Call for Papers: Avantika Public Policy and Law Review, Volume 2 Issue 1 (Jan/Feb 2027 Edition)

The Avantika Public Policy and Law Review (APPLR) is a half-yearly, double-blind peer reviewed academic e-journal started in 2025 by the School of Law and Public Policy, Avantika University, Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh. It focuses on contemporary legal and policy issues of national and international relevance, and aims to engage scholars, practitioners, policymakers and students in legal research, reform and policy development.

The journal invites original and unpublished submissions for Volume 2, Issue 1, its Jan/Feb 2027 Edition. Dr. Nitin Rane, Vice Chancellor of Avantika University, is the Patron; Dr. Prakhar Puranik is Editor-in-Chief and Ms. Divya Ann Samuel is Managing Editor.

Original contributions from all areas of legal study are welcome, provided the work is contemporary, relevant and analytically rigorous. Themes include, but are not limited to:

Core legal domains

• Constitutional Law and Governance
• Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Reforms
• Corporate and Business Law
• Intellectual Property Law
• Environmental Law and Climate Change Governance
• Cyber Law and Data Protection
• Human Rights Law and Socio-Legal Studies
• Public Policy Formulation and Implementation

Emerging areas

• Artificial Intelligence and Legal Regulation
• Data Privacy in the Digital Economy
• Intersections of Technology and Public Policy
• Construction and Labour Laws

• Open to students, academicians and research scholars in Law, Public Policy, Humanities and Management.
• Co-authorship is permitted up to a maximum of two authors per submission.
• Only one submission per author at a time.
• Manuscripts must be original and unpublished; work under consideration elsewhere will be summarily rejected.

• Articles: 5,000 to 8,000 words
• Case Comments: 2,000 to 4,000 words
• Book Reviews: up to 1,500 words

Word limits are generally exclusive of footnotes and the abstract. All submissions except book reviews must carry an abstract of up to 300 words with 4 to 5 keywords.

• Microsoft Word format only (.doc or .docx); PDF or hard copy submissions are not accepted.
• Main text: Times New Roman, 12 pt, 1.5 line spacing, justified, 1-inch margins on all sides of an A4 page.
• Headings: first level numbered I, II, III (capitalised and bold); second level A, B, C (title case and bold); third level 1, 2, 3 (title case and italicised).
• Footnotes only, no endnotes or in-text citations: Times New Roman, 10 pt, single spacing, justified.
• Citation style: ILI Citation Style, followed uniformly. Speaking footnotes are discouraged.

All submissions are checked for plagiarism and AI generation using industry-standard software such as Turnitin. The Volume 2, Issue 1 call says submissions exceeding the acceptable similarity index (generally above 15%, excluding standard legal phrasing and quotes) will be summarily rejected. The journal's website submission policy is stricter: use of more than 10% plagiarised content makes a manuscript, case comment or book review subject to disqualification. Authors should keep similarity under 10%. Authors bear full responsibility for the accuracy of all facts and citations.

Review is double-blind in three tiers: preliminary screening for theme, word count, formatting and plagiarism; substantive review by anonymous peer reviewers and the Editorial Board; and a final decision, where authors may be asked to incorporate revisions. Under the journal's review policy, revised versions must be returned within 5 days, failing which the submission is treated as withdrawn.

The journal's review process page states that on acceptance the corresponding author receives an acknowledgement letter, a copyright licensing agreement form and a request to pay the publication fees. The amount is not stated on the official website or in the call. Copyright over published manuscripts vests with the journal.

• Email the manuscript to pplr@avantika.edu.in.
• Subject line: "Submission - [Manuscript / Case Comment / Book Review]", for example "Submission - Manuscript".
• Name the main manuscript file "APPLR_V2_I1". It must not contain any identifying information such as the author's name, institution or contact details.
• Include a separate cover letter (in the email body or as an attachment) with the title, author name(s), designation and institutional affiliation, contact number and email ID, and a brief declaration that the manuscript is original and has not been published or submitted elsewhere.
• Deadline: on or before 15 December 2026, 11:59 pm.