About the Journal
Sources of Support
As part of its mission for knowledge creation, the journal is fully funded by Bahir Dar University.
Peer Review
Manuscript Review Procedure-1. Principle
1. The journal adheres to double blind review process: the reviewers shall not be let to know the identity of the author of contributions. Nor should authors be allowed to know the identity of the reviewer of their contributions.
2. Manuscript Review Procedure-2. Preliminary review:
1. There shall be initial screening of manuscripts for substantive and technical suitability for publication
2. The Editor-in-Chief shall acknowledge the receipt of a manuscript within one week
3. Manuscripts shall first be reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief for consistency with the editorial policy of the Journal.
4. The Editor-in-chief shall, after removing from the script all information identifying the author and assigning a code, forward the manuscript to two of the associate editors conversant with the subject, for preliminary review report.
5. The associate editors, in consultation with the Editor-in-chief, shall have three options of decisions: ‘accept manuscripts for further review’, ‘return it to author for revision’, or ‘reject it’;
6. The Editorial Board also decides on whether a manuscript is to be accepted as full length article or note/reflection .
3. Manuscript Review Procedure-3. Final review of manuscripts
1. If found acceptable at the preliminary review stage, a manuscript (feature articles, notes/reflections, and review article) shall be reviewed by one internal reviewer and one external reviewer who are well-conversant with the subject matter of the submission. For this purpose, the classification of internal and external reviewer refers to whether one is a staff member at the School or not.
2. In the absence of an internal reviewer, the submission may be referred to two external reviewers. However, the Editor-in-Chief may also refer feature articles to a third reviewer where he finds it necessary.
3. Notes/reflections may be reviewed by two internal reviewers, disregarding the requirement of external reviewer, where the Editor-in-Chief deems it adequate.
4. Case comments and book reviews shall be reviewed by at least one reviewer with appropriate expertise. However, the editor-in-chief may also refer these manuscripts to a second reviewer where he finds it necessary. The reviewers should be provided with the e-copy of the case/the book if available.
5. Letters and case reports shall be edited by Editorial board members.
4. Manuscript Review Procedure- 4. Review report on manuscripts
1. Reviewers will be requested to review and return the manuscript within fifteen days ;
2. The anonymous reviewers shall review the article based on the following criteria and assign point out of 100% and send back the feedbacks to the Editor-in-Chief .
The criteria are:
i. Clarity................10%
ii. Organization................15%
iii. Novelty and contribution to legal science...........25%
iv. Depth of scholarship...........25%
v. Documentation..............15%
vi. Relevancy to the Ethiopian legal system or international law....10%
3. The pass mark for eligibility of Manuscripts to be published is 60 points.
4. If a manuscript is rejected by one of the reviewers but accepted (with minor or major revision) by the other reviewer, the final decision shall be made based on the average mark.
5. Manuscripts that get an average point of less than 60 points shall be rejected and the decision shall immediately be communicated to the authors. However, a manuscript that gets an average point of less than 60, but with 20 or more points’ difference between the two reviewers shall be subject to referral to a third reviewer.
6. Reviewers shall report their decisions based on the evaluation form as to ‘accept as it is’, ‘accept with minor revision’, ‘accept with major revision’, or ‘reject’.
7. If a manuscript is accepted with modification, it will be returned to the author for revision.
8. Where manuscripts are accepted with ‘minor revision’, and revised by authors, the editor-in-chief shall assign two associate editors conversant with the subject to check if the comments are incorporated properly. If approved by associate editors in consultation with the Editor-in-Chief, the manuscript shall be accepted for publication
9. Manuscripts accepted with ‘major revision,’ and revised by authors, shall be sent, as far as possible, to previous reviewers for checking proper incorporation of comments. Where that is not feasible, the editor-in-chief shall assign two associate editors conversant with the subject to check if the comments are incorporated properly. If approved by reviewers and/or the associate editors, the manuscript shall be accepted for publication.
10. Accepted manuscripts shall go through the language edition process.
Publication Scheduling
This journal publishes twice a year.
General
Subscription information:
Hard copies are charged at a price of 75 Eth birr.
