The editorial board of The Lex-Warrier: Online Law Journal uses the following policies and procedures in reviewing, rating, and selecting manuscripts for publication.
Initial Processing
New manuscripts are recorded and acknowledged in writing to the author. The manuscript is then screened to make sure that it meets basic submission criteria.
After the preliminary screening, manuscripts that meet submission criteria are assigned to a maximum of three reviewers (including Editor-in-Chief) according to procedures set by each journal. Manuscripts are assigned to reviewers on the basis of their self-reported areas of expertise and the number of manuscripts already assigned to them. All manuscripts, except letters and some columns, are reviewed anonymously.
Reviewers
Editorial board members and consulting editors act as reviewers for the journal. Their names appear on the journal masthead and, although the author can assume that the reviewers of his or her work are among those people listed on the masthead, specific reviewers remain anonymous.
Editorial board members are appointed by the Founder of the journal. Appointees must be Lex-Warrier members in good standing and must be published authors who can be expected to exhibit independence in editorial judgment. Other considerations for appointment are areas of practice, skills, and knowledge to fill gaps in the existing board; geographic location etc.
Editor-in-chief of the journal appoints consulting editors to act as reviewers to assure that manuscripts are reviewed in a timely manner and to cover required areas of expertise. Consulting editors must meet the same criteria as editorial board members. From time to time, other reviewers may be consulted for their expertise in specific subjects.
Selection Process
In general, the editor-in-chief and two other reviewers read every manuscript and rate each one based on the following factors:
- originality
- contribution to legal knowledge
- utility and relevance to legal practice
- appropriateness for the journal
- adequate documentation
- organization
- clarity of presentation style and
- readability.
Reviewers recommend whether to accept or reject a manuscript. In addition, they write comments that help authors improve their writing. These comments are forwarded to the author by mail, except in cases in which the manuscript is accepted outright. All information related to the review of manuscripts is confidential, with the exception of comments to the author.
Editorial board seeks original manuscripts that will stimulate professional dialogue. A manuscript will not be rejected for publication because it is controversial or presents an unpopular stance or position other than the prevailing view.
Decisions
The Editor-in-Chief of the journal makes the final decision on whether to publish a manuscript on the basis of the reviewers’ ratings, the balance of the subject matter, articles on similar topics already accepted or in the literature, and other similar editorial considerations. Decisions on manuscripts are released only to the authors and reviewers.
The decision process generally takes a minimum of three to four months. Authors should be aware that reviewers volunteer their time and that the process may be slower during certain times of the year. An author may inquire about the status of his or her manuscript at any time during the review and decision process. However, the decision on a manuscript will only be released in writing (e-mail). The decision will be one of the following.
Accept for Publication
If a manuscript is accepted for publication, the author will receive an email of acceptance seeking final consent to publish the same. Author in response shall acknowledge his/her consent to publish the manuscript. Journal edits all manuscripts according to its publishing style.
In addition, editorial boards reserve the right to make other changes, subject to the author’s approval. Authors receive a copy of the edited manuscript (if any) for review. They also may be asked to update or clarify references. In the final stages of production, changes may be made to the manuscript to conform to the format and space requirements of the journal.
This can include requesting the author to reduce the page count to meet the required guidelines. Upon publication, the author receives an email along with the URL of author’s publication. Author can download his publication in pdf form from the given link.
Reject, Request Minor Changes
The editorial board may be interested in accepting a manuscript provided that minor changes are made. In this case, the author receives comments from the reviewers specifying the changes to be made. The decision indicates a strong interest in accepting the submitted manuscript but does not assure final acceptance.
When the author resubmits the manuscript, the changes that have been made should be specified on a separate, unsigned cover sheet. In addition, the first page of the revised manuscript should be marked with the word “Revision” and be dated with the date the revision is submitted. The author may also use the cover sheet to indicate why recommended changes were not made.
If the editor-in-chief accepts the revised manuscript, the author will receive an email of acceptance seeking final consent to publish the same. Author in response shall acknowledge his/her consent to publish the manuscript. Standard editing procedures, as discussed in “Accept for Publication” above, will then be followed.
Reject, Encourage Revisions
This decision is made when a manuscript holds promise but needs considerable work. It means that the editorial board has determined that there is interest in reviewing a revised manuscript. Reviewer comments specifying the changes that should be made are included with the decision letter.
When an author decides to resubmit a manuscript, the first page of the revised manuscript should be marked with the word “Revision” and be dated with the date that the revision is submitted. If the author chooses to revise and resubmit his or her manuscript, it must be returned to the editorial board within 90 days or the manuscript must be resubmitted as a new manuscript.
When editorial board receives a revised manuscript, it is sent to the original reviewers (if they are available to complete a review) with a copy of the reviewer comments provided to the author. If the editor-in-chief accepts the revised manuscript, the author will receive an email of acceptance seeking final consent to publish the same. Author in response shall acknowledge his/her consent to publish the manuscript. Standard editing procedures, as discussed in “Accept for Publication” above, will then be followed.
Reject: Editorial board have the prerogative to reject any manuscript submitted for publication. Editorial board will forward copies of reviewer comments to the author with the decision letter. Authors who receive rejection letters should be aware that editorial board is very selective in their decision process to maintain the high editorial quality and citation rate of the journal. As a result, acceptance rates are low. Editors hope that authors will find the reviewers’ comments helpful and will consider using them to revise and submit their manuscript to another journal for publication.
Referrals
The editorial board of each journal evaluates manuscripts independently. Although an editorial board will not initiate referral a manuscript to another journal, individual reviewers may suggest in their comments to the author that the manuscript may be more appropriate for another journal. A manuscript that is rejected by Lex-Warrier editorial board may be submitted to another journal. Therefore, editorial board recommends that the author use the reviewers’ comments to revise the rejected manuscript before it is submitted to another journal.