Call for papers: GNLU Journal of Law and Technology

About the Journal

Gujarat National Law University (GNLU) is the statutory university established by the Government of Gujarat under the Gujarat National Law University Act, 2003 and is the seventh National Law School in order of its establishment in India. The University is recognized by the Bar Council of India (BCI) and the University Grants Commission (UGC). The university is located at Gandhinagar, which is the capital of Gujarat State within India and is located around 23 kilometers north of the city of Ahmedabad.

The developments in the different fields of science and technology, its pervasiveness amongst the application in daily life and the escalating number of legal issues revolving around these fields, is resulting focus on legal professionals possessing an eclectic mixture of knowledge of science and technology with the law.

The University has instituted, GNLU Centre for Law and Technology (GCLT) and it strives to keep its stakeholders abreast with the developments in either of the fields and ensure providing a platform for the creation of the academic blend of science and law by raising awareness, holding capacity building programs not limiting to conferences, quizzes, and talks, at the University, ultimately enhancing the acumen and quality of research at regional, national and international levels. This will, in turn, help build responsible future legal professionals acquainted with the convergence of the science enabling them to contribute not only to the legal systems of India but of the world, at large and in general to the society, effectively as per the need of the hour.

In furtherance to the pursuit, the Centre under its ambit has come out with the GNLU Journal of Law and Technology (GJLT) that seeks to not only provide a platform to share ones views via publication of articles but also ignite curiosity, knowledge and awareness in the minds of its readers regarding the upcoming scientific advances and its legal and ethical implications or legal matters with a scientific blend. The Centre has initiated the process of getting the journal registered with the Office of the Registrar of Newspapers for India and also the ISSN No.

The Journal hereby calls for articles, short notes, book reviews, case and legislative analysis.

Fair Play

An editor will at any time evaluate manuscript(s) for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the author(s).

Confidentiality

The editor and any editorial member(s) must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewer(s), potential reviewer(s) and the publisher, as appropriate.

Article Assessment

All manuscripts are subject to peer review and are expected to meet standards of academic excellence. If approved by the editor, submissions will be considered by peer reviewers, whose identities will remain anonymous to the author(s).

The Editor may consult expert(s) and the academic editor before deciding on appropriate actions, including but not limited to recruiting reviewer(s) with specific expertise, assessment by additional editor(s), and declining to further consider a submission.

Standards of Objectivity

Review shall be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author(s) is inappropriate. Referee(s) shall express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

Plagiarism/ Acknowledgement of Sources

Author(s) must not use the words, figures, or ideas of others without attribution. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. Reuse of wording must be limited and be attributed or quoted in the text.

The Gujarat National Law University uses Similarity Check software to detect submissions that overlap with published and submitted manuscripts.

Manuscript that is found to have been plagiarized from a manuscript by other author(s), whether published or unpublished, will be rejected and the author(s) may incur sanctions. Any published article(s) may need to be corrected or retracted.

Duplicate Submission and Redundant Publication

The GNLU Journal of Law and Technology considers only original content, i.e. manuscript that have not been previously published, including in a language other than English. Manuscript(s) submitted to GNLU Journal of Law and Technology must not be submitted elsewhere while under consideration and must be withdrawn before being submitted elsewhere. Author(s) whose manuscript(s) are found to have been simultaneously submitted elsewhere may incur sanctions. The journal will consider extended versions of manuscript(s) published at conference(s) provided the same is declared in the cover letter, the previous version is clearly cited and discussed, there is significant new content, and any necessary permission(s) are obtained. Duplicate publication of the same, or a very similar, article may result in the retraction of the later manuscript and the author(s) may incur sanctions.

Citation Manipulation

Author(s) whose submitted manuscript(s) are found to include citations whose primary purpose is to increase the number of citations to a given author’s work, or to articles published in a particular journal, may incur sanctions.

Fabrication and Falsification

The author(s) of submitted manuscript(s) or published article(s) that are found to have fabricated or falsified the results, including the manipulation of images, may incur sanctions, and published articles may be retracted.

Authorship of the Paper

Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-author(s). Where there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributor(s). The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-author(s) and no inappropriate co-author(s) are included in the manuscript, and that co-author(s) have seen and approved the final version of the manuscript and have agreed to its submission for publication.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

Author(s) shall disclose in the manuscript about any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of the manuscript. The source(s) of financial support for the project shall be disclosed in the “Cover Letter”.

Fundamental Errors in Published Works

Whenever the author(s) discover a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

Sanctions

If the Editor(s) becomes aware of breaches of our publication ethics policies, whether or not the breach occurred in a journal published by Gujarat National Law University, the following sanctions may be applied across the journal published by Gujarat National Law University:

• Rejection of the manuscript and any other manuscripts submitted by the author(s).
• Not allowing submission for 1 – 3 years.
• Prohibition from acting as an editor or reviewer.

Additional sanctions for any ethical violations will be decided by the University.

Editors, GNLU Journal of Law and Technology

Submission

Once the manuscript is submitted to the GNLU Journal of Law and Technology, the following stages of review will be followed to ensure the quality and standards of publication:

Initial manuscript evaluation:

1. The submission(s) will be first checked for plagiarism using standard software. If a manuscript is found to have a high level of similarity or plagiarized work of others without due or insufficient acknowledgement(s), the editor(s) reserve the right to retract the manuscript or may resend the manuscript to the author(s) for resubmitting the same with due correction(s).
2. The submission(s) will be then screened for adherence to the Journal’s policy and guidelines.
3. The author(s) whose manuscript are rejected at the initial evaluation stage will be informed within three to four weeks of the submission.
4. The author(s) whose manuscript passes the initial stage will be assigned to senior editor(s) for further consideration.

Editor Evaluation

The Senior Editor(s) will evaluate the manuscript for its originality, conceptual and methodological consistency, grammar and language as well as decide whether the submission is within the aim and scope of the journal. The Editor(s) reserve the right to decide whether the submission requires further review or not.

Peer Review

Once the submission is shortlisted by the Editor(s) it will be sent for peer review. The peer review process being anonymous (blind), the name of the author shall be concealed. Each manuscript shall be reviewed by two referees, invited by the Editorial board based on the expertise on the subject /area of the submission.

Peer Review Guidelines

The Reviewer shall evaluate the manuscript and submit report on the basis of –

• Originality and significance of the contribution
• Coverage and adequacy of appropriate and existing literature
• Relevance to the subject area as well as its national and international relevance
• Clarity, consistency, style of writing
• Structure, organisation, analysis and interpretation

Timeline

The Reviewer shall be given sufficient time (at least 60 days) to review the submission and submit suggestions, recommend changes as well as decide on the merit of the submission. In the event of a change in a circumstance prior to the completion of the review, or if an extension is necessary, the same is required to be communicated to the journal at the earliest.

The submissions are being accepted on a rolling basis.

Non-disclosure of Content

In the good faith of respecting the confidentiality of the peer-review process, the peer reviewer(s) are required to refrain from using the information acquired for their own or another’s advantage.

Confidentiality

Name, background and other details of the reviewer and the author are not to be disclosed in any circumstance by either of the parties.

Bias and Competing Interests

The reviewer(s) are expected to remain unbiased regarding nationality, religious or political beliefs, gender or any other such characteristics of the origins or contents of the manuscript or by any commercial aspects.

Non-transferability of Peer Review

Any peer review conducted for this journal remains un-transferable to other journal(s) or publication(s).

Assessment Criteria

The assessment criteria shall be based on, including but not limited to, the following (The Reviewer will evaluate the submitted article according to the following criteria and in the format provided):

• The article fits into the editorial aims and scope of the journal.
• Recommendation/acceptance of the manuscript.
• Acceptance is with no changes or minor or major revisions.
• Originality of the research idea.
• The research provides any additional value to the already existing literature in the subject area.
• The language of the manuscript is lucid and easy to read.
• The manuscript is of appropriate length.
• The title and introduction provides a clear overview and introduce the topic appropriately.
• The conclusion aptly answers the research question posed in the manuscript.
• The empirical research included in the article has used viable research methodology/ies to arrive at the conclusion vis à vis data collected and whether the conclusion derived from these statistics appears to be relevant to the research conducted.
• The manuscript is supported by reliable sources.
• Other comments
• Constructive suggestions: The changes or revisions that shall be made by the author to make the manuscript more valuable or publishable.

The Reports

The reviewer(s) report as received will be sent to the author(s) after concealing the name of the reviewer(s). In case the author(s) wish to comment/respond on the comment(s) of the reviewer(s) it shall be made available to the reviewer(s) after concealing the name of the author(s). The standard policy practice will be to keep both the identities concealed.

The final decision and time to publication

1. On the receipt of the reviewer’s comment(s)/suggestion(s) or decision, the Editor will be responsible for the final decision to reject or recommend the manuscript for publication.
2. In case the manuscript requires changes and depending on the changes required, the author(s) shall be provided with a maximum of 30 days to resubmit the manuscript after incorporating the changes suggested by the reviewer(s).
3. On receipt of the revised manuscript the Editor(s) will check on whether the author(s) have adhered to or incorporated all the suggested change(s). The Editor(s) reserve the right to resend the accepted manuscript for further review to the same reviewer(s) or to any other reviewer(s) it deems fit.
4. After acceptance, it takes 3 to 4 weeks to get the final corrected draft of the accepted manuscript, which based upon the volume in which to be incorporated will be sent to the publisher for typesetting.
5. Following the receipt of the typeset draft, the Editor(s) will once again proof read the content for any error(s).
6. The complete set of manuscripts compiled into a particular volume will be sent for final printing.

Editors, GNLU Journal of Law and Technology

1. The GNLU Journal of Law and Technology encourages paper submissions focusing on the amalgamation of any area of technology and law.
2. GNLU Journal of Law and Technology is a bi-annual journal open for submissions from academicians, practitioners, research scholars and students.
3. Co-authorship is allowed to a maximum of 2 authors. However, co-authorship is not allowed in case of Case Comment, Legislative Comment and Book Review.
4. Manuscript must not be currently before another journal for consideration.
5. Articles must not be previously published in English.
6. Plagiarism of any sort will result in immediate disqualification of the submission.
7. The manuscript shall be free from all grammatical and spelling errors.
8. The submission of the files shall be in the Microsoft Office (doc./docx) formats only.
9. The submission must contain an abstract (not more than 500 words) and at most 5 keywords.
10. The submission must necessarily be accompanied with a ‘Conclusion’ putting forth the authors’ views and opinions on the subject matter.
11. The submission shall consist of cover letter and main document.
    • The Cover Letter addressed to the Chief Editor shall include the details like Name of Author(s); Contact Details – Address, Email and Mobile No. of Author(s); Name and Address of Institution of Author(s); Academic Qualifications / Affiliations of Author(s); Conflict of Interest Statement and Financial Declaration by Author(s) {in case of sponsored studies}.
    • The main document shall not contain any author identification like name(s), affiliation(s), and any acknowledgement(s).
    • The name of the author(s) shall not be there in the file properties of the main document.
    • The title, abstract or the keywords shall not be removed from the main document.

Categories

Articles (minimum 5000 words, excluding footnotes).

Essays (3500-5000 words, excluding footnotes).

Book Reviews/Case Commentary/ Short Notes (2000-3500 words, excluding footnotes).

Word limit prescribed shall be adhered.

Formatting and Citation Style

1. The body of the manuscript must be in the font “Times New Roman”, font size 12, line spacing 1.5 and alignment “justify”.
2. All footnotes must be in Font “Times New Roman”, font size 10, line spacing 1.
3. All submissions must follow the OSCOLA style.
4. Spell out acronyms on first reference following by the abbreviated term in parenthesis.
5. The numbering against the heading (1., 2., ….) / sub-heading (1.1, 1.2, …..) shall be in the decimal number format system.
6. The heading shall be kept bold and the sub-headings shall be kept in italic.

Non-conformity could be a ground for rejection.

Submission Procedure

1. All submissions must be made to [email protected] with the subject “Manuscript Submission for GNLU Journal of Law and Technology”.
2. The submissions with the journal are open throughout the year and manuscript(s) will be considered for any particular issue based on the completion of the review process and the availability of space in a particular volume of the journal.

Editor-in-Chief

Prof. (Dr.) S. Shanthakumar, Gujarat National Law University, India

Faculty Editors

Prof. (Dr.) Thomas Mathew, Gujarat National Law University, India

Dr. Anjani S. Tomar, Gujarat National Law University, India

Ms. Heena Goswami, Gujarat National Law University, India

Guest Editors

Prof. (Dr. Dr.) Stephan Hobe, Institute of Air Law, Space Law and Cyber Law, University of Cologne, Germany

Prof. (Dr.) Gary Marchant, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University, USA

Assistant Editors

Dr. Annamma Samuel, Gujarat National Law University, India

Ms. Vidhi Katiyar, Gujarat National Law University, India