HUJL Editorial Policy

Hawassa University Journal of Law (HUJL) Revised Editorial Policy

                                      Revised, December 2023

Preamble

Whereas the mission of Hawassa University School of Law is the advancement of knowledge, the promotion rule of law, human rights and democratic culture thereby contributing to the development of the region and the country;

Whereas Hawassa University School of Law is committed to undertaking and encouraging relevant research and community service in national and local priority areas and disseminating findings with an open-access licensing and usage policy of CC BY thereof;

Whereas Hawassa University School of Law aims to provide a platform for academia, researchers, lawmakers, judges, policy-makers and practitioners to publish their research findings and reach out to readers at large;

Realizing the contribution of publishing a research journal to the teaching-learning process;

Now, therefore, it is decided as follows:

Section 1

General

Article 1. Establishment and Nomenclature of the Journal

A law journal called Hawassa University Journal of Law (hereafter, the Journal or HUJL) is hereby established.

Article 2. Scope of the Journal

The Journal publishes scholarly works on law-related issues, policies, theories and problems relevant to Ethiopia within the local, national, regional and international settings in the form of reviewed articles and non-reviewed reflections, book reviews and comments (on court judicial, legislative and administrative laws and decisions). 

Article 3. Objective of the Journal

The Journal aims to advance legal scholarship through research and inquiry and provide a forum for academicians, researchers, lawmakers, judges, practitioners and policymakers to publish research and ensure accessibility for readers at large.

Article 4. Key Values

The Journal shall work for and ensure the following key values:

  1. Excellence, as a core value of any educational institution, will serve as a measure of the acceptability of the journal;
  2. The Journal aspires for and insists on quality;
  3. The Journal seeks relevance that prioritizes problem-solving and demand-driven research findings;
  4. The Journal will consider only original manuscripts for publication; and
  5. The Journal is committed to scientific integrity, professional competence and socio-legal values in clarity of thoughts and expression on legal issues.
  6. The Journal gives priority to publication for contributions that contribute to Ethiopian legal science.
  7. The Journal follows an open access policy of a CC BY license by allowing users to share, adapt, and build upon the material in any format, with proper attribution to the creator.
  8. The Journal follows a no-fee policy, ensuring that there are no charges for article submission, processing, or publication.

Section 2

Structure and Function of the Journal

Article 5. Structure of the Journal management

The Journal management structure shall have the following composition:

  1. Advisory Board
  2. Editorial Board

Article 6. The Advisory Board. Composition

Members of the Advisory Board comprise five distinguished legal scholars, who have established legal professional expertise and proven academic excellence with the highest academic rigour and intellectual integrity in legal scholarship and publications. The board members' selection shall consider their national representation to strengthen and enhance the journal's credibility and relevance to diverse legal and policy contexts in Ethiopia.

Article 7. The Advisory Board. Responsibilities

  1. The Advisory Board is responsible for supervising the overall activities of the Journal, ensuring continued publication of quality articles, reputability and attainment of its objectives.
  2. The Advisory Board provides critical guidance in aligning the journal's content with pressing legal issues and advancements, thus fostering meaningful scholarly contributions.
  3. The Advisory Board provides strategic guidance to ensure the viability and financing of the Journal.
  4. The Advisory Board shall meet once a year. The editor-in-chief may serve as secretary of the Advisory Board and he may call additional meetings when he/she thinks appropriate.             

Article 8. The Editorial Board-1. Composition

The Editorial Board comprises seven members from the School of Law and is organized as follows:

  1. An Editor-in-Chief,
  2. A Managing Editor, and
  3. Five School of Law academic staff, as associate editors

Article 9. The Editorial Board-2. Responsibilities

  1. The Editorial Board shall perform the following activities.
  2. Monitoring the observance of the Editorial Policy and the quality of the Journal;
  3. Monitoring the editorial work and ensuring the quality of publications;
  4. Giving direction for the solicitation of contributions and the continuous publication of the Journal;
  5. Selecting manuscripts for publication based on the feedback of assessors;
  6. Altering manuscripts to conform to journal style and accuracy and eliminating mistakes and ambiguities to bring content in line with the tenets of plain language
  7. Endorse action plans, reports, calls for paper, propose revision to the editorial policy and submission guidelines, and submit the same to the School Commission for approval;
  8. Select assessors from or outside the School of Law;
  9. Unless otherwise stated, decisions of the Editorial Board shall be made by a majority vote of members present and in case of a tie, the Editor-in-Chief shall have a casting vote.
  10. The presence of majority members constitutes a quorum for a meeting.

Article 10. The Editor-in-Chief: Appointment and term of service

  1. A full-time academic staff member of the Law School shall be appointed by the School Commission of the Law School to serve as an Editor-in-Chief of the Journal.
  2. The Editor-in-Chief shall serve for a renewable term of two years.
  3. The Editor-in-Chief may resign or be removed for failure to properly discharge his/her responsibilities.
  4. The editor-in-chief shall, in the discharge of the duties entrusted to him/her under this policy, be responsible to the School Head.

Article 11. The Editor-in-chief- 2. Responsibilities

The Editor-in-Chief shall perform the following activities.

  1. Taking the overall editing responsibility of the Journal;
  2. Controlling the quality of the Journal and enhancing the Journal’s reputability among the scholarly community and the community of lawyers;
  3. Exercising utmost care to ensure the anonymity of contributors.
  4. Changing and modifying, in consultation with contributors, content and paraphrasing or condensing content to enhance quality
  5. Using electronic filing and the Journal’s email system
  6. Ensuring accessibility of journal issues on the Internet
  7. Approve contributions based on the feedback from assessors and in consultation with the Editorial Board;
  8. soliciting by all appropriate means high-quality contributions;
  9. Promoting the Journal and soliciting funding from outside sources;
  10. Overseeing and guiding the manuscript review and selection process;
  11. Submitting an annual report to the School Head;
  12. Setting yearly objectives for peer reviews and publication times, evaluate performance and take actions to improve upon those objectives which are not achieved within the given time frame;
  13. Working with the Editorial Board to craft and implement improved editorial policies so as to raise the standard of the Journal;
  14. Representing the Journal in dealing with third parties; and
  15. Chairing the meeting of the Editorial Board.

Article 12. Managing Editor-1. Appointment and term of service

  1. A full-time academic staff member of the Law School shall be appointed by the School Commission of the Law School to serve as Managing Editor of the Journal.
  2. The Managing Editor shall serve for a renewable term of two years.
  3. The Managing Editor may resign or be removed for failure to properly coordinate the activities of the Journal.

Article 13. The Managing Editor- 2. Responsibilities

The Managing Editor shall perform the following activities.

  1. Assisting the Editor-in-Chief in discharging activities of the Journal;
  2. Exercising utmost care to ensure the anonymity of contributors.
  3. Notifying contributors, in five days, about the receipt of their submission
  4. Communicating with contributors about the final decision on manuscripts within ten days after a decision is taken by the Editorial Board
  5. Showing courtesy in his/her correspondence with contributors, especially those whose works are rejected and encouraging them to re-submit after incorporating the feedback
  6. Providing, in consultation with the Editorial Board and Editor-in-Chief, response to complaints regarding ethical issues such as duplication, fraud or any other malpractice;
  7. Ensuring originality and relevance of manuscripts and checking grammar and content and aesthetics (organization, clarity, flow and style) of manuscripts;
  8. Overseeing all the stages of the Journal from manuscript collection to dissemination to concerned bodies, contributors, subscribers and sales outlets;
  9. Exerting utmost effort to meet publication deadlines;
  10. Forwarding contributions anonymously to Editorial Board members and external assessors for review;
  11. Performing the typesetting and layout work of the Journal;
  12. Keeping and organizing official correspondence and other relevant documents relating to the Journal in hardcopy and softcopy;
  13. Using electronic filing and the Journal’s email system
  14. Monitoring and following up the printing and distribution process;
  15. Coordinating the activities of the Editorial Board;
  16. Representing the Editor-in-Chief in her/his absence; and
  17. Performing such other functions as are incidental and essential to the attainment of the objectives of the Journal.

 

Article 14. Editorial Members- 1. Appointment and term of service of members

  1. Three full-time academic staff of the Law School shall be appointed by the School Commission of the Law School to serve as Editorial Board members.
  2. The Editorial Board members shall serve for a renewable term of 2 years and a member may resign or be removed for failure to duly discharge duties.

Article 15. Editorial Board Members- 2. Responsibilities

Editorial Board Members:

  1. Shall make a preliminary assessment or internal review of the technical requirements of a received contribution and decide on it;
  2. Shall assist the editorial work and ensure the quality and viability of the Journal;

Section 3

Editorial Guidelines

Article 16. Frequency of Publication

The Journal shall appear once annually. However, a special issue may be published when necessary.

Article 17. Language of Publication

  1. The Journal shall accept and publish contributions in English or Amharic.
  2. Contributions shall be published in the language the author has written them.
  3. Amharic contributions shall be accompanied by an English abstract.

Article 18. Originality of Contributions

  1. All contributions in the Journal shall be original works of the author.
  2. Notwithstanding the principle laid down in sub-Article 1 of this Article, an article may be re-published if substantial change is made to the first publication.
  3. The Editorial Board may decide to re-publish articles that appeared in another journal considering their impact, and subject to permission from the copyright holders of the first publication.

Article 19. Content of the Journal

The Journal shall feature: -

  1. Feature Articles

These are scholarly writings on any law or law-related topic and meet the rigours of academic writing. The Journal shall feature at least three articles in each issue.

  1. Comments

These are contributions in which authors critically comment on legislative acts, legal policies, research publications, and decisions of federal and state high courts and above and of arbitral and administrative bodies that stand out for some reason

  1. Book Reviews

These are contributions in which any book on Ethiopian law and the Ethiopian justice system or a book with special significance in the field of law will be reviewed.

  1. Facts and figures about the School of Law

This shall feature brief and objective reporting, by the Head of the Law School or a person designated by him, regarding the activities and achievements of the Law School in the preceding academic year. The report shall set out the plans, activities, and achievements of the Law School in the preceding academic year in all areas of its focus and shall be as far as possible.

  1. Reflections

These are contributions in which authors canvas their insightful personal thoughts on legal and justice-related issues of common concern to the legal community.

  1. Best student essay

The Journal, whenever possible, shall feature a student essay that won the Best Student-Essay Award for the year. 

  1. Editorial Message

The Journal features the message from the Head of the Law School or the Editor-in-Chief or both, on current issues and other themes which they consider important.

Article 20. Size of contributions

  1. The size of contributions shall be as stipulated in Sub-Article 3 below.
  2. Notwithstanding the principle laid down in sub-Art (1), the Editor-in-chief may deviate from the maximum and minimum limits.
  3. The minimum and maximum range of contributions shall be as follows.
  • Feature article: from 5000 to 1000 words
  • Reflection: from 3000 to 5000 words
  • Case Comment: from 2000 to 3000 words
  • Book Review: from 1000 to 2000 words

Article 21. Requirements as to reference and presentation style

The Journal shall follow the style and citation rules outlined below:

  1. Author’s affiliation and acknowledgement:

The author’s affiliation should be indicated in a footnote marked by an asterisk. Authors should refer to themselves in the third person throughout the text. Along with the affiliation, in the footnote, the author may acknowledge any third-party or institutional support received shortly in a sentence.

  1. Headings:

Manuscripts shall have an abstract and introduction. The body should be arranged in logically organized headings and sub-headings. Headings in the various sections of the manuscript shall be aligned to the left margin of the page and shall be as follows:

Abstract

Introduction

  1. First Heading
    • Second Heading
      • Third Heading

Conclusion

  1. Italicization:

When the manuscript is presented in the English language, all non-English words must be italicized. Similarly, when the manuscript is presented in Amharic language, all non-Amharic words must be italicized.

  1. Emphasis:

To indicate emphasis, use italics.

  1. References:

All contributions should duly acknowledge any reference or quotations from the work of other authors or the previous work of the author. Reference shall be made in the original language of the source document referred to.

  1. Quotations:

Quotations of more than three lines should be indented left and right without any quotation marks. Quotation marks in the block should appear as they normally do. Quotations of less than three lines should be in quotation marks and not indented from the text. Regarding alterations in a quotation, use:-

Square bracket “[ ]” to note any change in the quoted material,

Ellipsis “…” to indicate omitted material,

“[sic]” to indicate a mistake in the original quote.

  1. Footnotes:

Footnotes should be consecutively numbered and be set out at the foot of each page and cross-referenced using supra, id. and ibid, as appropriate. Footnote numbers are placed outside of punctuation marks.

  1. References in footnotes:

References in footnotes should generally contain sufficient information about the source material. In general, references should have the content and style outlined in Appendix One.  

  1. Format requirements:

All contributions shall be submitted in Microsoft Word format, font size 12, double space, Times New Roman (Footnotes font 10, single space, Times New Roman).

Article 22. Process of submission

  1. Publication of contributions shall be based on ‘first come first served’.
  2. Manuscripts shall be submitted in softcopy through the online submission portal of the Journal.
  3. A contributor shall make an affirmation about the originality of his/her submission and shall pledge not to submit the contribution elsewhere.
  4. All contributions shall be submitted in the time indicated in the call for contribution. These shall not preclude the acceptance of contributions at any time if an offer is made by authors interested in the Journal.
  5. Submissions shall, on a separate page (cover letter), include the name of the author(s), educational qualification, institutional affiliation, current occupation and contact address (e-mail and phone number).
  6. Upon the receipt of the submission, the Managing Editor shall send an email acknowledging the receipt of submissions.
  7. The contribution should be free from any self-identifying information about the author. Identifying information should be indicated only in the cover letter.
  8. Contributions should be free from grammatical and spelling errors.

Article 23. Review procedure-1. Principle

  1. The identity of the authors of contributions may not be disclosed to assessors.
  2. External assessors being conversant in the subject matter of a manuscript shall be designated by the editor-in-chief or managing editor on a case-by-case basis
  3. All contributions shall be reviewed by two anonymous internal and external reviewers.
  4. The Managing Editor shall, upon receipt of manuscripts and before forwarding them to Editorial Board members and external assessors, remove information about authors and assign code to ensure anonymity.

Article 24. Review procedure-2. Contributions other than feature articles

All contributions other than feature articles shall be reviewed by the Editorial Board who will decide on whether to publish such contributions based on criteria to be drawn up in advance by the Editorial Board.

Article 25. Review procedure-3. Feature articles

  1. First, the preliminary assessment or the technical requirements of feature articles shall be reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief.
  2. Then, in consultation and approval of the Editorial Board, the Editor-in-Chief shall refer the technically sufficient manuscripts to double-blind/anonymous internal reviews.
  3. Contributions considered acceptable by the double-blind/anonymous internal reviewers, the Editor-in-Chief shall refer the manuscripts to double-blind/anonymous external reviewers after ensuring the integration of the internal review comments and approval of the Editorial Board.
  4. Finally, manuscripts considered acceptable by the double-blind/anonymous external reviewers shall be considered for publication in the journal. Here, the Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board shall ensure the integration of the external reviewers' comments appropriately.

 

Article 26. Manuscript evaluation guide: internal and external evaluation

  1. Manuscripts submitted to the journal shall be evaluated based on their originality, relevance and contribution to Ethiopian legal scholarship, methodology, clarity and organization quality.
  2. The evaluation and decisions of each manuscript shall be documented in a standardized evaluation guide annexed to the journal’s editorial policy (See Appendix Two). In the guide, along with a decision on the manuscript, the internal and external reviewers shall provide clear, constructive, and detailed comments to justify their decision and guide authors in improving their manuscripts. Accordingly, the internal and external reviewers' decision must fall into one of the following categories: -
    1. Yes, publishable as it is if the manuscript meets all quality standards without requiring revisions
    2. Yes, publishable with minor revisions if the manuscript requires small modifications that do not significantly alter its core content
  • It could be publishable after major or fundamental revisions if the manuscript has potential but needs substantial improvements to meet publication standards
  1. No, it is not publishable if the manuscript fails to meet the journal’s criteria or has critical flaws that cannot be rectified

Article 27. Review Procedure-4. Special procedure – conflict of interests

  1. Contributions from Editorial Board members shall be coordinated by an academic staff of the Law School who is not a member of the Editorial Board
  2. The Academic Commission shall appoint the coordinator specified in sub-1 of this Article on a case-by-case basis.

Article 28. Ethical and retraction principle  

  1. The journal has a zero-tolerance policy for plagiarism and data fabrication. Along with the internal and external review procedure, the Editorial Board and Editor-In-Chief of the journal shall ensure the application of pertinent technological tools to reduce plagiarism and data fabrication.
  2. Any article found to have violated the principles stated in sub-article 1 of this article will be retracted immediately.
  3. Retractions will be communicated officially, including updates to the journal’s online repository and publication of a retraction notice.
  4. Authors of retracted articles may face additional penalties, such as a ban from future submissions and formal notifications to their affiliated institutions.

Article 29. Opinions expressed in the Journal

  1. Opinions expressed in the Journal, except the message from the Head of the Law School and the Editor-in-Chief, shall be deemed to reflect those of the authors and not that of the Journal or the Editorial Board or the Law School.
  2. A statement to this effect shall appear in the Journal.

Article 30. Copyright and Open-Access Policy

  1. Hawassa University shall be the copyright holder of contributions published in the Journal. However, authors may republish their works with the permission of the school. The particulars are subject to the relevant laws of the country.
  2. The Journal follows an open-access policy, utilising the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). Under this license, users are permitted to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, provided that appropriate credit is given to the original creator.

Article 31. Complementary copies

The distribution system of the journal is both in print and soft copy. The distribution of complimentary hard copies to authors, the Editor-in-Chief, the Managing Editor, other members of the Editorial Board, the School of Law and other organizations shall be determined by the Academic Commission.

Article 32. Journal Reputability

The Editorial Board of the Journal shall demand the Ethiopian Ministry of Education for recognition of the reputability of the Journal periodically.

Article 33. Miscellaneous

This policy is approved by the School Commission and entered into force as of December 2023.

Appendix One

References in Footnotes

References in footnotes should have the content and style outlined hereafter.

  • Books

 Use italics for the title, and put the publication information in Roman within parentheses. Use commas to prevent words from running together, as may happen with author and titles, multiple authors, and publisher and place of publication. Where there are series titles or edition numbers, give the publication information in the order shown in the example.

Author, Title in Italics (series title, edition, publisher, place, date) page.

John Baker, An Introduction to English Legal History (4th ed., Butterworths, London, 2002) pp. 419–21.

Names of Ethiopian authors should appear as follows: author’s given (first) name and his/her father’s name without changing the order. Subsequent, references should be limited to given names.

Assefa Fiseha, Federalism and the Accommodation of Diversity in Ethiopia: A Comparative Study, (2nd ed., Wolf Legal Publishers, Nijmegen, 2007), p. 235.

  • Contributions in edited books

 Cite essays and chapters in edited books as in the example below:

Ian Brownlie, ‘The Relation of Law and Power’ in Bin Cheng and ED Brown (eds.), Contemporary Problems in International Law: Essays in Honour of Georg Schwarzenberger on his Eightieth Birthday (Stevens and Sons, London, 1988).

  • Articles in Journals

 Give the title in Roman, within inverted commas. The style for authors of articles is the same as for authors of books. The journal title is Roman

Ibrahim Idris, ‘The Place of International Human Rights Conventions in the 1994 FDRE Constitution, Journal of Ethiopian Laws’, Vol.20, No.1, Aug. 2002, P.114.

For journals that are only published electronically, give publication details as for print journals, but also provide the website address and most recent date of access within angled brackets:

Carolyn Penfold, 'Nazis, Porn and Politics: Asserting Control over Internet Content' [2001] 2 JILT

<http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/law/elj/jilt/2001_2/penfold> accessed on 27 April 2005.

Where the author is not identified, cite the body that produced the document; if no such body can be identified, insert two joined em-dashes (like this: ——).

  • Legislations

 Cite a proclamation by its full title when it is used for the first time and short title subsequently, in roman number.

Labour Proclamation, 2003, Art. 8(1) & (2), Proc. No.377/2003, Fed. Neg. Gaz., Year 10, No. 12.

Labour Proclamation No. 377/2003, Art. 3.

  • Codes

 Cited coded legislations in the following form.

Civil Code of Ethiopia, 1960, Art. 1678 (1), Proc. No. 165/1960, Fed. Neg. Gaz. (Extraordinary issue), Year 19, No. 2.

Cite legal instruments from other jurisdictions as they are cited in their own jurisdiction.

  • Treaties

 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (adopted 10 December 1948 UNGA Res 217 A(III) (UDHR) Art. 5.

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (adopted 16 December 1966, entered into force 23 March 1976) 999 UNTS 171 (ICCPR), Art. 10.

  • Resolutions

 Security Council Resolution 1368 (2001), at WWW http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N01/533/82/PDF/N0153382.pdf?Open Eleme nt > (accessed on 10 August 2008).

  • Cases

 Corfu Channel Case (UK v Albania) 1949 ICJ rep 14 at 35, Nicaragua case (US v Nicaragua) (1986) ICJ rep 14 at 106

የኢትዮጵያ መድን ድርጅት vs. ጊታሁን ሀይሉ፤ጠቅላይ ፍርድ ቢት ሰበር ሰሚ ችሎት፤ መ.ቁ. 14057፤ 1998 ዓ.ም.

  • Theses

 Give the author, title, type of thesis, university and date of completion and pinpoint:

Helen Toner, ‘Modernising Partnership Rights in EC Family Reunification Law’ (PhD thesis, University of Oxford, 2003).

  • Periodicals

 Mehari Taddele, ‘Brain Drain and its Adverse Impact on the Achievement of MDGs and Poverty Reduction’, The Reporter, (Feb. 16, 2008), p.5.

  • Interview

 Interview with Ato Abraham Dagne, President of Dorebafano Woreda, Sidama Zone, on 22 January 2014.

  • Internet Source

 Derartu Abeba, Higher Education in Ethiopia,

<http://www.ethiopar.net/type/English.htm> accessed on April 1, 2009

 

Appendix Two 

Manuscript Evaluation Form: Guidelines for Review

 Name of the Reviewer: _________________________________________

Title of the Manuscript: ________________________________________

Manuscript Code: _____________________________________________

 Instruction for Reviewers 

We sincerely appreciate your willingness to review this manuscript. Kindly provide your feedback in the comment section of the table below, following the evaluation standards and guiding questions. At the end, please provide your decision on the manuscript by selecting one of the four categories along with reasons for your decision. Thank you for your professional support of HUJL.

No.

Standard

Evaluation Guide Questions

Comments

1

Relevance, Originality, and Contribution to Legal Scholarship

-How relevant is the manuscript to the Ethiopian legal scholarship?

-Does the manuscript contribute original insights to a specific research area, despite the topic being covered by other authors? If so, how?

 

2

Appropriate Legal Research Method and Diversity of Sources (data)

-Is the manuscript an outcome of an appropriate legal research method process, even if it lacks a method section?

-Does the manuscript use adequate and relevant sources that ensure the diversity of sources such as references and counter voices?

 

3

Depth, Clarity and Coherence of the Arguments

-Does the manuscript present a well-founded argument that demonstrates depth through a thorough review of relevant literature and an adequate investigation and analysis of legal and empirical evidence?

-Are the arguments of the manuscript clear and coherent?

 

4

Organization/

Technical Quality

-Does the manuscript require revisions to align with the format of a publishable journal article in its current form?

 

5

Overall Evaluation Decision/Result

-Is the manuscript worth publishing?

-Your decision should fall into one of the following categories, with reasons for your decision in the comment column:

·         Yes, publishable as it is.

·         Yes, publishable with minor revisions.

·         It could be publishable after major or fundamental revisions.

·         No, it is not publishable.