Editorial Policies and Publication Ethics

SJIL is committed to maintaining a rigorous, transparent, and responsible publication process. The Journal seeks to ensure that scholarly contributions are evaluated on their academic merit, originality, relevance, and integrity, while providing a fair and professional environment for authors, reviewers, editors, and readers.

Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions at SJIL are made independently on the basis of the scholarly quality, originality, relevance, analytical rigor, and contribution of a manuscript to international legal scholarship.

Editorial decisions shall not be influenced by an author's nationality, institutional affiliation, academic position, personal characteristics, political or professional status, or other considerations unrelated to the scholarly merits of the submission.

Editors are expected to exercise independent academic judgment and to identify and appropriately manage any circumstance that may compromise their impartiality.

Originality and Exclusivity of Submission

Manuscripts submitted to SJIL must constitute original scholarly work and must not be simultaneously under consideration by another journal.

Authors must disclose any substantial overlap between the submitted manuscript and their previously published, accepted, or concurrently submitted works. Any material derived from previous publications or other sources must be appropriately acknowledged and cited.

Submission of a manuscript to SJIL constitutes the author's confirmation that the work is not being considered for publication elsewhere.

Authorship and Contributions

Authorship should reflect substantive intellectual contributions to the conception, legal research, analysis, interpretation, drafting, or critical revision of the manuscript.

All listed authors must have made a meaningful contribution to the work, approved the submitted and final versions of the manuscript, and accepted responsibility for the integrity of their respective contributions.

Individuals who have contributed to the research but do not satisfy the criteria for authorship should be acknowledged appropriately rather than listed as authors.

Each manuscript must identify a corresponding author who is responsible for coordinating communication between SJIL and all co-authors throughout the submission, review, revision, and publication processes.

SJIL encourages authors to provide a statement identifying the respective contributions of each author. Where authors have contributed equally, this may be indicated in the published article with the agreement of all authors.

Changes in Authorship

Authors are expected to establish the complete and accurate author list before submission.

Requests to add, remove, or reorder authors after submission must be justified and agreed upon by all affected authors. Changes after acceptance will only be considered in exceptional circumstances and require approval from the Editor-in-Chief.

SJIL does not adjudicate authorship disputes. Where an authorship dispute cannot be resolved among the authors, the Journal may suspend editorial consideration or publication until the matter has been appropriately addressed.

Conflicts of Interest and Funding

Authors must disclose financial, professional, institutional, personal, or other interests that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the research or its presentation.

Relevant sources of funding or institutional support should also be disclosed where applicable.

Disclosure of an interest does not, in itself, constitute misconduct or require rejection of a manuscript. Rather, disclosure enables editors and readers to assess the work with appropriate transparency.

Editors and reviewers must likewise disclose circumstances that could affect their impartiality and, where necessary, recuse themselves from the relevant editorial or review process.

Research Ethics and Legal Compliance

Authors are responsible for ensuring that their research complies with applicable ethical and legal requirements.

Where research involves interviews, surveys, personal information, confidential documents, or other forms of interaction with human participants, authors should comply with applicable requirements concerning informed consent, privacy, confidentiality, and research ethics.

For doctrinal and documentary research, authors must ensure that legal and institutional materials are obtained and used lawfully. Confidential, privileged, or otherwise restricted information must not be disclosed without appropriate authorization.

Integrity and Accuracy of Legal Sources

As a journal dedicated to international law, SJIL places particular importance on the accuracy and integrity of legal authorities.

Authors are expected to accurately identify and cite treaties, international agreements, judicial decisions, arbitral awards, legislation, resolutions, official documents, institutional materials, and scholarly literature relied upon in their manuscripts.

Fabrication or falsification of legal authorities, inaccurate representation of judicial decisions or other legal materials, manipulation of quotations, and selective citation intended to create a misleading impression constitute serious breaches of scholarly integrity.

Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct

SJIL does not tolerate plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, duplicate publication, inappropriate authorship, citation manipulation, undisclosed substantial reuse of previously published material, or other forms of academic and publication misconduct.

The Journal may conduct appropriate originality or similarity screening and may request explanations or supporting documentation where concerns arise.

Depending on the nature and seriousness of the matter, the Journal may reject a manuscript, discontinue the review process, withdraw an accepted manuscript, or take appropriate corrective action after publication.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

SJIL recognizes that artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies may be used as tools in academic research and manuscript preparation. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and scholarly contribution of their manuscripts, regardless of whether AI-assisted technologies have been used.

AI tools may assist with activities such as language improvement, translation, formatting, or other limited editorial tasks. However, AI systems must not be listed as authors, and substantive intellectual contributions to the conception, legal analysis, interpretation, or argumentation of a manuscript must remain attributable to human authors.

Authors must disclose the use of generative AI or other AI-assisted technologies where such use has materially contributed to the development of the manuscript. AI-generated content must be critically reviewed and independently verified by the authors, particularly where it concerns legal authorities, quotations, citations, factual claims, or interpretations of law.

Authors remain responsible for any errors, fabricated references, misleading statements, or other inaccuracies introduced through the use of AI. The use of AI must not be employed to conceal plagiarism, fabricate sources, manipulate citations, or otherwise circumvent the Journal's standards of academic integrity.

Reviewers and editors must not upload or submit unpublished manuscripts, confidential materials, or other protected information to publicly accessible generative AI systems or other AI tools where doing so could compromise confidentiality or intellectual property.

Peer Review Integrity

SJIL is committed to a fair, independent, and confidential peer-review process.

Reviewers are selected based on relevant expertise and should provide objective, constructive, and sufficiently reasoned assessments. Reviewers must disclose any conflict of interest that may affect their judgment and should decline an assignment where they cannot provide an impartial review.

Reviewers must not use unpublished information, arguments, data, or ideas obtained through peer review for personal, professional, or research purposes.

Editorial decisions remain the responsibility of the Journal and are not determined solely by the recommendation of an individual reviewer.

Responsibilities of Authors

Authors are expected to:

Submit original work that is not simultaneously under consideration elsewhere.
Accurately represent their research, analysis, and sources.
Properly acknowledge all sources and contributions.
Provide accurate information concerning authorship and affiliations.
Disclose relevant conflicts of interest and funding.
Comply with applicable ethical and legal requirements.
Cooperate with reasonable editorial inquiries concerning the integrity of their work.
Promptly notify the Journal of any significant error discovered after publication.

Responsibilities of Editors

Editors are responsible for maintaining the fairness, integrity, and confidentiality of the editorial process.

Editors should:

Assess manuscripts objectively and independently.
Ensure appropriate peer review.
Protect confidential manuscript and review materials.
Manage conflicts of interest appropriately.
Provide clear editorial decisions where appropriate.
Respond to credible allegations of academic or publication misconduct.
Take reasonable measures to correct the scholarly record when significant errors or integrity concerns are identified.

Editors must not use unpublished information obtained through the editorial process for personal or professional purposes.

Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers are expected to:

Assess manuscripts objectively and on their scholarly merits.
Maintain confidentiality.
Provide constructive and academically grounded comments.
Identify relevant literature or legal authorities that should reasonably be considered.
Alert the editor to substantial similarities or potential misconduct.
Disclose conflicts of interest.
Complete reviews within the agreed timeframe or promptly decline the assignment if this is not possible.

Confidentiality

The editorial and peer-review process of SJIL is confidential.

Authors, reviewers, editors, and members of the editorial team must not disclose unpublished manuscripts, reviewer reports, editorial correspondence, or other confidential information to third parties without appropriate authorization.

Complaints and Appeals

Authors may raise concerns regarding editorial decisions or procedural matters by contacting the editorial office.

Complaints and appeals should clearly identify the basis of the concern and provide relevant supporting information where available. SJIL will consider such matters impartially and may involve an editor who was not directly responsible for the original decision where appropriate.

A disagreement with an editorial decision does not, by itself, constitute grounds for reversal. However, credible allegations of procedural irregularity, undisclosed conflict of interest, or significant error in the editorial process will be appropriately considered.

Post-Publication Corrections and Retractions

SJIL considers the integrity of the published scholarly record to be a continuing editorial responsibility.

Where a published article contains an error that affects its accuracy or clarity but does not undermine the work as a whole, the Journal may publish a correction or clarification.

Where a publication is subsequently found to contain serious problems that materially compromise its reliability or integrity, the Journal may issue an expression of concern or retract the article, as appropriate.

Corrections and retractions will be clearly identified and linked to the original publication in order to maintain transparency and preserve the integrity of the scholarly record.

Professional and Respectful Conduct

SJIL is committed to maintaining a professional and inclusive scholarly environment.

Authors, reviewers, editors, and readers are expected to communicate respectfully throughout the publication process. Disagreement concerning legal interpretation, methodology, doctrine, or scholarly argument is an ordinary part of academic discourse and should be expressed through reasoned scholarly criticism.

Harassment, discrimination, intimidation, personal attacks, or other inappropriate conduct is inconsistent with the standards of the Journal.

Commitment to Scholarly Integrity

SJIL is committed to ensuring that its publications contribute reliably and responsibly to the development of international legal scholarship, particularly scholarship engaging with legal issues of significance to the Global South.

The Journal may take appropriate editorial measures whenever necessary to protect the integrity of the publication process and the scholarly record.