Reviewer Conduct
Peer-Reviewed · Open Access · Law and Justice
Reviewer Conduct
The International Journal of Law and Justice (IJLJ) expects reviewers to handle every manuscript with professionalism, discretion, impartiality, and respect. Reviewers are trusted with unpublished academic work and should take appropriate care when reading, commenting on, and handling material received during the review process, including legal arguments, case analyses, statutory interpretations, and other confidential research materials.
Confidentiality
Manuscripts under review and information associated with them should be treated as confidential. Reviewers should not share a manuscript, reviewer report, editorial correspondence, or other review-related material with colleagues, students, or other individuals unless the editorial team has given permission.
Information obtained through peer review should not be discussed outside the review process. Reviewers should also take reasonable care when storing or accessing manuscript files and other confidential material, particularly where manuscripts contain unpublished legal analysis, sensitive case-related information, personal data, or restricted materials.
Use of Unpublished Information
Reviewers must not use unpublished ideas, legal arguments, findings, data, methods, case analyses, statutory interpretations, or other information obtained from a manuscript for their own research, publication, teaching, professional activities, or other purposes.
A reviewer should not take advantage of information obtained through the review process before it becomes publicly available.
Reviewer Comments
Review comments should be written in a professional and respectful manner. Criticism should address the manuscript and its academic content rather than the author.
Comments should be clear enough for the editor to understand the reviewer's concerns and, where appropriate, for authors to understand what may need clarification or improvement. Where relevant, reviewers should explain concerns regarding legal reasoning, the interpretation of legislation or judicial decisions, the accuracy of legal citations, and the use of supporting authorities.
Reviewers should avoid comments that are offensive, dismissive, discriminatory, or unrelated to the academic assessment of the manuscript.
Independent Review
A reviewer should prepare their own assessment of the manuscript and should not allow another person to review the manuscript on their behalf without prior permission from the editorial team.
Reviewers should not attempt to influence the editorial process or communicate directly with authors about a manuscript under review unless the editorial team specifically authorizes such communication.
Handling Review Materials
Review materials should be handled carefully and should not be copied, circulated, or retained for purposes unrelated to the review.
When a review assignment has ended, reviewers should follow any instructions provided by the journal regarding access to or handling of review materials.
Reviewers should not upload confidential manuscripts or review materials to external AI tools or other third-party services where doing so could compromise confidentiality, privacy, copyright, intellectual property, or the journal's review procedures.
Reviewer Conduct Concerns
If a reviewer becomes aware of a concern involving the confidentiality or proper handling of a manuscript, they should inform the editorial team promptly.
Concerns about reviewer conduct may be considered under the journal's Complaints and Appeals policy where appropriate.
This policy should be read together with the journal's Peer Review Process, Conflict of Interest, Generative AI Policy, and Complaints and Appeals policies.