Submissions

Before starting your submission, review the submission information below and prepare your manuscript according to the author guidelines.

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Original manuscript

Submitting a manuscript to LCJ implies that the author declares that the manuscript is original. This means that, prior to potential publication in LCJ, the paper has not been submitted or published elsewhere, in its original form or in a similar form.

In case a manuscript has been submitted or published elsewhere and was based on (partly) the same data, please mention this when submitting the paper indicating to which extent the submitted manuscript differs from the other paper. LCJ does not automatically reject papers that were based on the same data, but will judge the originality of the paper (also with regard to language of the paper).

Authors retain the right to make their submitted version (preprint) available through various channels, and this does not prevent submission to the journal.

Content types

We accept the following types of contributions:

  • original research articles
  • review articles
  • registered reports

Registered reports is a format that allows you to submit your research plan prior to obtaining the results of your study and receive in-principle acceptance that will not be revoked based on the outcomes of your study but only on failings of quality assurance, following through on the registered protocol, or unresolvable problems in reporting clarity or style.

For more information on what to submit in your registered report submission check our author guidelines.

Peer review information

Open or closed review

All papers are peer-reviewed, either (double) blind or open (as chosen by author and reviewer). As an author you can opt-in to undergo open peer review and if the reviewer(s) agrees the peer review process will be open.

Standard or scheduled review

As an author you can choose to submit your article in the standard review procedure or via scheduled review (more info). The standard procedure means that we start the review process after submission of the full article. Such a process will typically take somewhere between 6 to 8 weeks depending on the availability of reviewers.

Scheduled review means that you choose to submit an outline of your article rather than a full article. If this outline is deemed suitable we look for reviewers and once selected schedule the review process of the full article at least 6 weeks in the future. As an author you can select the submission date of the full article upon submitting the outline. Meanwhile, you can work on preparing the full manuscript and once submitted on the date scheduled you will get your review within a narrow timeframe (one week). This speeds up the review process considerably and is suited for authors that do not yet have a final draft of their article.

Standard or scheduled review are not possible for the submission of registered reports.

Language

We welcome contributions in English and Dutch. Submissions in Dutch should also contain an English abstract and English title.

Publication Fees

Our journal provides immediate, open and free access to all its content. We do not charge any fees to either authors or readers (diamond open access). The journal is furthermore committed to transparent scientific research, fostering reproducibility and accelerating scientific discovery and as such encourages making research data openly available.

Special issues

Special issues comprise a set of articles focused on a particular topic. They are curated and overseen by subject matter experts acting as guest editors of the special issue.

The editorial team encourages our readers and authors to submit proposals for special issues directly to us, focusing on relevant topics within the field of law and criminology. The editorial team will determine the appointment of guest editors and ensure the application of the same peer review process foreseen for regular contributions. 

If you have an idea for a special issue, kindly contact the editorial team.

Making your research process public

We allow and encourage authors to deposit a copy of their contribution in an institutional repository or other repository of their choice. This pertains to every version of their contribution:

  • the submitted version (preprint);
  • the accepted version (Author Accepted Manuscript);
  • the published version (Version of Record).

The journal also urges researchers to make their research data openly available in a timely manner, unless there are legitimate reasons for (temporarily) restricting data sharing. Authors are encouraged to deposit their data in a repository relevant for their field and/or institution in accordance with the FAIR data principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable). We have created a curated Zenodo community specifically for research data linked to publications in LCJ.

When an article has been published, we will include links to earlier versions and research data that have been deposited in a repository.

On acceptance and publication

  • Our production process

The editorial team will keep you informed on the progress of your article throughout our production process. We will send proofs to the corresponding author via email, and ask to make changes or corrections promptly. They should also ensure the accuracy of all author information, including name, affiliation and contact details.

  • On publication

Upon publication your article is immediately published online and anyone can access the article for free.