Submissions

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Author Guidelines

Before you submit

Manuscripts are accepted on the understanding that they are original, have not been published elsewhere and are not under consideration by another journal. Please read the focus and scope of the Review before submitting.

Types of contribution

  • Articles: 8,000 to 15,000 words including footnotes, with an abstract of no more than 250 words and four to six keywords.
  • Short Articles: 3,000 to 8,000 words including footnotes, with an abstract of no more than 150 words. A focused argument or an analysis of a recent development.
  • Case Notes: 2,000 to 5,000 words on a judgment, an arbitral award or a decision of a sports, cultural or scientific body of relevance to nomadic law. No abstract is required.
  • Conference Reports: 1,500 to 3,000 words on a recent conference, workshop, games or festival. No abstract is required.
  • Interviews: 2,000 to 5,000 words. Interviews are conducted or commissioned by the editors; please write to us with a proposal before submitting.

Language and style

Manuscripts are published in English. British or American spelling is acceptable if used consistently. Authors are encouraged to supply an additional abstract in Russian, Kyrgyz, Kazakh, Uzbek or another language relevant to the subject matter; it will be published alongside the English abstract.

References should be given in footnotes and follow the Oxford University Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA, 4th edition). Sources in languages other than English should be cited in the original script or in a standard transliteration, followed by an English translation of the title in square brackets. No bibliography is required. Customary rules, oral sources and interviews should be cited with as much detail as the source allows (community, place, date, name or role of the tradition-keeper where consent has been given).

Format

  • Submit the manuscript as a Microsoft Word (.docx) or OpenDocument (.odt) file. PDF files cannot be accepted for review.
  • Use double spacing, 12-point type and numbered headings (1, 1.1, 1.1.1).
  • Number all pages. Tables, figures and images should be placed in the text at the appropriate point and accompanied by a caption and source; authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce images.
  • Give the title, author name(s), affiliation(s), ORCID iD(s), a contact e-mail address and the word count on a separate title page.

Anonymous review

Articles and Short Articles are reviewed under a double-anonymous procedure. Remove your name, affiliation and any self-identifying references from the manuscript file (cite your own work in the third person), and check that the file's document properties do not reveal your identity. Author details are entered separately during the online submission.

Copyright and self-archiving

Authors retain copyright in their work and grant the Nomadic Law Review an exclusive licence to publish the contribution for twelve months from the date of publication, and a non-exclusive licence thereafter. Authors may post the submitted version at any time and the accepted manuscript twelve months after publication, with a citation of and link to the published version. Requests to reproduce material from the Review should be addressed to the editors.

Ethics and disclosures

Authors must disclose all sources of funding and any financial or personal interest that could be perceived as influencing the work. Where the research involved human participants, fieldwork in communities or the use of traditional knowledge, please state that the appropriate ethical approvals and, where relevant, free, prior and informed consent were obtained. The use of generative artificial intelligence in preparing a manuscript must be disclosed in a note; such tools may not be listed as authors.

Process

Submissions are made through this website. Register as an author, complete the submission form, choose the appropriate section and upload the anonymised manuscript and the title page as separate files. You will receive an acknowledgement by e-mail and can follow the progress of your submission in your author dashboard. The editors aim to communicate a first decision within ten weeks.

Questions about a prospective submission may be sent to the editors at leonid.shmatenko@hhu.de.

Submission Preparation Checklist

All submissions must meet the following requirements.

  • The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration.
  • The submission file is in Microsoft Word (.docx) or OpenDocument (.odt) format and, for Articles and Short Articles, has been anonymised for review; a separate title page with author details is uploaded as a second file.
  • The text meets the word limits for the chosen section and includes an abstract and keywords where required.
  • References are given in footnotes and follow OSCOLA (4th edition).
  • Funding sources, competing interests, ethical approvals and any use of generative artificial intelligence have been disclosed.
  • Where available, URLs or DOIs for the references have been provided.

Articles

Section default policy

Short Articles

Short Articles offer a focused argument or an analysis of a recent development in 3,000 to 8,000 words including footnotes, with an abstract of no more than 150 words. Short Articles are subject to double-anonymous peer review.

Case Notes

Case Notes analyse a judgment, an arbitral award or a decision of a sports, cultural or scientific body of relevance to nomadic law, in 2,000 to 5,000 words including footnotes. Case Notes are reviewed by the editors and, where appropriate, by one external reviewer. No abstract is required.

Conference Reports

Conference Reports describe and assess recent conferences, workshops, games and festivals of relevance to the fields covered by the Review, in 1,500 to 3,000 words. Conference Reports are reviewed editorially. No abstract is required.

Interviews

Interviews with scholars, practitioners, arbitrators, athletes, artists and tradition-keepers whose work bears on nomadic law, in 2,000 to 5,000 words. Interviews are conducted or commissioned by the editors; proposals are welcome. Interviews are reviewed editorially. No abstract is required.

Copyright Notice

Authors who publish with the Nomadic Law Review agree to the following terms.

  1. Authors retain copyright in their work.
  2. Authors grant the Nomadic Law Review an exclusive licence to publish the work, in print and electronic form, for a period of twelve months from the date of first publication, and a non-exclusive licence to continue to publish and distribute the work thereafter, in all cases with acknowledgement of first publication in the Review.
  3. After the twelve-month period authors may deposit the accepted manuscript in institutional or subject repositories and reuse it in their own subsequent work, provided that the Review is acknowledged as the place of first publication and a link to the published version is given.
  4. Authors warrant that the work is original, that it does not infringe the rights of any third party and that any material reproduced from other sources, including images of traditional cultural expressions, has been used with permission.

Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.