Journal

1. Journal of the National Judicial Academy

2. INDIAN JOURNAL OF JUSTICE STUDIES

The National Judicial Academy, India (NJA) has been set up under the guidance of the
Supreme Court of India for judicial education, policy formulation and research as a means to
improving the quality of justice delivery in the country. As part of this mandate, the NJA has
published a peer-reviewed annual journal for discussion, thinking and deliberation on the
theme of "quest for justice"- broadly defined. Named the Indian Journal of Justice Studies,
this journal contributes to thinking on issues of justice, like, for example, the various and
often competing concepts of justice; ideas and social, political, religious and economic forces
shaping these concepts; struggles and social movements for justice; institutional frameworks
and formal and informal networks influencing justice delivery; state policies, including
developmental policies and their impact on justice; the role of judicial institutions in relation
to justice; the role of the legal profession and legal education in the quest for justice;
multidisciplinary approaches to justice; legal frameworks and their impact of justice,
international and comparative approaches to justice, etc.

3. EDITORIAL POLICY
3.1. Objective
A Journal from NJA encourages scholarship drawing on a variety of theoretical bases,
research methodologies and disciplines.
NJA welcomes submissions from judges, lawyers, academics as well as law students. In
addition, given its policy of encouraging interdisciplinary scholarship, it also welcomes
submissions from specialists from other disciplines.
3.2. Solicited and Unsolicited Articles, Review Procedure and Selection
The Editorial Board of a Journal may, at its discretion, invite articles, comments and reviews
from individuals who are leaders in their fields. Apart from such solicited pieces, the Journal
will also consider unsolicited papers that are submitted to it for publication. All articles,
comments and reviews, whether solicited or unsolicited, will be reviewed by the Editorial
Board to determine publishability. The decisions of the Editorial Board will be final and no
request will be entertained for further review.
The Editorial Board will carefully consider all manuscripts received by it. All unsolicited
pieces will be reviewed anonymously, without regard to the author's name, affiliation, prior
publications, etc.
The editorial policy at NJA will afford substantial deference to authors and will therefore,
accept manuscripts that are well written and completely argued at the time of submission, as
it will not be possible for the Editorial Board to engage in detailed editing of the substantive
content of the manuscripts. The changes that may be suggested by the Editorial Board are
intended to hone the ideas advanced by the author, not to replace them. Therefore, after the
editing process, the Board will send the author a marked copy of the manuscript, highlighting

the suggested changes. These changes are meant as reasoned suggestions, not editorial
diktats, and the author's judgment regarding whether the changes should be made or not, will
be respected.
3.3. Articles, Notes, Comments, Reviews, Essays
NJA seeks to publish a variety of legal and other writings on the issue of justice. The only
consideration is that the writing should be scholarly in nature. Based on the length of the
piece and the merit of its substantive content, the Editorial Board will decide whether to
publish the accepted pieces as articles, notes, comments, reviews or essays. Generally,
articles should be of 10,000 words or more and should either develop a theory, or apply
theoretical and/or research findings from law and other disciplines to legal subject matter.
A comment is a shorter piece of about 5,000 words which will discuss one particular issue of
legal or policy significance in detail. A piece will be considered an essay if it is around 3,000
words and its primary purpose is to advance an idea, or to initiate or engage in analytical
discussion.
Notes and reviews are descriptive pieces which summarize a recent legal or policy
development like a new legislation, judicial decision or policy and place them in their wider
legal and social context. The main purpose of such these writings is to familiarize the reader
with current developments. The reviews section will also include book reviews.
3.4. Citation Style
NJA will follow the Blue Book citation style. (The Blue Book: A Uniform System of
Citation (Columbia Law Review Ass'n et al. eds., 18th ed. 2005). However, the manuscripts
need not necessarily comply with this citation format in draft form.
3.5. Exclusivity
NJA will publish only original articles and research papers. Manuscripts are accepted for
publication on the understanding that their contents, all or in part, have not been published
elsewhere. Every contribution should be the author's own original work, and should not
constitute a substantial repetition of work already published or to be published elsewhere.
3.6. Copyright
Submissions will be considered for publication on condition that copyright in any material
included in the Journal is assigned to the National Judicial Academy on the understanding
that the Academy can re-publish the article elsewhere, or can allow third parties to publish the
piece. Authors are free to use their own copyright materials in other publications, provided
that the Journal is acknowledged as the original place of publication. The author also retains
his or her moral rights in the submission.
3.7. Submission format
All submissions should be made in electronic format only, in a MS Word document. The
manuscripts should contain footnotes and not endnotes. The manuscripts can be e-mailed to:
njabhopal@nja.gov.in
3.8. Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in the Journal will be those of the authors, and will not necessarily
reflect those of the Editorial Board, the National Judicial Academy, or any other persons or
institutions affiliated with it.