Publication Policy
This page sets out the complete publication policy of the International Journal of Legal Science and Innovation [ISSN 2581-9453 (Online)]. It covers the journal's legal scope, the submission and double-blind peer review process, editorial decision-making, copyright and open-access licensing, withdrawal and retraction, post-publication integrity, and the obligations of authors, editors, and reviewers. Every manuscript submitted to IJLSI is governed by this policy in its entirety.
The journal and its publication model
What we publish and who may submit
IJLSI is a peer-reviewed journal devoted exclusively to law and the legal sciences. It publishes original scholarship across Public & Constitutional Law; Criminal & Private Law; Corporate, Commercial & Intellectual Property Law; International & Comparative Law; Technology, Data & AI Law; Jurisprudence & Legal Theory; Human Rights & Public Policy; and emerging areas of legal innovation. The Journal welcomes manuscripts from academics, practising advocates, judicial officers, law students, and independent researchers worldwide, regardless of institutional rank or geographic origin.
Submissions are accepted in the following categories: Research Papers, Articles, Book Reviews, and Short Notes & Case Comments. Doctrinal, comparative, empirical, and interdisciplinary legal research that reinforces innovation in the conduct of law is particularly encouraged. If an author is uncertain whether a proposed manuscript falls within scope, they are invited to write to the editorial team at submission@ijlsi.com before submitting.
The Journal does not publish manuscripts that have been previously published elsewhere, that are under simultaneous review at another journal, conference, or edited volume, or that are substantially similar to a previously published work without an adequate new contribution. Manuscripts that contain defamatory, obscene, or unlawful content will not be considered.
From submission to publication
Manuscripts may be submitted through the online submission portal or by email to submission@ijlsi.com. There is no charge at the time of submission. Manuscript processing charges apply only upon acceptance.
Authors submitting by email must include a cover letter stating the name(s) of all authors, their institutional affiliations, email addresses, mobile numbers, and the title of the manuscript. The manuscript body and the title page must be submitted as separate documents — the manuscript body must contain no author-identifying information, to preserve the integrity of double-blind peer review.
The corresponding author will receive an acknowledgement email containing the Manuscript ID upon receipt. All subsequent correspondence regarding the manuscript must reference this ID. The status of a submitted manuscript may be tracked in real time at ijlsi.com/track-manuscript.
The editorial process from receipt to decision
All submissions undergo a rigorous, structured editorial process. Authors are notified at each stage by email and WhatsApp. The decision of the Editor-in-Chief is final and binding. Manuscripts are evaluated solely on legal scholarship, originality, analytical rigour, and relevance to the Journal's scope — without regard to the authors' institutional affiliation, nationality, gender, or any other personal characteristic.
The Journal reserves the right to reject a manuscript at any stage of the review process if it becomes apparent that its content is outside scope, falls below the Journal's academic standards, or violates any aspect of this policy. A manuscript may also be rejected after acceptance if it is subsequently discovered that a material misrepresentation was made at submission.
What happens after acceptance
A manuscript is formally accepted for publication only upon receipt of a written acceptance communication from the IJLSI editorial team. Verbal or informal indications of likely acceptance do not constitute acceptance. Authors must not act on any informal indication of acceptance until a formal written communication has been received.
Following formal acceptance, the corresponding author must complete the following pre-publication formalities:
1. Copyright Form — All authors must sign the IJLSI Copyright Transfer Form, transferring copyright over the published manuscript to the International Journal of Legal Science and Innovation. No manuscript shall be published without a signed copyright form. The form is available for download at the Track Manuscript portal.
2. Manuscript Processing Charge — The applicable MPC must be paid before publication. Payment details and links are provided in the acceptance communication and at the Track Manuscript portal. No MPC is charged at submission or upon rejection.
The Journal targets publication within 2–5 working days of completion of formalities, subject to the editorial pipeline. Urgent publication requests are accommodated where possible — authors may indicate urgency in their acceptance response.
Copyright, licensing and author rights
Upon publication, copyright over the manuscript vests with the International Journal of Legal Science and Innovation. This is effected through the Copyright Transfer Form signed as part of the pre-publication formalities. Copyright vests with IJLSI to ensure the long-term integrity, preservation, and accessibility of the published scholarly record.
All published manuscripts are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution–Non Commercial 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC 4.0). This licence permits any reader or researcher to freely read, download, share, copy, and adapt the published work for non-commercial purposes, provided the original work is properly attributed and IJLSI is identified as the original publication venue.
Commercial use of any published content — including reproduction in commercial publications, paid training materials, or resale — requires prior written permission from the journal. Requests for commercial use may be directed to submission@ijlsi.com.
Notwithstanding the copyright transfer, each author retains the right to: self-archive the published version on personal or institutional websites (with full citation and a link to the Version of Record); use the work for teaching purposes; include it in a thesis or dissertation; share it with colleagues for non-commercial academic purposes; and reuse figures, tables, or excerpts in subsequent publications with appropriate attribution.
Withdrawal of submitted and accepted manuscripts
An author may request withdrawal of a submitted manuscript at any stage before publication, provided the request is made in writing to the editorial team at submission@ijlsi.com. Withdrawal requests must include the Manuscript ID, the title of the manuscript, and the reason for withdrawal. The editorial team will confirm receipt and process the withdrawal request promptly.
Withdrawal requests submitted after the Manuscript Processing Charge has been paid will not result in a refund. The MPC covers editorial, production, and administrative costs incurred during the review and acceptance process, which cannot be recovered on withdrawal.
No withdrawal is permitted after a manuscript has been published. Once a manuscript has been published on the IJLSI website and made available for indexing, it forms part of the permanent scholarly record. Removal or withdrawal after publication is not permitted except in cases that meet the criteria for retraction under the Journal's Publication Ethics & Malpractice Statement.
| Stage | Withdrawal | Refund |
|---|---|---|
| Under review (pre-acceptance) | ✓ Permitted | N/A — no charge at this stage |
| Accepted, MPC not yet paid | ✓ Permitted | N/A — no charge at this stage |
| Accepted, MPC paid, not yet published | ✓ Permitted | ✗ No refund |
| Published | ✗ Not permitted | ✗ Not applicable |
Corrections, expressions of concern & retractions
IJLSI is committed to maintaining the integrity and accuracy of the published scholarly record. Where errors, inaccuracies, or ethical concerns are identified in published manuscripts — whether by the authors, the editorial team, reviewers, readers, or third parties — the Journal will take appropriate post-publication action in accordance with COPE guidelines.
Articles that have been published shall, as far as possible, remain extant, exact, and unaltered as part of the permanent scholarly record. Post-publication modifications are made only where strictly necessary and in accordance with the procedures set out below.
Where plagiarism is discovered after publication, the Editor-in-Chief will convene an investigation committee comprising at least two editorial board members. The author will be given the opportunity to respond to any allegation before a final decision is made. If the allegation is substantiated, the manuscript will be retracted and removed, and IJLSI reserves the right to notify the author's institution.
Authors who discover a significant error in their own published work must immediately notify the editorial team and provide a corrected version of the manuscript. The Journal will publish a correction notice linked to the original article.
Discoverability and long-term accessibility
Every manuscript published in IJLSI becomes part of a permanent, openly accessible Version of Record hosted on the Journal's website. Each article carries stable bibliographic metadata — title, authors, volume, issue, and pagination — so that it can be cited reliably and located by readers and indexing services worldwide.
Published manuscripts are abstracted and indexed across a range of genuine scholarly databases — including Manupatra, ROAD (the Directory of Open Access Scholarly Resources), and Google Scholar, alongside DRJI, SJIF, ResearchBib, I2OR, ICI, Citefactor, and others. This ensures that IJLSI scholarship surfaces through legal-research platforms and academic search systems used by practitioners, courts, and the academy.
As an ISO 9001:2015 certified, fully open-access journal, IJLSI maintains its complete back-catalogue — Volume VII - Issue V and every prior issue — freely available through the archives, with no embargo, paywall, or subscription at any point.
Disclosure obligations
All parties involved in the publication process — authors, editors, and peer reviewers — are required to disclose any conflict of interest that could reasonably be perceived to influence their objectivity in relation to a submitted or published manuscript.
Authors must disclose: (a) any financial support or grant received for the research, including grant numbers or reference numbers; (b) any personal, professional, or financial relationship — including any role as counsel or party in litigation related to the subject matter — with any person or organisation that could have influenced the research or its reporting; and (c) any relationship with the journal or any member of the editorial board that could constitute a conflict.
Editors who have a conflict of interest with a submitted manuscript — whether personal, professional, or financial — must recuse themselves from handling that manuscript and transfer it to another member of the editorial team. Editors must not use information from unpublished manuscripts for their own research or professional advantage.
Reviewers who have a conflict of interest with a manuscript assigned to them must immediately notify the editorial team and decline the review. Reviewers must not use unpublished information from a manuscript under review for their own research or any other purpose.
Charges, waiver policy & payment
IJLSI operates as a Gold Open Access journal. All published research is freely accessible to readers worldwide without subscription or access fee. The cost of maintaining editorial operations, indexing, and the open-access platform is met through a one-time Manuscript Processing Charge (MPC) payable by authors whose manuscripts are accepted for publication.
There is no submission charge. The MPC becomes payable only upon formal acceptance following double-blind peer review. Manuscripts that are not accepted do not incur any charge. There are no additional charges for manuscript length, number of footnotes, or supplementary material.
The MPC is determined by the number of authors and the author's country of residence. A full and up-to-date schedule of charges — including Indian and international rates — is published at ijlsi.com/article-processing-charges.
Payment may be made via UPI, bank transfer, or Razorpay (Indian authors) or via the international payment link (international authors). Payment links and details are provided in the acceptance communication and at the Track Manuscript portal. Do not make any payment before receiving a formal acceptance communication.