About the Journal

The University of Johannesburg (UJ) has always been a center for academic excellence and innovation in legal education. With a focus on nurturing young legal minds and fostering intellectual debate, we are excited to announce the launch of the University of Johannesburg Student Law Review (UJSLR). This journal aims to provide a platform for law students to publish high-quality legal research and commentary on a variety of pressing legal issues, and to contribute meaningfully to legal scholarship in South Africa and beyond.

Vision:

The UJ Student Law Review seeks to:

1. Promote legal scholarship among students at UJ and other law
2. Provide a platform for students to develop their academic writing and research
3. Foster critical thinking and engage in meaningful discussions about legal challenges, particularly in the South African, African, and global contexts.
4. Encourage a diverse range of perspectives on contemporary legal

Mission:

• To publish original, thought-provoking, and rigorous legal scholarship authored primarily by law
• To enhance the academic development of contributors by offering editorial mentorship throughout the submission and publication process.
• To create a lasting body of student-led scholarship that will serve as a resource for academic and professional

UJ Student Law Review: Journal Policy

About the Journal

The UJ Student Law Review is an annual peer-reviewed journal published by UJ Press. It is dedicated to providing a platform for undergraduate and postgraduate students to publish scholarly work across all fields of law. The Review aims to nurture critical engagement with contemporary and historical legal issues in South Africa and abroad, while developing student authors’ academic writing and research abilities.

The UJ Student Law Review publishes original contributions, including articles, case notes, legislative reviews, and book reviews, which have not been published elsewhere. Contributions are accepted in English. A short abstract in English must accompany every submission.

The Review is issued once annually. The journal is financially supported by the Faculty of Law, University of Johannesburg. All content is freely available on an open access basis through UJ Press, with no charges levied on authors or readers.

The Review is digitally preserved in the UJ institutional repository and in other recognised archiving databases to ensure long-term accessibility.

Editorial Policies Editorial Responsibilities

The editorial structure of the Review consists of an Editor-in-Chief, an Editorial Board composed of faculty members and selected student editors, and an Advisory Board comprised of academics and practitioners. The Editor-in-Chief is appointed by the Faculty of Law.

The Editorial Board is responsible for content-related decisions and peer review, free from any influence by funding or supporting entities. The Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board determine which submissions will be published, guided by the journal’s policies and applicable legal requirements concerning libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism.

Editorial decisions are based solely on scholarly merit, originality, clarity, and relevance to the journal’s scope, without discrimination on the grounds of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, nationality, or political opinion. The Editorial Board will inform authors of the outcome of their submissions within a reasonable time after submission.

Editors must not have conflicts of interest regarding manuscripts they handle. Where a potential conflict arises, decision-making will be transferred to another member of the Editorial Board.

Unpublished material contained in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor’s or reviewer’s research without the express written consent of the author.

The Review employs a double-blind peer review process. Editors must ensure the anonymity of authors and reviewers throughout the process.

Authors’ Responsibilities

Authors affirm that their manuscripts are their own original work, have not been published elsewhere, and are not under consideration by another journal. Simultaneous submission to another journal constitutes misconduct and will result in disqualification of the manuscript.

 

If a manuscript is based on a conference paper, a research project, or a previous draft presented elsewhere, this must be disclosed in a footnote.

Authors are responsible for ensuring compliance with ethical standards. Manuscripts must not contain unlawful statements, infringe the rights of others, or breach academic integrity. Authors must also secure appropriate permissions for the use of figures, tables, or other third-party material.

Submissions must be written in clear and inclusive language. Discriminatory or derogatory terms will not be accepted. Authors should use gender-neutral expressions and respect diversity in their writing.

Authorship must be limited to those who made significant contributions to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the research. Contributions of others should be acknowledged in a footnote. The criteria of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) apply.

All sources must be acknowledged in accordance with the Tydskrif vir die Suid-Afrikaanse Reg (TSAR) referencing style. Authors are responsible for ensuring accuracy and completeness of references.

Plagiarism in any form, including word-for-word copying, close paraphrasing, or unacknowledged use of data, is strictly prohibited. All submissions will be subjected to plagiarism detection software.

Authors must disclose any financial or non-financial conflicts of interest that may have influenced the research. If none exist, the statement “No conflict of interest was disclosed” must be included.

If authors identify a significant error in their published work, they are obliged to notify the Editor- in-Chief promptly and cooperate in issuing a correction or retraction.

Authors are encouraged to register with ORCID and to provide ORCID identifiers at submission.

Reviewers’ Responsibilities

Reviewers provide written, objective, and timely feedback on manuscripts assigned to them. Reviews must assess the originality, scholarly merit, relevance, and quality of submissions, and provide constructive recommendations.

Reviewers must disclose any conflicts of interest that could bias their judgment and recuse themselves if necessary. They must not use unpublished material for personal gain and must maintain confidentiality regarding manuscripts.

If a reviewer suspects plagiarism or other misconduct, they must report it to the Editor immediately.

Peer Review Process

All submissions that pass initial editorial screening are subjected to peer review by at least one reviewer. Reviewers are chosen for their expertise in the relevant field.

 

If the reviewers’ reports diverge, an additional reviewer may be appointed. The Editorial Board ensures quality control of reviews and may request authors to submit additional information such as raw data where necessary.

Authors may appeal editorial decisions in writing to the Editor-in-Chief. Complaints concerning ethical breaches will be investigated in accordance with COPE guidelines.

Post-Publication Discussions and Corrections

The Review welcomes post-publication discussions in the form of letters to the editor. Retractions or corrections will be issued when necessary, in line with international standards.

AI Policy

The use of large language models or generative AI must be disclosed in the methods or acknowledgements sections, specifying the tool and its purpose. AI tools cannot be listed as authors. AI-generated text, figures, or images are not acceptable unless disclosed and approved on a case-by-case basis.

Editors and reviewers must not use AI tools to process manuscripts or generate reviews, to protect confidentiality.

Open Access Policy

The UJ Student Law Review is an open access journal. All content is freely available to readers, and no publication charges are levied on authors.

Authors retain copyright in their work. By publishing in the Review, authors grant UJ Press a non- exclusive licence to publish, distribute, and archive their work. Unless otherwise indicated, works are distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY-NC-ND) licence.

Authors may self-archive preprints, accepted manuscripts, and published versions in institutional or disciplinary repositories, provided full bibliographic information and a DOI link to the published version are included.