Author Guidelines

Purpose

To outline the guidelines for authors submitting to the Griffith Journal of Law & Human Dignity (‘Journal’). By adhering to these guidelines, the author assists the Journal in its commitment to upholding ethical standards and fostering a scholarly environment grounded in integrity and respect for human dignity.

Submission Guidelines

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines:

  • The work submitted is unpublished material owned by the author or jointly owned with other author(s) in cases of works of joint authorship.
  • No part of the work submitted is under consideration for publication elsewhere or will be submitted for publication elsewhere.
  • The work submitted does not infringe the copyright of any third party.
  • The Author/s warrants that any research involving human or animal subjects has appropriate ethical approval including obtaining the informed consent of any research subjects or interviewees.
    • The work submitted has not been written with artificial intelligence technology.
    • The work submitted is not defamatory.
    • Any work not owned by the author/co-author contained in the submission must be properly referenced.

Manuscript Format

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions that do not adhere to these guidelines may be returned to authors.

  • The author’s name has been left off the paper and the submission is not available from any publicly accessible sources. This is to facilitate our double-blind peer review process.
  • The submission file is in Microsoft Word file format in accordance with our Manuscript Format Template.
  • A 200 word abstract is included between the title and body of the article.
  • The word count is approximately 2000–5000 words (unless an explanation has been provided).
  • All referencing is provided in the footnotes and reference list, not the body of text. Footnotes must be kept to a minimum and all referencing must be in accordance with the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (4th edition).
  • Author(s) intend to sign and complete the Publication Policy.

Publication Process

Submission

  • Author(s) to register as an Author.
  • Author(s) to submit manuscript for consideration.
  • Upon the receipt of a manuscript, the Editorial Team will decide the submission aligns with the Journal’s missions and objectives, and whether it is in compliance with the Submission Guidelines.
  • The manuscript may be sent back to the author(s) with instructions to amend if necessary.
  • If the manuscript is accepted for peer-review, a Managing Editor will be assigned as the person in charge of the communication between the author, the referees and the Editorial Team.

Peer Review

  • The refereeing process at the Griffith Journal of Law & Human Dignity is double-blinded. Authors cannot nominate or exclude referees. Nor can they appeal a decision of the Editorial Board on amendments to be made upon recommendations of the referees.
  • Once all referee reports have been returned, the author will receive a referee report together with a letter from the Managing Editor outlining any changes the author needs to make before publication as recommended by the referees.
  • The author is required to make the necessary amendments within the deadline set out in the letter. The deadline may be extended depending on the circumstances and the number of changes proposed. If the changes recommended are not made, the author must provide the Managing Editor with justifications for their decision to not take on board the feedback. The Editorial Board reserves the right to reject the manuscript if it is not satisfied with the author’s justifications.

Definition of Authorship

Authorship is defined based on the following criteria:

  • Substantial contributions to the conception, design, drafting and final version of the work; and
  • Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work including accuracy, intellectual content, integrity, copyright of any part of the work; and
  • Ability to identify which co-authors are responsible for specific other parts of the work. In addition, authors should have confidence in the integrity of the contributions of their co-authors.

Corresponding Author

Corresponding author is the author who takes primary responsibility for communication with the Journal during the manuscript submission, peer-review, and publication process. The corresponding author typically ensures that all the Journal’s administrative requirements, such as providing details of authorship, ethics committee approval, clinical trial registration documentation, and disclosures of relationships and activities are properly completed and reported, although these duties may be delegated to one or more co-authors.

The corresponding author should be available throughout the submission and peer-review process to respond to editorial queries in a timely way and should be available after publication to respond to critiques of the work and cooperate with any requests from the Journal for data or additional information should questions about the paper arise after publication.

Contributing Author

Individuals contributing to the work but who do not qualify as authors, such as those who contribute to the acquisition of funding, general supervision of a research group or general administrative support, writing assistance, technical editing, language editing, and proofreading, should be acknowledged subject to the corresponding author obtaining written permission for such acknowledgement from all acknowledged individuals.

Authorship Dispute

Any potential authorship dispute is to be resolved in accordance with COPE’s authorship dispute settlement guidelines.

Author Fee

No fees apply. The Griffith Journal of Law & Human Dignity is an open-access journal on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

Data and Intellectual Property Policy

Authors are required to adhere to our Intellectual Property & Data Management Policy.

Research and Publication Ethics

Authors are required to adhere to our Ethical Oversight Policy.