Central University of Karnataka Journal of Legal Studies (CUKJLS): Rolling Call for Submissions for Upcoming Issues

The Central University of Karnataka Journal of Legal Studies (CUKJLS) is the official journal of the Department of Law, School of Legal Studies, Central University of Karnataka, Kalaburagi. It is a biannual, international, double-blind peer-reviewed, open-access law journal: two issues are published each year, in December and June. Volume 1 Issue I (Winter, December 2025) and Volume 1 Issue 2 (Summer, June 2026) are already online.

ISSN (Online): 3139-4345 | ISSN (Print): 3139-4485. The journal describes itself as a non-profit initiative and lists Google Scholar, ROAD, The Keepers Registry, Zenodo, OpenAIRE and IP Indexing among its indexing partners. The Editor-in-Chief is Prof. (Dr.) Basavaraj M. Kubakaddi, Dean, School of Legal Studies, and the Executive Editor is Dr. Jayanta Boruah, Assistant Professor, Department of Law.

The journal's website carries a standing call: submissions are invited for its upcoming issues on a rolling basis, with no closing date stated. Original, unpublished manuscripts are accepted in the following categories, each with a minimum word count:

• Research Papers: minimum 5,000 words, with problem-oriented research questions, objectives, a literature review and an analytical conclusion
• Legislative Analysis: minimum 2,000 words, on laws, bills, policies, rules or regulations of any authority classified as a State
• Case Commentaries: minimum 1,500 words, on judgments of judicial or quasi-judicial bodies worldwide; commentaries on cases still pending before a court are not accepted
• Book / Article Reviews: minimum 1,500 words, on prominent law books or articles in reputable journals

The Board of Editors may also publish lectures and speeches of eminent jurists or scholars.

Research on any topic connected to contemporary legal affairs is welcome. Submissions should either focus directly on law or establish a clear connection with legal theories or subject matter, including analyses of legal institutions, societal institutions shaping legal developments, foundational theories of jurisprudence, interdisciplinary studies incorporating legal interpretation, hypothetical scenarios on the trajectory of legal developments, and international or national events with the potential to affect legal issues.

Branches mentioned by the journal include Human Rights, Humanitarian Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Environmental Law, Public and Private International Law, Air and Space Law, Drone Law, Martial Law, Sports Law and Fashion Law. The journal will not publish comments on cases pending in any court, political opinions, discriminatory content or offensive material.

All interested authors who possess knowledge of the subject matter of law, or intend to deal with a topic of law, may submit. There is no minimum age or qualification requirement, provided all authors fulfil the requirements of the journal and maintain academic integrity.

Co-authorship is limited to a maximum of two, and in no case can authorship increase to more than three.

• Abstract: mandatory for every category, not exceeding 250 words, followed by 4 to 6 keywords; manuscripts without an abstract and keywords are summarily rejected
• Title: Times New Roman 14, bold, centred, capital letters, 1.5 spacing
• Abstract and keywords: Times New Roman 11, bold, italics, justified, single spacing
• Body: Times New Roman 12, 1.5 line spacing, justified, 0.5 inch margins on all sides, no page numbers
• Headings: main headings in bold capitals; sub-headings with Roman numerals in bold; sub-sub headings in italics
• Citations: APA style; both in-text citations and expanded references are accepted; citations from unauthorised blogs may lead to rejection
• Figures, tables and diagrams: centrally aligned, named below the figure and cited by footnote; self-created figures must be marked as such; images must be editable and at least 300 dpi

The manuscript must not contain any author details; the file should be saved under the title of the submission. A separate cover letter must give the name, designation, institution, email and phone number of every author. The submission checklist also requires a copyright agreement, a declaration form (publishing agreement) and formal photographs of all authors.

• File format: the author guidelines accept Word files (.doc or .docx); the submission page states that *.doc is the accepted format. PDF submissions are treated as rejected
• Plagiarism: the permissible similarity limit is 10 per cent; submissions beyond it are summarily rejected
• Submissions must be original, unpublished and not under consideration elsewhere; gender-neutral terminology is required; defamatory, political or insulting comments are not allowed
• Copyright in published articles is transferred to the journal after publication, while authors retain their moral rights; articles are published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence, and the review policy gives authors the right to self-archive their published work and to store it in non-commercial educational or institutional repositories with proper attribution

The journal follows a four-stage double-blind peer review. Stage 1 is a technical review of the similarity index, AI content, formatting and references, after which eligible papers are assigned codes with all personal details removed. In Stage 2 each paper is sent to a minimum of three reviewers, who may reject, recommend changes or accept. In Stage 3 the editors decide on the majority opinion and may return the paper for revisions or refer it to further reviewers. In Stage 4 the Board of Editors takes the final publication decision. Authors are kept informed of the status of their submission through the author dashboard.

The journal describes itself as a non-profit, open-access initiative, and its author guidelines, submission checklist and publication policy list no submission or publication fee. Benefits stated for authors include access to the soft copy of the journal, a free DOI, free indexing in all search engines and databases where the journal is indexed, an HTML version of the publication on the journal site, free promotion of published manuscripts on the organisation's social media, and editorial feedback for amendments.

Submissions are accepted on a rolling basis for upcoming issues; the journal states no closing date. Create an author account on the journal portal (Register as Author), log in, and upload the manuscript with the cover letter, copyright agreement, declaration form and author photographs. Submission status can be tracked through the author dashboard. General queries on the journal, submission guidelines and review may be sent to the Board of Editors at editorcukjls@cuk.ac.in. Where a manuscript contains figures, diagrams or images, a high-resolution PDF version of each image must also be emailed separately, referencing the manuscript submitted through the portal.