Author's Guidelines

TYPES OF ARTICLES

The Albanian Law Journal publishes analytical articles dealing with a variety of disciplines which have a law and policy focus. Articles will be categorized in one of the four thematic pillars: a) Albanian legislation; b) practical and administrative cases; c) human rights; d) EU and European Integration. Authors are advised to adapt their article to one of the following thematic pillars. One article may cover two or more categories, in these cases the Board of Editors will decide under which category the article will be published.

TYPES OF AUTHORS

The Albanian Law Journal intends to be as inclusive as possible. Therefore there are no stringent requirements for authors as long as quality requirements of the Articles are met. A minimum requirement for all authors is having obtained at least the first level of university degree. High quality Articles of university students who have not obtained their graduation yet, will be considered.  Authors bearing academic titles and important expertise in the field object of the article will be considered with priority. Each author submitting an article should provide their CV and a short bio of 150 - 200 words describing their academic and professional background.

AUTHORS RESPONSIBILITY

When submitting their articles, authors, are undertaking their own responsibility. Specifically it is the Author’s responsibility to ensure and warrant that:

- The submitted Article is an original work.

- The submitted Article does not contain any material that is libelous, in breach of any person’s copyright or other rights, in breach of any right of privacy, or in any other way unlawful.

- Written permission must have been obtained in advance from any copyright owner for the use in print and electronic form of any material that does not belong to the Author.

- In case there is more than one author, the name of the co-author should be mentioned and permission for publication from the co-author should be obtained by the submitting author. 

QUALITY REQUIREMENTS

The Albanian Law Journal will apply stringent quality requirements in order to provide its readers with high quality Articles. Each Article will be reviewed by the Board of Editors, which has the final decision on approving the submitted Articles.

ORIGINALITY

In accordance with academic and professional protocols, the Albanian Law Journal cannot accept an Article if it is not the author’s original work, has been published before, or is currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. Previously published Articles may only be published in the Albanian Law Journal if they are appositely re-edited by the Author. In this case, issues of copyright and permission of re-publishing the Article will be the responsibility of the Author after signing a self declaration in this regard.

An Article that has previously been under consideration with another publisher or journal may be published by the Albanian Law Journal after the author presents a formal written evidence of the rejection or withdrawal of the Article from the original place of submission, or a self declaration in this regard.

ETHICS

The Article must not contain any libelous or unlawful statements. The Article must express the free view and analysis of the author, under their own responsibility and must not be in breach of any person’s copyright or other rights, in breach of any right of privacy, or in any other way unlawful.

DECLARATION OF INTEREST

All authors are requested to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest including any financial, personal or other relationships with other people or organizations within 6 months of beginning the submitted work that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, their work.

WRITING REQUIREMENTS

- Length - Articles should normally consist of 2.500-5.500 words (excluding figures, tables and references), although high-quality Articles which exceed 5.500 words will be considered.

- Language – Articles will be published either in Albanian or English thus Articles may be submitted in both languages. In case English language is used the author should write the Article in UK or US English, but not a mix of both languages. Authors who are not familiar with academic English are encouraged to submit the Article in Albanian. Translation will be provided by the translator of the Albanian Law Journal.  

- Format - Articles may be formatted in single spacing, in Times New Roman size 12 fonts. The text should be in single-column format. All accepted Articles will be formatted for publication.

- Structure – Articles should contain at least the following: the title which should be concise and informative and should not contain any abbreviation; the abstract, max 100 words clearly describing the topic; most important keywords of the topic underneath the abstract; abbreviation; the analytical part containing the analysis of the topic; conclusions and recommendations of the author. New events (legislative or other) affecting the topic should be properly described and further expected developments mentioned.  

- References and Notes – References and notes should be placed in the form of a footnote at the end of each page and contain the following information: Author (s) name and initials; publication date; title of the book or Article in italics; city (if applicable); volume and edition number (if applicable); publisher and page numbers. References should be made only to works that are published by publishers, universities, or well known international organizations and state authorities. References of Articles accessible online should contain the web link. 

- Abbreviations – Abbreviations must be used sparely. Abbreviations that are unavoidable must be defined at their first mention. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the Article.

SELECTION PROCEDURE

The selection procedure of the Articles is driven by the principles of quality, impartiality, novelty and thorough review. Submitted articels will go through two review stages. The first stage is preliminary review and the second stage is the final review of the Board of Editors which will give the approval for publishing.

The Board of Editor will conduct the preliminary review of submitted Articles, based on the quality requirements and other requirements contained in these guidelines. Articles which are not considered sufficiently original, have serious scientific flaws, have poor grammar or language, or are outside the aims and scope of the journal will be rejected at the preliminary stage, through a written notice sent by e-mail to the submitting author. Articles that meet the minimum criteria are going to be evaluated for the final review.

The Board of Editors will review the Articles submitted and will select the ones which are found conform to the needs of the specific Issue of the Law Journal. The Board may ask Authors to review and edit their Articles. After final approval of the Board of Editors, each Author, whose Article has been selected for publishing, will sign a Submission and Publication Agreement. The Agreement will contain publishing terms and conditions, copyright issues and the financial reward to be provided to each author. All communications among authors and the Board of Editors will be exchanged through e-mail.

COPYRIGHT

The author must be the owner of the copyright. In case the copyright is owned by another person and/or company (ex. Employer), the written permission for publishing the Article is required by the copyright’s owner. Upon the signing of the Agreement, the author will transfer and assign copyrights to the Albanian Law Journal. This assignment provides the Albanian Law Journal with the sole right and responsibility to publish the Article, including distribution rights of the Article, in both printed and electronic form as may be appropriate. The Article may be published in printed, online, CD-ROM or in other media formats. The  Board of Editors are empowered to make such editorial changes as may be necessary to make the Article suitable for publication, by providing prior written notice to the author if substantive changes are required

Transferring the copyright to the Albanian Law Journal does not mean that the Author loses these rights. The Author will also retain her/his copyrights and specifically the following:

- Patent and trademark rights.

- The right to be identified as the Author

-The right to use the Article in the Author’s research, and teaching courses

- The right to incorporate the content of the Article in other works of the Author.

When using the copyright for research and teaching purposes, the Author must provide the acknowledgement in the form of a full citation must to the Albanian Law Journal as the original source of publication, together with a link to the Journal web page.

FEES

Articles published in the Albanian Law Journal are free of charge for authors and will be under the open access regime. Open access regime means that articles will be freely accessible to all readers accessing the Albanian Law Journal online. The access to all readers will be free of charge and without subscription.

SUBMISSION

Interested authors shall submit the electronic draft of their Articles to the e-mail address: info@em-al.org

All communications among authors and the Editorial Office regarding the Article, amendments, reviews etc. will be in writing through e-mail.