewer and/or the editorial team. The peer review process is anonymous. Authors should allow 12 weeks for a decision. Decisions cannot be appealed.

3. Copy editing: When the manuscript is accepted for publication, we will check it for grammatical errors, spelling and punctuation mistakes, and compliance with the house style. We will send proofs copies to the author for approval.

4. Publication: Once the proof copies have been approved by the author, we will publish the article.

Please note that the editoral team can reject a manuscript at any stage of the publication process. Decisions cannot be appealed.

Articles and Issues 

The journal is published annually. Final revision articles (completed articles in queue for assignment to an upcoming issue) are published online prior to their inclusion in a final journal issue. 

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content with no submission or publications fees. The content in this journal is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License that allows others to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full text of works in this journal, or to use them for any other lawful purpose in accordance with the licence. 

AI policy

LJMU Student Law Journal does not allow the use generative AI, such as ChatGPT, for generative editorial work and autonomous content creation. The use of AI-assisted copy editing for improvements to human-generated texts for readability and style, and to ensure that the texts are free of errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, and tone is permissible. There must be human accountability for the final version of the text.

Notice and Takedown Policy

If you are a rights holder and are concerned that you have found material in LJMU Open Journals which infringes UK law, please contact us by emailing openjournals@ljmu.ac.uk, stating the following:

  1. Your contact details and the reason for the withdrawal request, some examples are:
    1. Unauthorised use by reason of reproduction and/or making available the material
    2. Breach of moral right of [paternity/integrity/right not to have my work subjected to derogatory treatment]
    3. Other complaints, e.g. defamation, breach of confidence, data protection
  1. The full bibliographic details of the material and the full URL
  2. Proof that you are the rights holder or are an authorised representative.

 Upon receipt of notification the ‘Notice and Takedown’ procedure is then invoked as follows:

  1. LJMU will acknowledge receipt of your complaint by email or letter and will make an initial assessment of the validity and plausibility of the complaint. We aim to acknowledge and assess the complaint within seven days of receipt.
  2. Where grounds for complaint are plausible, the material will be temporarily removed from public view in LJMU Open Journals pending an agreed solution.
  3. LJMU will contact the contributor who deposited the material, if relevant. The contributor will be notified that the material is subject to a complaint, under what allegations, and will be encouraged to assuage the complaints concerned.
  4. The complainant and the contributor will be encouraged to resolve the issue swiftly and amicably and to the satisfaction of both parties, with the following possible outcomes:
    1. The material is replaced on LJMU Open Journals unchanged.
    2. The material is replaced on LJMU Open Journals with changes.
    3. The material is permanently removed from LJMU Open Journals.
    4. In some cases a metadata record will remain. This will be on a case by case basis.

If the contributor and the complainant are unable to agree a solution from receipt of notification, the material will remain unavailable through LJMU Open Journals until a time when a resolution has been reached. It may be necessary for us to seek legal advice before the complaint can be fully resolved.