The Journal of Constitutional Law and Theory
Published under the Aegis of the Constitutional Law Club, National Law University Delhi
Submission Guidlines of The JCLT Forum
Review Policy
The Blog follows a strict double-blind internal editorial review process, under which the identities of the author(s) and the editors involved at each stage remain concealed from one another throughout the review process.
Internal Review (Up to 2 weeks)
Upon submission, the manuscript will be anonymised by the Managing Editor and allocated to an Associate Editor for the initial review. The Associate Editor will assess the submission on the basis of its core argument, structure, novelty of idea, coherence, and quality of writing, and will decide whether the submission should proceed further or be rejected at this stage.
If accepted for further review, the submission will be forwarded to a second Associate Editor for the substantive review, focusing on alignment with the Blog’s scope, depth of original analysis, engagement with constitutional law, and use of sources and references. Based on this review, the Editor may take one of the following decisions:
- • Accept with Minor Revisions
- • Accept with Major Revisions
- • Reject the submission
All submissions will be screened using iThenticate (Turnitin) after anonymisation of the manuscript. The author(s) will be informed of the editorial decision along with detailed comments. Upon receipt of the revised draft, the editorial team will assess whether the comments have been adequately addressed.
Finalisation and Publication (2–3 weeks)
Once the revised manuscript is received, an Associate Editor will conduct a final compliance check to ensure that the editorial comments have been satisfactorily incorporated. The Editorial Board reserves the right to reject the manuscript at this stage if the author(s) do not incorporate the revisions.
If the submission is finally accepted, it will be copy-edited for grammatical, stylistic, and formatting consistency. After the author(s) confirm the final edits, the manuscript will be typeset and published on the Blog.
Submission Guidelines
- • All submissions must be made only through the submission form provided on the website.
- • Submissions must be analytical blog posts between 1,500–3,000 words. Reasonable relaxations to the word limit may be granted on a case-by-case basis.
- • Each submission must include: A short summary of around 50 words outlining the central argument of the piece, and a short abstract and the author’s bio, to be submitted separately through the form.
- • The submission must demonstrate novelty, research depth, coherence, and analytical rigour, and should bear a reasonable nexus to an aspect of constitutional law. Submissions should be analytical in nature and must not merely be descriptive overviews of legal developments.
- • For submissions dealing with very recent developments that may lose relevance quickly, authors may request an expedited review by adding the word “Expedited” in the title of the submission. Submissions may be co-authored by no more than two authors.
- • To preserve anonymity and avoid bias, authors must not include their name, institutional affiliation, designation, or any identifying information anywhere in the manuscript.
- • Authors are requested to attach an image to accompany the submission (if selected for publication). The image must:
- — Be representative of the submission’s theme or argument
- — Be open-source
- — Be of high quality (minimum 1000p)
- — Have an aspect ratio of 2:1
- • The image source must be mentioned in the submission form to ensure proper attribution.
- • Two-part blog posts are permitted. Each part must be submitted separately through two different submission forms.
Copy-Editing and Formatting Guidelines
All sources and authorities must be hyperlinked directly. Authors are requested to prefer open-source links over those which have paid-access. Footnotes (and not endnotes) should be used only where hyperlinking is not possible. Citations must conform to OSCOLA (4th Edition).
All submissions must be written in British English. Formatting requirements:
- — Font: Garamond, Size 12
- — Line Spacing: 1.5
- — Paragraph Spacing: 6 pt (Before and After)
- — Headings must not be in Small Caps
- — There is no requirement to number headings
Short extracts must appear within double quotation marks. Extracts longer than 50 words must be placed in a separate indented paragraph (1 inch on both sides), without quotation marks.
Authors are encouraged to use short forms where appropriate and must avoid terms such as “hereinafter”. Where a paragraph or information is taken from a judicial decision, the relevant paragraph number(s) must be indicated in brackets.
General Information
The Blog accepts rolling submissions.
The Editorial Board reserves the right to reject a submission at any stage of the editorial process if the required changes are not adequately incorporated.