Review process
The Journal of Legal Studies
The Journal of Legal Studies welcomes a wide range of papers in various areas of law and related sciences.
1. Issuing Frequency
The Journal of Legal Studies is issued biannually: no. 1-2/ June and no. 3-4/ December. The authors who wish to publish their papers in the Journal of Legal Studies shall submit their scientific contributions by March, the 15th, for Issue no. 1-2/June, and October, the 15th, for Issue no. 3-4/December, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , making mention in the e-mail subject of the thematic area the article fits into. The Journal of Legal Studies is published by the “Lumen” Publishing House, certified by CNCSIS Board (no 003).
2. Peer Review Policy
The scientific committee of the journal shall pass all received manuscripts through a provisory selection. The papers shall be selected and blindly reviewed at least by two referees.
The Journal of Legal Studies aligns itself to a strictly blind reviewing peer process, implying that the author’s and the reviewer’s names shall be mutually held back during evaluation process. Each paper goes through at least two peer reviews. The final editorial decision shall be made in 4 to 6 weeks from the submission date. The peer review verdict may be phrased either as “accepted”/ “accepted with minor amendments”/ “accepted with substantial amendments” or “rejected”.
The paper that requires modifications shall be sent back after it is rewritten and then submitted to the initial peer reviewers so as to check out the quality of the new turn.
Should the paper be rejected by one of the reviewers and accepted by the other, the article goes subsequently through a new evaluation process. If, after the new analysis, the quality of the article is still debatable, the Editor-in-Chief decides whether the paper shall be eventually published with amendments or rejected, acting on the grounds of the journal editorial policy and on the strong points identified by the former reviewers.
3. Accepted Papers
The Journal of Legal Studies publishes articles, case law studies, commentaries and book reviews. As a general tenor, the papers must not exceed 8,000 to 10,000 words (footnotes included), but they could go further, according to their academic worth and weight.
Cross commentaries are usually requested by the editor but they are also assessed by the peer reviewers.
The editorial board may invite authors to send articles on a specific topic but the ensued paper will still be subjected to the peer review process.
The ideas for book reviews shall be directly sent to the journal executive editor, Nadia Cerasela Dariescu, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . For a proper review format see the current journal issue.
4. Publishing Statement
Before publication, “Lumen” Publishing House and The Journal of Legal Studies bid the authors to sign a publishing statement. This statement provides that the author is the sole copyholder of the submitted paper and allows “Lumen” Publishing House and The Journal of Legal Studies to publish it during the period stipulated for by the copyright contract.
5. Publication Miscellanea
The papers must contain:
- The title in the original language of the paper; the English translation of that title for the papers published in the Romanian language;
- The author name(s), affiliation, scientific title and institutional position, the financing source of research (if such be the case), the e-mail address and phone no;
- The English abstract shall not exceed maximum 150 words;
- The paper should also comprise maximum 6 key words in English;
- The abstract and the key words shall be written in English both for the texts worked out in Romanian and in English;
- The paper content shall contain an introduction, several chapters and subchapters marked distinctively as heading 1, heading 2 etc, and, possibly, numbered;
- The introduction shall consist of a short theme account, a short theme documentation (if be the case), the questions or the paper objectives;
- A chapter or a subchapter shall be assigned to methodology, the methodological justification and to the method application etc;
- A chapter shall be consecrated to the research analysis and further discussions;
- The paper shall compulsory contain a set of conclusions;
- The quotations shall be given, if possible, in a paraphrased form. The source (The name of the author; coma; the year of publication) shall be indicated in between brackets (e.g. Derrida, 2008); for books with more than three authors the source shall be indicated as following: Miftode et alii, 2004;
- The quoted works are required to be also listed in the bibliography.
The bibliography shall observe the rules of APA STYLE as in the following examples:
- The quotation of books: “Miftode, V., (2010). Tratat de asistenta sociala. Protectia populatiilor specifice si automarginalizate, Editura Lumen,
- The quotation of articles: “Dariescu, C., Dariescu, N. C, Rabbinical Chancery in Romania an alternative to the State Organized Courts in Solving Family Matters, in Jurnalul de Studii Juridice, Year V, No 3-4 2010; 53-70”.
- The quotations from book chapters: “Ailincai, A. (2010). Ancheta apreciativa si efecte ale comunicarii manageriale, in Sandu, A. Coord. (2010). Seminarii apreciative, Editura Lumen,
- The quotation of on-line articles shall be made according to the pattern used for a magazine or a book, with the exact specification of the internet address where the article has been consulted.
- When more than one work of a specific author is quoted then they shall be ranged as follows: 2010a; 2010b etc.