Author Guidelines

Scope and Aims

Veritas Legalis publishes original, previously unpublished scholarly work in law and socio-legal studies.

The journal welcomes rigorous contributions including doctrinal analysis, comparative law, empirical legal research, and law and policy commentary. Submissions must make a clear scholarly contribution and must not be under review by another journal or publication outlet at the time of submission.

Manuscript Types and Length

Word limits apply to the manuscript as specified below. Authors should observe the prescribed range before submission.

Word counts include footnotes but exclude the abstract, keywords, and bibliography.

General Formatting

For spelling and usage, authors should use the Oxford English Dictionary as the reference standard. Examples include organisation, labour, and analyse.

Title Page

The title page must be submitted separately from the main manuscript to preserve the integrity of blind peer review.

• Full title, maximum 20 words, bold, 16 pt and centred.
• Full name(s) of author(s).
• Institutional affiliation.
• ORCID iD, where available.
• Corresponding author's email address.
• Short running title, maximum 8 words.
• Word count excluding abstract, keywords and references.
• Acknowledgements and funding statement, where applicable.
• Conflict of interest declaration.

Abstract

The abstract should be between 150 and 250 words and written as a single paragraph in English.

It should contain no citations and should not use sub-headings. The structure should implicitly communicate the background or problem, research objective or question, methodology, principal findings or argument, and implication or conclusion.

Use the past or present tense as appropriate. First-person plural (“we”) should generally be avoided unless appropriate to multi-authored empirical research.

Keywords

Provide exactly five keywords or short phrases, separated by semicolons. Keywords should be arranged alphabetically or by relevance and placed immediately below the abstract.

Structure of the Article

Authors should use a logical and transparent structure. The following sequence is recommended:

1. Introduction — problem statement, research question, significance and structure.
2. Literature Review / Legal Framework — may be merged into the Introduction for shorter pieces.
3. Research Methodology — research type, approach, data and sources.
4. Discussion / Analysis — substantive analysis divided into thematically titled sections.
5. Conclusion and Recommendations.
6. Bibliography / List of References.
7. Appendices, where necessary.

6.1 Heading Levels and Numbering

Use a decimal numbering system and do not normally exceed three numbered heading levels.

Avoid a fourth numbered level. Further subdivision should use unnumbered run-in italic phrases.

Emphasis: Bold, Italics and Underlining

Bold

Bold should be reserved for the article title, principal headings, and, sparingly, key terms at first use in a definitional sentence.

Italics

Italics should be used for:

• foreign-language and Latin legal terms, such as ratio decidendi, obiter dictum, ultra vires;
• case names in text and citations;
• titles of books and journals in citations; and
• genuine emphasis, used sparingly.

Underlining

Underlining is not used in ordinary body text. It is reserved for statutory or draft-legislation extracts where it conventionally indicates proposed insertions.

Capitalisation

ALL CAPITALS should generally be avoided except for defined acronyms after their full form has first been introduced.

Quotations

Quotations of fewer than 40 words should be incorporated into the text in double quotation marks, with single quotation marks for a quotation within a quotation.

Any alteration to a quotation must be identified using square brackets or an ellipsis in square brackets, such as [...].

Citation Style and Footnotes

OSCOLA, 4th edition, is the recommended citation standard.

Legal scholarship should use footnotes rather than author-date citations, following the Oxford Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA) or another jurisdiction-appropriate equivalent where expressly required.

General Rules

• Footnote markers appear after punctuation.
• Footnotes are numbered consecutively throughout the article.
• Each footnote ends with a full stop.
• Pinpoint citations follow the principal citation, preceded by a comma.
• Subsequent citations use an abbreviated form or ibid. where appropriate.
• op. cit. and loc. cit. should not be used.

Illustrative Formats

Bibliography / List of References

The bibliography should appear at the end of the article and should be headed “Bibliography” or “List of References”.

Entries should be arranged alphabetically by author surname, followed chronologically for multiple works by the same author.

Recommended Categories

1. Books
2. Journal Articles
3. Legislation / Statutes
4. Case Law / Court Decisions
5. International Instruments / Treaties
6. Online Sources / Reports

Tables and Figures

• Number tables and figures consecutively.
• Place concise captions above tables.
• Place figure captions below figures.
• Refer explicitly to each table or figure before it appears.
• Provide a source line beneath reproduced or adapted material.
• Use Times New Roman 11 pt and single spacing within tables.

Transliteration, Non-English Terms and Abbreviations

Non-English legal terms retained in the original language should be italicised at each occurrence unless they have become naturalised English usage or are otherwise governed by house style.

Abbreviations and acronyms should be written in full at first mention, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. The abbreviation may then be used consistently thereafter.

Statutory and case abbreviations should follow the Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations where applicable.

Numbers, Dates and Punctuation

• Spell out numbers one to nine; use numerals for 10 and above, except at the beginning of a sentence.
• Use dates in the format 5 September 2026.
• Use single quotation marks as the default convention.
• Use double quotation marks for a quotation within a quotation where required by the house style.
• Use the Oxford comma sparingly and consistently.
• Use the percentage symbol with numerals, for example 45%.
• Use an en dash for number ranges and an em dash for parenthetical breaks.

Research Ethics and Declarations

Authors should provide appropriate declarations concerning the ethical conduct and transparency of their research.

• Research ethics compliance statement, particularly for empirical or human-subjects research.
• Conflict of interest declaration.
• Funding acknowledgement, including funding body and grant number where applicable.
• Data availability statement where empirical data underpin the analysis.

Peer Review and Submission Checklist

Complete the following checks before submitting your manuscript.

• The manuscript has been fully anonymised for blind peer review.
• The abstract contains between 150 and 250 words and exactly five keywords are provided.
• The manuscript falls within the applicable word-count range.
• British English spelling and usage are consistent throughout.
• All headings follow the prescribed decimal numbering system.
• All citations follow OSCOLA footnote conventions and are consecutively numbered.
• The bibliography is alphabetised and appropriately categorised.
• The manuscript contains an adequate and sufficiently current reference base.
• Tables and figures are numbered, captioned and explicitly referenced in the text.
• The title page and anonymised main manuscript are prepared as separate files.