Author Guidelines

1. Author Guidelines

1.1 Before you submit

Judex Journal of Judicial Studies (JJJS) publishes original scholarship on courts, judging, and the administration of justice. Before submitting, authors should confirm that the manuscript falls within the journal's Focus and Scope, that it addresses a judicial, procedural, or institutional question rather than substantive legal doctrine alone, and that it has not been published elsewhere and is not under consideration by another journal.

By submitting, the author confirms that the work is original, that all persons who meet the criteria for authorship are named, that any use of the work of others is properly attributed, and that the author accepts the journal's Publication Ethics.

1.2 Language

JJJS publishes exclusively in English. Manuscripts must be submitted in English in their entirety, including the title, abstract, keywords, main text, tables, figures, footnotes, and references.

Translations of judicial decisions, statutory provisions, and other primary sources should be rendered into English. Where precision requires it, the original term may be retained in italics and in parentheses after the English rendering, for example judex facti or peninjauan kembali (extraordinary review).

Authors are responsible for the linguistic quality of their submissions. Manuscripts whose standard of English would impede substantive assessment may be returned before peer review. Authors whose first language is not English are encouraged to arrange professional language editing prior to submission. Following acceptance, the editorial team undertakes copy-editing for style and consistency, but this does not extend to the substantive rewriting of unclear text.

1.3 Types of manuscripts and length

Type	Length (excluding references)	Description
Research article	6,000–9,000 words	Original doctrinal, empirical, socio-legal, historical, or comparative analysis
Case note or judgment commentary	3,000–5,000 words	Critical analysis of a significant decision and its implications
Comparative study	6,000–9,000 words	Sustained comparison of two or more judicial systems
Review essay	4,000–6,000 words	Assessment of the state of scholarship in a defined area
Book review	1,500–2,500 words	Review of a recent work on courts, procedure, or adjudication

Manuscripts falling materially outside these ranges should be discussed with the editorial office before submission.

1.4 Structure of the manuscript

Title. No more than 15 words. The title should identify the judicial question at issue, not merely the legal field.

Abstract. 200–250 words, in a single unstructured paragraph. The abstract must state the problem, the method, the principal findings, and the contribution of the article. It should not contain citations, abbreviations, or undefined terms.

Keywords. Four to six keywords, separated by semicolons, ordered alphabetically.

Main text. Research articles should ordinarily follow this structure:

Introduction. The judicial or procedural problem, the gap in existing scholarship, the research question, and the argument advanced.
Method. The materials examined and the approach taken. Doctrinal articles should identify the statutes, decisions, and sources analysed and explain the basis on which decisions were selected. Empirical and socio-legal articles should describe data collection, sampling, and analysis, and should address research ethics where human subjects are involved.
Analysis and discussion. Divided into substantive sections with descriptive headings. Purely descriptive restatement of statutory provisions or judicial reasoning should be kept to the minimum necessary to support the analysis.
Conclusion. The findings, their implications for the courts or for procedural law, the limitations of the study, and directions for further research. The conclusion should not introduce new material.

Case notes may depart from this structure but must include the case citation in full, a concise statement of the facts and procedural history, the holding, and a critical analysis of the reasoning.

Headings are numbered to a maximum of three levels.

1.5 Citation of legal sources

Consistency in the citation of primary legal sources is assessed during indexing review, and authors should follow these conventions closely.

Statutes. Cite the original title on first mention, followed by an English translation in square brackets, then use a short form thereafter. Example: Undang-Undang Nomor 20 Tahun 2025 tentang Hukum Acara Pidana [Law No. 20 of 2025 on Criminal Procedure], hereafter the 2025 KUHAP.

Judicial decisions. Cite the court, the decision number, and the date. Example: Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia, Decision No. 65/PUU-XXI/2023, 28 September 2023. For foreign and international decisions, use the citation form conventional in the jurisdiction or tribunal concerned.

Pinpoint references. Cite the specific article, paragraph, or page relied on rather than the instrument as a whole.

Online sources. Provide the full URL and the date of access. Unofficial sources should not be used where an official text is available.

1.6 References

References follow APA 7th edition and must be prepared using reference management software such as Mendeley or Zotero.

A research article should cite a minimum of 30 references, of which at least 80 per cent should be primary sources or peer-reviewed journal articles published within the last ten years. DOIs must be supplied for every reference that has one. Excessive self-citation and citation of predatory or unindexed outlets will be raised during review.

Authors are encouraged to engage with international scholarship on courts and adjudication, not only with domestic literature, so that the article is legible to readers outside the jurisdiction under study.

1.7 Format of the file

Manuscripts must be submitted as a Microsoft Word file (.doc or .docx) prepared using the journal's template, which is available on the journal website. PDF submissions are not accepted.

Tables and figures should be embedded at the point of discussion, numbered consecutively, and given a caption above tables and below figures. Each must be referred to in the text. Figures should be legible in greyscale. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce any material in which copyright subsists.

1.8 Anonymity

JJJS operates double-anonymous peer review. The manuscript file must not identify the author. Authors should remove their names, affiliations, acknowledgements, and funding statements from the manuscript file, enter these in the OJS metadata instead, and ensure that identifying information is stripped from the file properties.

Self-citation should be phrased in the third person, for example "Irawan (2025) argues", rather than "as I have argued elsewhere". References to the author's own work need not be removed.

1.9 Author declarations

At submission, authors must provide through the OJS interface:

Authorship statement. The contribution of each author, following the CRediT taxonomy. Authorship is limited to those who made a substantial contribution to the conception, analysis, or drafting of the work and who approved the final version.
Conflict of interest statement. Any financial, professional, or personal relationship that could be perceived to influence the work, including judicial or prosecutorial office held by an author in relation to any case analysed. Where none exists, this should be stated.
Funding statement. The funder and grant number, or a statement that no external funding was received.
Data availability statement. For empirical work, where the underlying data may be accessed, or the reason access is restricted.
Generative artificial intelligence statement. See section 2.7 of the Publication Ethics.
ORCID identifier for each author.

1.10 The submission process

Submissions are made through the journal's Open Journal Systems platform. Authors must register an account; submissions by electronic mail are not processed.

After submission, the editorial office confirms receipt and conducts an initial check for scope, format, language, and originality. Authors are informed of the outcome of this check, and of the editorial decision following peer review, through the OJS system.

1.11 Copyright and licensing

Authors retain copyright in their work. Articles are published under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) licence, which permits others to share and adapt the work for any purpose, provided that the original work is attributed and that derivative works are distributed under the same licence.

By submitting, authors grant JJJS the right of first publication.

1.12 Fees

[To be confirmed. State either that the journal levies no submission or article processing charges, or the amount of any charge and the stage at which it falls due. DOAJ requires this statement to be unambiguous and displayed prominently, and a journal that charges nothing must say so explicitly rather than remaining silent.]