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Queen Mary Law Journal
  1. Queen Mary Law Journal
  2. Author instructions
  3. Guidance for contributors

Guidance for contributors

Read the submissions guidelines of the Queen Mary Law Journal for doctoral and post-doctoral researchers, early-career academicians, and professionals.

We also welcome submissions from postgraduate students, subject to their submissions fulfilling the additional guidelines.

Submission

The Queen Mary Law Journal accepts a range of formats, primarily:

  • Original articles: 6,000 - 8,000 words
  • Commentary or Reflection piece: 4,000 - 5,000 words
  • Case or legislation notes: 3,000- 4,000 words
  • Book review: 1,000 - 2,000 words
  • Creative Submission: High-definition digital image (JPEG or equivalent format)

Contributors must submit separate documents for consideration by email as Word(doc.) file(s):

  • Title page: Please fill in the title page and submit it along with your blinded manuscript (document to be attached).
  • Blinded manuscript: The first page of the article should include the title of the article and a short abstract (100-150 words). Please ensure there are no references to the authors(s) anywhere in the documents.
  • Creative Submissions: Submissions must be made as a separate file along with the title page (see point A above). Contributors are advised to include any description of the creative work in the title page.

To encourage submissions from legal academics from different backgrounds, we accept submissions in any referencing style (subject to internal consistency).

However, if accepted for publication, the author must amend the referencing system to OSCOLA. If the author is unfamiliar with OSCOLA, we will guide the revision.

All submissions must be emailed to the journal at qmlj-submissions@qmul.ac.uk before the relevant deadline.

Queen Mary Law Journal Style Guide

The electronic file

  • Submissions must be saved as a Word (.doc or .docx) file. Please ensure that you save the most recent version of your file. We suggest using the ‘Save As..’ option and naming it with the date the file was created. Please do not include your name or any identifying information in the file name. The title, or a shorthand version of the title, along with the date, is preferred.
  • The text should be in Times New Roman 12-point font, double-spaced, with margins of at least 2.5 cm. All text should be ranged left, unjustified and without hyphenation for word division at the ends of lines.
  • Use hard carriage returns only to end headings and paragraphs and to signify indents. Use tabs to identify new paragraphs unless the paragraph directly follows a heading, in which case it is not indented.
  • Be careful not to key in unnecessary space: only one space is necessary at the end of a sentence after full point.
  • One space must be keyed after a comma or other punctuation and before an opening parenthesis. There is no space following full points after initials (Mr JB Smith) or between contractions (UK).
  • Leave additional spacing above and below the section heading and above and below indented quotes (see quotations/extracts in house style and spellings).

Headings

  • Heading levels (a maximum of three, which may be numbered in Arabic, for example, 1, 1.1, 1.1.1) should be clearly indicated throughout. Please type all headings with an initial capital for the first word only.
  • Do not use underlining or capitals (except for proper nouns).

House style and spellings

  • The language of this journal is English (UK).
  • Remember that the direct quotation should not be changed to conform to our house style but should appear as it did in the original.
  • Accents are retained in foreign words, except in French upper case.
  • Citations – The style used for citation should follow the Oxford Standard Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA).
  • Abbreviations are usually expressed without full stops.
  • Commas should be omitted before final ‘and’ or ‘or’ in lists unless the concepts in the list are complicated and the comma aids clarity. Commas are usually unnecessary after adverbial phrases or conjunctions, especially when they begin a sentence – for example: yesterday, however, at last, during summer.
  • Cross referencing  – Any internal cross-referencing should be to footnotes or footnote markers, not pages.
  • Dates should be written as ‘18 August 2007’, and decades should be as ‘2000s’, without an apostrophe.
  • Footnotes – Insert superior Arabic figures in the text at the appropriate point.
  • Full points are not needed after headings.
  • Hyphenation – Avoid using hyphens wherever possible unless doing so makes the text confusing.
  • Parathesis (round brackets) should be used for simple interpolations, with square brackets used for editorial notes or interpolations in quotations.
  • Quotations/extracts must be an exact reproduction of the original in both spelling and punctuation, even if this conflicts with the journal style. Use single quotes for extracts in the text of less than 50 words in length and double quotes for quotes within quotes. For extracts exceeding 50 words in length, material should be indented from the left margin, with space above and below, and quotation marks should be omitted. Any notes or editorial comments within the extracts should appear in square brackets, and any omission should be indicated by 3 dots followed by a full point if it occurs at the end of the sentence. Ensure that opening quotation marks are distinguished from closing quotation marks.
  • Spelling should follow the Concise Oxford English Dictionary.
  • Omit apostrophes in plurals, for example, 1950s, MPs.
  • Avoid too much emphasis. Italics should be used sparingly for emphasis.
  • Replace parochialism such as ‘in this country’ or ‘this year’ with the country name or specific year. 

In case of any query or clarification, write to us at qmlj-submissions@qmul.ac.uk.

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