Call for Papers: Lex ad Coelum by the Centre for Aviation and Space Laws, WBNUJS [Rolling Submissions]

Lex ad Coelum is the flagship journal of the Centre for Aviation and Space Laws, The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (WBNUJS). To promote discourse in the field of aviation and space laws, the Centre invites submissions on a rolling basis, so there is no fixed deadline. Authors are encouraged to review previous issues of the journal for ease and clarity of understanding.

Submissions are invited from scholars, practitioners and researchers. Student submissions need to be co-authored with a scholar, practitioner or researcher. Co-authorship is permitted, but the number of co-authors shall not exceed two.

• The write-up must deal with contemporary issues of international or domestic interest involving either aviation or space laws.
• An abstract of maximum 200 words must be submitted.
• The write-up must not exceed 3000 words in length (excluding the abstract).
• The title must not exceed 10 words, which is flexible at the Editors’ discretion in exceptional cases.
• Use subheadings so that readers can easily follow the arguments.

All submissions should be the original work of the author(s) and are passed through anti-plagiarism software. Any form of plagiarism will lead to automatic disqualification. Analytical papers will be preferred over descriptive ones. Quality is judged on novelty, relevance, quality, structure, logic, argumentation and writing style. Submissions may be accepted and rejected solely at the Editor’s discretion.

Authors are solely responsible and liable for any content in the article. Each author must comply with all applicable laws and regulations, including copyright laws, and takes full responsibility and liability for any damage caused by the contents of the article.

• The submission file must be in Microsoft Word document file format.
• Title: Garamond, Font 16, Bold, centre text.
• Keywords: Garamond, Size 14, justified.
• Body: Garamond, Size 14, justified, line spacing of 1.25, paragraph spacing of 12pt before and after each paragraph.
• Online references must be hyperlinks linked to keywords in the body of the submission. At the end of the write-up, the author lists only offline references.
• Offline references are listed under the heading Notes & References, linked to the text through endnotes with Arabic numbers, in Garamond, Font 13, justified, single line spacing, with paragraph spacing of 6pt before and after each note.
• Illustrations, figures and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.

The prescribed formats must be strictly followed for cases, books, articles from edited books, articles from journals, articles from colloquium proceedings and newspaper writings. Two of the examples given are:

• Cases: Asian Agricultural Products Ltd. (AAPL) v. Republic of Sri Lanka (1992) 30 ILM 577.
• Articles from Journals: Sandeepa Bhat B., ‘Inventions in Outer Space: Need for Reconsideration of the patent Regime’, Journal of Space Law, Vol. 36, No. 1, 2010, pp. 1 – 17 at p. 11.

If any source is available online, provide the hyperlink only. Where available, URLs for the references should be provided.

Authors check off compliance with the following in the portal, and submissions that do not adhere may be returned.

• The authors have read and agree to comply with the journal's policies, including the Copyright and Licensing Policy, Repository Policy, Archiving Policy, Publication Ethics Policy and Open Access Statement.
• The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration, or an explanation has been given in Comments to the Editor.
• The file is in Microsoft Word format, and the text follows the formatting and bibliographic requirements of the Author Guidelines.
• The abstract is included in the article and also uploaded in the abstract section.
• The author's affiliation and designation are in the field that asks for reviewers' details, and the ORCID ID is in the designated fields.

• Create an account at https://journals.nujs.edu/index.php/lac/login, log in, and click the Make a Submission button on the homepage.
• Provide an abstract not exceeding 200 words in the submission portal, and include five keywords that capture the essence of the piece.
• The body of the submission must not contain the author’s name(s) or any other personal information.
• Once a paper is submitted and under review, the author shall not submit the same piece anywhere else.

The journal describes its process as double-blind peer review of manuscripts.

Authors can be asked to revise a manuscript at any phase of the review process, so they must keep track of their email notifications and submissions account. All comments made by the reviewer must be addressed, and all edits must be made with the track changes option so that editors and reviewers can identify the modifications. Reviewers may point out missing or incorrect citations, so authors should check every reference for accuracy and completeness and update any source flagged as outdated or irrelevant.

All queries regarding any submission go to casl@nujs.edu.

Authors retain copyright of their work. Articles are published as © [Author(s)], published in Lex ad Coelum with permission. The journal receives an exclusive, perpetual and irrevocable license to publish the article in print and online, distribute it to indexing and abstracting services, archive it in institutional or journal repositories, and make it available through closed-access channels for readers and libraries.

Published articles may not be reposted online, reprinted, reproduced or translated without written permission from the editorial board. After publication, authors shall not publish the article elsewhere in full or substantial part unless they have the written consent of the editorial board and acknowledge the first publication in Lex ad Coelum.

• Authors may share the pre-print version (the original submitted manuscript, before peer review) on personal or institutional non-commercial repositories, with a citation and link to the final version once published.
• Authors may use the content in academic teaching, presentations or dissertations.
• Authors may include the published article in future compilations of their work, such as a thesis, monograph or edited volume, with prior permission and acknowledgement of Lex ad Coelum as the original publisher.
• Authors are solely responsible for obtaining permission for any third-party material, such as figures, tables, images or long quotations, which must be credited and the permissions submitted alongside the article.