Guide for Authors
Author Guidelines
Introduction
Justitia Nova: Indonesian Journal of Modern Law is an international, peer-reviewed, fully open-access journal published by the Faculty of Sharia and Law, Institut Miftahul Huda Al Azhar, Indonesia. The journal provides a scholarly platform for the publication of original and high-quality legal research that contributes to the advancement of law, justice, governance, public policy, and sustainable legal development at national, regional, and global levels.
The journal welcomes manuscripts from academics, researchers, legal practitioners, judges, policymakers, doctoral candidates, and postgraduate students. Submitted manuscripts are expected to demonstrate originality, academic rigor, methodological soundness, and a clear contribution to contemporary legal scholarship. Justitia Nova accommodates a broad range of legal research approaches, including doctrinal, normative, empirical, comparative, socio-legal, interdisciplinary, and policy-oriented research.
The journal publishes Original Research Articles, Review Articles, Conceptual Papers, and Case Analyses. All submissions undergo an initial editorial assessment, similarity screening, and rigorous Double-Blind Peer Review conducted by independent experts. Editorial decisions are based primarily on academic merit, originality, methodological quality, legal significance, and relevance to the journal's aims and scope.
Before submitting a manuscript, authors are expected to read these Author Guidelines carefully and ensure full compliance with the journal's editorial, ethical, technical, and formatting requirements. Submission of a manuscript constitutes confirmation that the authors have understood and agreed to these requirements. Authors must confirm that the manuscript is original, has not been previously published, and is not simultaneously under consideration by another journal. Authors also agree to comply with the journal's policies on publication ethics, research integrity, plagiarism, conflicts of interest, copyright, open access, Artificial Intelligence, and peer review.
Manuscripts that fail to meet the journal's minimum academic, ethical, or technical requirements may be returned to authors for correction or declined before entering external peer review. Through these guidelines, Justitia Nova seeks to facilitate an efficient editorial process while maintaining rigorous standards of scholarly communication and legal research.
Before You Submit
Before submitting a manuscript, authors should carefully assess whether their work is appropriate for Justitia Nova. The manuscript should fall clearly within the journal's Aims and Scope, address a significant legal issue, demonstrate an original scholarly contribution, and employ an appropriate and clearly explained research methodology. The manuscript must not have been published previously and must not be simultaneously submitted to another journal.
Authors are responsible for ensuring that all individuals listed as authors have made substantial intellectual contributions to the research and manuscript. All authors must approve the final version of the manuscript and agree to its submission. The corresponding author assumes responsibility for communication with the Editorial Office throughout the editorial and publication process.
Authors must ensure that their research complies with applicable ethical standards and the journal's Publication Ethics Policy. All sources must be properly acknowledged, potential conflicts of interest must be disclosed, applicable funding sources must be declared, and necessary permissions must be obtained for copyrighted materials. Where research involves human participants, interviews, surveys, personal data, or other activities requiring ethical oversight, appropriate ethical approval must be obtained.
Before submission, authors should ensure that the manuscript follows the official journal template, is written in clear and professional English, contains an accurate title, informative abstract, appropriate keywords, properly prepared tables and figures, and complete and consistent references. All in-text citations must correspond to entries in the reference list, and bibliographic information should be carefully verified.
Where Artificial Intelligence tools have been used during manuscript preparation, authors must comply with the journal's AI Policy. AI systems may assist with limited aspects of manuscript preparation, but they cannot be listed as authors, and authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and scholarly quality of the submitted work.
Submission also constitutes confirmation that the manuscript is original, all authors have approved the submission, all required files have been provided, and the manuscript complies with the journal's ethical and technical requirements. The Editorial Office may conduct an initial assessment of scope, academic quality, formatting, ethical compliance, and similarity before determining whether the manuscript proceeds to external peer review.
Types of Manuscripts
Justitia Nova publishes several categories of scholarly manuscripts. Original Research Articles constitute the principal manuscript category and present original legal research that makes a meaningful contribution to legal scholarship. Such research may employ doctrinal, normative, empirical, comparative, socio-legal, interdisciplinary, or policy-oriented approaches. Manuscripts should contain a clearly formulated research problem, appropriate methodology, comprehensive legal analysis, evidence-based findings, and a clearly articulated scholarly contribution.
Review Articles provide critical and comprehensive examinations of existing scholarship on a particular legal issue. Rather than merely summarizing previous literature, review articles should identify developments in the field, evaluate competing perspectives, identify knowledge gaps, and propose directions for future research.
Conceptual Papers develop theoretical perspectives, legal concepts, analytical models, or frameworks that contribute to the advancement of legal thought. These manuscripts should demonstrate original reasoning, a strong theoretical foundation, logical argumentation, and clear scholarly significance.
Case Analyses examine important judicial decisions, landmark cases, legislative developments, or other significant legal events. Such manuscripts should identify the principal legal issues, examine relevant legislation and jurisprudence, critically evaluate legal reasoning, and explain the broader implications for legal doctrine, legal practice, governance, or public policy.
Regardless of manuscript category, submissions must demonstrate originality, scholarly significance, methodological or analytical rigor, relevance to the journal's scope, clear English-language presentation, accurate citation, and compliance with publication ethics. The Editor-in-Chief may determine the most appropriate manuscript category and may recommend reclassification where necessary.
Manuscript Preparation
Authors are responsible for ensuring that manuscripts satisfy the academic, technical, and linguistic standards of Justitia Nova. Manuscripts should be prepared in clear, concise, and professional English. Authors whose first language is not English are encouraged to obtain appropriate language editing before submission.
The recommended length for Original Research Articles is 7,000–10,000 words, Review Articles 8,000–12,000 words, Conceptual Papers 6,000–9,000 words, and Case Analyses 5,000–8,000 words. These ranges include the principal manuscript components and references. Manuscripts should be submitted in Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx), with tables and figures appropriately incorporated into the manuscript.
Authors are required to use the official Justitia Nova manuscript template. Manuscripts should generally use A4 paper size, a single-column layout, consistent typography, consecutive page numbering, and clearly structured headings and subheadings, subject to the specifications contained in the official template.
The title should be concise, informative, specific, and accurately represent the principal legal issue examined. It should normally contain no more than 15 words and should avoid unnecessary abbreviations, symbols, and technical terminology.
Each manuscript must contain an English-language abstract of approximately 200–250 words. The abstract should independently communicate the research background, objectives, methodology, principal findings, and conclusion without references, footnotes, tables, or figures. Authors should provide four to six relevant keywords that accurately represent the principal themes of the manuscript and facilitate indexing and discoverability.
Abbreviations should be defined at their first occurrence and used consistently thereafter. Tables and figures must be numbered consecutively, have informative titles or captions, be cited in the main text, and provide source information where material has been reproduced or adapted from another work. Visual materials should be of sufficient quality for publication and should not contain unnecessary decorative elements.
Justitia Nova adopts APA 7th Edition for citation and referencing. Authors must ensure that all citations correspond to entries in the reference list and that all references listed are cited within the manuscript. Digital Object Identifiers should be included whenever available. Authors are strongly encouraged to use recognized reference-management software such as Zotero, Mendeley, or EndNote to improve citation accuracy and consistency.
Manuscript Structure
Manuscripts should follow a logical and coherent scholarly structure appropriate to their research design. The title should clearly communicate the subject of the study and contain no more than 15 words. The title page should provide the full names of all authors, institutional affiliations, department or faculty where applicable, country, ORCID iD where available, and the email address of the corresponding author.
The abstract should contain approximately 200–250 words and clearly communicate the background, objectives, methodology, principal findings, conclusion, and significance of the research. It should be understandable independently of the full manuscript and should not contain citations, tables, figures, or footnotes. Four to six keywords should accompany the abstract.
Authors are encouraged to include three to five concise Research Highlights summarizing the principal findings, originality, and significance of the study.
The Introduction should establish the legal and scholarly context of the research, identify the relevant literature and current state of knowledge, demonstrate the research gap, formulate the research problem, state the objectives, and explain the novelty and contribution of the study. A separate literature review section is generally unnecessary unless required by the nature of the research.
The Research Method section should explain the research approach, design, sources of legal materials or empirical data, data collection procedures, analytical methods, legal interpretation, and comparative framework where applicable. The methodology should be sufficiently transparent to enable readers to understand how the research was conducted.
The Results and Discussion section constitutes the core of the manuscript. Authors should present and analyze their findings systematically, engage critically with legislation, jurisprudence, legal doctrines, empirical evidence, or relevant scholarship, and explain the theoretical and practical implications of the findings. Appropriate subheadings may be used to improve analytical clarity.
The Conclusion should directly answer the research objectives and summarize the principal findings and scholarly contribution. It should not introduce new arguments or evidence. Where appropriate, authors may briefly identify research limitations and recommendations for future research.
Where applicable, manuscripts should also include an Acknowledgements, Funding Statement, Author Contributions, Conflict of Interest Statement, Ethical Approval, Artificial Intelligence Disclosure, Data Availability Statement, and References.
The reference list should contain only works cited in the manuscript, follow APA 7th Edition consistently, and include complete bibliographic information and DOI information where available. Authors are encouraged to provide a minimum of 25 references, with at least 80% derived from peer-reviewed journal articles, while maintaining relevance and quality rather than pursuing numerical compliance alone.
Citation and References
Justitia Nova adopts the American Psychological Association (APA) 7th Edition citation and referencing style. Authors are responsible for ensuring that all sources used in the manuscript are accurately cited and properly acknowledged. Every in-text citation must correspond to an entry in the reference list, and every reference listed must be cited in the manuscript.
Authors should prioritize authoritative and high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed journal articles, academic books and chapters, legislation, judicial decisions, government publications, international conventions, official legal documents, and reports issued by reputable organizations. Excessive reliance on personal blogs, commercial websites, anonymous sources, or unverified online materials should be avoided.
Authors are encouraged to incorporate recent and relevant scholarly literature while retaining foundational legal authorities where historically, doctrinally, or legally necessary. As a general guideline, at least 80% of references should derive from peer-reviewed scholarly publications, and a substantial proportion should represent research published within the previous ten years.
DOIs should be provided whenever available using the standard DOI format. Authors should carefully verify author names, publication years, journal titles, volume and issue information, page ranges, URLs, and DOI links before submission.
Limited self-citation is acceptable where directly relevant to the research. However, excessive self-citation designed primarily to increase citation counts is inappropriate. The journal strictly prohibits citation manipulation, including coercive citation, citation stacking, citation cartels, artificial inflation of citation metrics, and the inclusion of irrelevant references for citation purposes. Suspected citation manipulation may result in editorial investigation and appropriate action.
Tables, Figures, and Supplementary Materials
Tables, figures, illustrations, photographs, maps, diagrams, charts, and supplementary materials should enhance the clarity and scholarly value of the manuscript. Authors should ensure that all visual materials are directly relevant, accurate, professionally prepared, and appropriately discussed within the manuscript.
Tables should be numbered consecutively, provided with concise and informative titles, and created in an editable format wherever possible. Figures should be numbered consecutively and accompanied by clear captions. All tables and figures must be cited in the main text before or at the point where they appear and should be positioned as close as possible to their first citation.
Authors are responsible for obtaining permission where copyrighted material is reproduced or adapted. Appropriate acknowledgement of the original source must always be provided. Visual materials should remain legible in both digital and printed formats and should avoid unnecessary colors, effects, or decorative elements that reduce readability.
Supplementary materials may include research instruments, datasets, extended tables, additional figures, legal documents, appendices, or multimedia files. Such materials should complement rather than duplicate the main manuscript and remain subject to editorial assessment and approval.
Research Ethics and Publication Integrity
Justitia Nova is committed to maintaining high standards of publication ethics, research integrity, and responsible scholarly communication. Authors are expected to conduct, present, and report their research honestly, transparently, and in accordance with internationally recognized ethical principles.
Submission of a manuscript confirms that the authors accept responsibility for the originality, accuracy, and integrity of their work. Manuscripts must not contain plagiarism, duplicate publication, redundant publication, fabricated findings, falsified information, manipulated evidence, or other forms of research misconduct.
Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made substantial intellectual contributions to the research and manuscript. All authors must approve the final manuscript and agree to its submission. Any changes to authorship after submission require appropriate justification and the agreement of all affected authors.
Authors must disclose actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest and declare all relevant sources of financial support. Where research requires ethical approval, the appropriate approval should be obtained before the research is conducted and reported in the manuscript.
Authors are responsible for ensuring copyright compliance and obtaining permission where required for reproduced or adapted materials. They also remain responsible for the integrity of their published work after publication and should promptly notify the Editorial Office if significant errors or ethical concerns are identified.
Detailed requirements are governed by the journal's Publication Ethics, Research Integrity, Plagiarism, Conflict of Interest, Copyright and Licensing, Open Access, AI, and Corrections, Retractions and Withdrawals policies.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy for Authors
Justitia Nova recognizes that Artificial Intelligence technologies may assist authors in certain aspects of manuscript preparation. However, authors remain fully responsible for the originality, accuracy, integrity, legal reasoning, and scholarly quality of their submissions.
AI-assisted tools may be used for limited purposes such as improving grammar, spelling, punctuation, readability, language clarity, manuscript organization, reference formatting, or translation. Any AI-assisted output must be carefully reviewed, verified, and appropriately edited by the authors.
Where significant AI assistance has been used in manuscript preparation, authors should disclose the tool used and the purpose of its use in accordance with the journal's AI Policy. Artificial Intelligence systems cannot be listed as authors or co-authors.
AI must not be used to fabricate or falsify research findings, generate fictitious references, manipulate legal evidence or research data, produce misleading interpretations, replace substantive scholarly judgment, or circumvent editorial and peer review procedures. Misuse of AI may be treated as research misconduct.
The use of AI does not transfer responsibility from authors to the technology. Authors remain accountable for every claim, citation, argument, interpretation, and conclusion contained in the submitted manuscript.
Submission Process
Manuscripts should be submitted electronically through the Justitia Nova Online Journal System (OJS). Before submission, authors should carefully review the Author Guidelines and ensure that all academic, technical, ethical, and administrative requirements have been satisfied.
The corresponding author is responsible for completing the submission information accurately and uploading the required files. The principal submission should consist of the manuscript prepared according to the official journal template. A title page, cover letter, and supplementary files may be submitted where applicable or requested by the Editorial Office.
By submitting a manuscript, the corresponding author confirms that the work is original, has not been previously published, is not under consideration elsewhere, and has been approved by all authors. The submission also confirms compliance with the journal's publication ethics and editorial policies.
Following successful submission, authors receive confirmation through the OJS system and may monitor the progress of their manuscript through their account. Editorial correspondence is conducted through OJS and the registered email address of the corresponding author.
Editorial Screening
Every submitted manuscript undergoes an initial editorial screening before consideration for external peer review. This process is intended to determine whether the manuscript meets the journal's academic, technical, ethical, and editorial requirements. Editorial screening is distinct from external peer review and does not constitute a guarantee of acceptance.
The Editorial Office first assesses the manuscript's suitability for the journal's Aims and Scope. Manuscripts that fall outside the journal's disciplinary focus may be declined without external review.
Editors subsequently evaluate technical compliance, including adherence to the official template, manuscript structure, English-language quality, citation style, reference completeness, and required declarations. Manuscripts requiring substantial technical correction may be returned to authors before further consideration.
All manuscripts are also subjected to similarity screening. The Editorial Office evaluates both the similarity percentage and the nature of the matched material because a similarity score alone does not establish plagiarism.
The editorial assessment also considers originality, novelty, research objectives, methodological appropriateness, quality of legal analysis, scholarly contribution, ethical compliance, authorship, conflicts of interest, funding disclosure, ethical approval where applicable, and responsible use of AI.
A manuscript may be declined at the editorial screening stage where it falls outside the journal's scope, lacks sufficient originality or scholarly contribution, demonstrates serious methodological weaknesses, fails to meet technical requirements, presents significant language deficiencies, or raises ethical concerns.
Following screening, the manuscript may proceed to external peer review, be returned to the authors for technical revision, or be declined without external review. All editorial decisions are made on academic, editorial, and ethical grounds.
Revision Process
Authors may be invited to revise manuscripts following editorial assessment and external peer review. Revision is intended to improve the manuscript's scholarly quality, analytical clarity, methodological rigor, and overall contribution.
Editorial decisions may include Accept, Minor Revision, Major Revision, or Reject. A request for revision does not constitute a guarantee of publication.
Authors submitting a revision should address all reviewer and editor comments carefully and provide a separate response document explaining how each substantive comment has been addressed. Where authors disagree with a recommendation, they should provide a clear and academically reasoned explanation.
Revised manuscripts should be submitted within the period specified by the Editorial Office. Authors requiring additional time should contact the Editorial Office before the deadline. Failure to respond within the specified period without prior communication may result in withdrawal from the editorial process.
Depending on the nature of the revisions, a revised manuscript may be assessed by the handling editor or returned to the original reviewers. Additional rounds of revision may be requested where necessary.
The final editorial decision is made by the Editor-in-Chief or designated Handling Editor after consideration of reviewer recommendations, the quality of revisions, and compliance with the journal's academic, ethical, and editorial standards.
Acceptance and Production
Following formal acceptance, a manuscript enters the production stage. The Editorial Office undertakes copyediting, typesetting, proofreading, and final preparation to ensure that the article meets the journal's publication standards.
Copyediting may address grammar, language quality, terminology, formatting, citation consistency, reference accuracy, and overall readability without altering the substantive legal arguments or scholarly findings of the article.
The manuscript is subsequently typeset for online publication, including the standardization of headings, tables, figures, and page layout. The corresponding author receives proofs for final review and is expected to identify typographical or formatting errors within the period specified by the Editorial Office. Substantial substantive changes should not normally be introduced at this stage.
Each published article receives a unique Digital Object Identifier (DOI), providing a permanent and citable digital record. Published articles become immediately accessible under the journal's Open Access model.
Authors remain responsible for reviewing the final published version and should promptly inform the Editorial Office of any significant errors discovered after publication.
Publication and Post-Publication
Following publication, articles in Justitia Nova become part of the permanent scholarly record. The journal is committed to maintaining the accessibility, integrity, transparency, and long-term preservation of published research.
All published articles are immediately and permanently available under the journal's Open Access policy without subscription or access charges. Authors retain copyright in accordance with the journal's Copyright and Licensing Policy, while published articles are made available under the applicable Creative Commons licensing terms.
The journal maintains digital preservation and archiving arrangements, including preservation through Zenodo, institutional repositories, and regular server backup procedures, to support long-term accessibility of published content.
Where necessary, the journal may publish corrections, errata, expressions of concern, or retractions in accordance with its editorial policies and recognized standards of publication ethics. Such post-publication actions are undertaken to preserve the accuracy and integrity of the scholarly record.
Authors remain responsible for the accuracy and integrity of their published work. Significant errors, inaccuracies, or ethical concerns should be reported promptly to the Editorial Office so that appropriate action can be taken.
The Editorial Office also seeks to strengthen the visibility and international dissemination of published research through appropriate indexing services, digital preservation initiatives, academic databases, and scholarly communication channels.