Studies in Law: Research Papers

Publishing Procedure: All texts submitted to the journal Studies in Law: Research Papers are subject to a multi-stage editorial and review procedure, aimed at ensuring the highest substantive quality and compliance with international ethical standards. The detailed process is presented below:

1. Article Submission

   Articles can be submitted via Open Journal Systems. Submissions should contain two separate files:

   • Anonymized article text – without any data identifying the author(s), either in the main text, footnotes, or file metadata (information on funding sources/grants should also be removed).
   • Author(s) Information Card, including:
     • first and last name,
     • scientific affiliation,
     • ORCID number,
     • email address,
     • article title and abstract (in Polish and English),
     • keywords (in both languages).

   Authors currently pursuing master's or doctoral studies must attach a review from their supervisor or independent researcher.

2. Initial Editorial Review

   The Editors conduct an initial review of the submission in terms of:

   • compliance with the journal's thematic profile,
   • compliance with formal requirements (volume, formatting, citation method, completeness of metadata),
   • originality and scientific potential.

   In the case of formal or substantive deficiencies, authors may be asked to make appropriate corrections before submitting the text for review. All texts are checked using anti-plagiarism software.

3. Reviewing (double-blind peer review)

   Texts qualified for the next stage are submitted for review according to the principle of double anonymity:

   • reviewers do not know the identity of the author(s),
   • authors do not know the identities of the reviewers.

   The Editors appoint at least two independent reviewers affiliated with entities other than the authors of the article. The selection of reviewers takes into account their competence in a given field and the absence of conflicts of interest.

4. Preparing the Review:

   Reviewers evaluate texts according to a standardized format, taking into account, among other things:

   • quality of argumentation and logical structure,
   • coherence and linguistic precision,
   • currency and relevance of the literature selection,
   • originality of the topic,
   • compliance with the journal's profile.

   The review recommends:

   1. acceptance without corrections,
   2. acceptance with corrections,
   3. rejection of the article.

   Each decision must be thoroughly justified.

5. Editorial Decision

   Based on the review, the Editors decide on the further fate of the text:

   • Acceptance without reservations – both reviews are positive, no substantive comments.
   • Required Revisions – Authors are obligated to incorporate the reviewers' comments or present a reasoned polemic. The revised version must be submitted by the specified deadline.
   • One negative review – the decision is made by the Editor-in-Chief, their Deputy, or the Editorial Secretary. The following options are possible:
     • referring the text to a third reviewer;
     • rejecting the article if the reviewer has significant reservations.
   • Two negative reviews – result in automatic rejection of the text.
6. Notification of Authors:

   Authors receive the decision along with the justification for the review (without identifying information about the reviewers). If changes are necessary, authors have the right to submit a response to the reviews along with the revised text.

7. Final Selection for Publication:

   After acceptance of the revised version of the article, the Editor-in-Chief, the Deputy Editor-in-Chief, and the Editorial Secretary make the final selection of the texts for publication in a specific thematic issue.

8. Language Editing and Authorization:

   After the review process is completed, the articles are sent to the language editors. Authors then receive the text for approval of the changes. Failure to respond within the specified timeframe is considered acceptance of the content.

9. Publication:

   Texts are published on the journal's website and indexed in appropriate scientific databases. All articles are available in Open Access under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.

10. Author's Declaration

    Before publication, Authors are required to send a declaration containing, among others:

    • consent to the publication of the text,
    • confirmation of the originality of the work,
    • declaration of no conflict of interest,
    • confirmation of acceptance of the journal's terms and conditions.
11. Publication costs

    The journal does not charge fees for submission or publication of an article. The costs of preparing the text for publication are borne by the Publisher. If you have any questions regarding the editorial procedure, please contact: sp@uafm.edu.pl.