Note to Authors

Journal of Indian Law and Society (JILS) [ISSN: 2277-5552] is a bi-annual, peer reviewed journal on law and society, based at and published from the National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata. Our printing and distributing partner is the Eastern Book Company Group.

Nature Of Submissions

Articles (8000-10000 words, inclusive of footnotes)

Submissions in this category should provide a comprehensive analysis of a particular issue in the law and society domain. It should review the existing literature extensively, develop an argument and also highlight the specific contemporary developments in the issue being discussed.

Notes (5000-8000 words, inclusive of footnotes)

This category is suited for writings on specific themes and submissions dealing with contemporary issues are preferred. Submissions in this category should provide a concise overview of a specific issue.

Essays (3000-5000 words, inclusive of footnotes)

The author can dispense with an extensive review of the existing literature under this category. New ideas and perspectives are encouraged. The main purpose of an essay is to initiate debate and discussion of a new subject matter.

Case Comments (2000-3000 words, inclusive of footnotes)

Submissions in this category would include a comprehensive analysis of a recent judicial pronouncement and should engage with the underlying theme of law and society. It must critically analyze the law prior to the ruling as well as the subsequent implications of the ruling.

Legislative Briefs (2000 – 3000 words, inclusive of footnotes)

Legislative briefs should be extensively analysed, helping readers grasp the background, objectives and main provisions of a particular legislation. Preparing a brief requires synthesizing complex data, facts and statistics and they should be clear and concise and credibly sourced, mostly from the government surveys, commission reports, international organisations and civil society. Use of graphs and tables, along with a one-page summary, is encouraged. Briefs must be objective in reporting facts and provisions, but a short section at the end should list down possible problems or inconsistencies to propel further debate.

Book Reviews (2000-2500 words, inclusive of footnotes)

Authors are encouraged to review a book that offers a unique perspective on any issue affecting Indian society and the legal implications it has. It is recommended that the book chosen is a recent publication (within the last two years) in keeping with the contemporary focus of the Journal.

Submission Guidelines

Covering Letter:Submissions must be sent to jils@nujs.edu. All submissions must be accompanied with a covering letter, containing the name of the author/s, institutional affiliation, title and category of the submission and a contact address of the author, including the e-mail address and the phone number. Submissions should be sent as MS word (.doc format) attachments with the title of the article as the file name.

Identification Details:The body of the submission must contain no identification of any kind, including the name and institutional affiliation of the author, which must be provided in the covering letter.

Decision on Publication: The Journal promptly acknowledges the receipt of submissions. All submissions made to the Journal are double blind refereed. Requests for expedited reviews can be made when the submission is being considered for publication by other Journals. In such cases, please mention a date by which you expect our response. Relaxation of any rules regarding submissions is subject to the discretion of the Board of Editors.

Rolling Submission Policy: The Journal follows a rolling submission policy and hence there is no deadline to submit articles. Since we take decisions on publishing articles on a rolling basis, we encourage authors to submit their papers well in advance of the deadline for an upcoming issue.

Style Guidelines

Form of Submission: Submissions must be in electronic form. All submissions must be word-processed, single-spaced in Garamond, font size 12 and justified. The prescribed word limits are inclusive of footnotes. However we do not emphasize on strict compliance with the word count.

Abstract: All submissions must contain an abstract of not more than 250 words describing the relevant conclusions drawn in the paper. There is no requirement of prior submission of the abstract.

Citations:Only footnotes may be used as the form of citations. End notes shall not be accepted. All footnotes must be in Garamond, size 10, single-spacing and justified. The  citations are derived from the OSCOLA Citation Standard.

For reference, please find the JILS Style sheet here.

Conditions to Publication

Kindly review the following agreement before submitting to the Journal.

For single authors: kindly click here.
For multiple authors: kindly click here.

The above document contains details with respect to the licence to the Journal, the author’s rights, the author’s representations and warranties, editing, indemnity and other clarifications.