Submission Process
The Editorial Committee of the Journal of Sustainable Development Law and Policy (JSDLP), Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti welcomes the submission of unsolicited manuscripts. We welcome submissions that focus on any aspect of sustainable development law and policy ranging from the economic, social and environmental dimensions. Consequently, papers that explore broad themes of sustainable development such as agriculture, banking, e-commerce, environment, natural resources, public private partnerships, alternative dispute resolutions, human rights, peace, and conflict studies would be most welcome. We also welcome book reviews, case comments and public lectures.
Selected articles would be published in hard copy and also prominently displayed on the institutional website as a resource for scholars and practitioners worldwide. Papers must be based on original research, conform to the usual standard of academic publishing, be fully referenced and presented in.
the standard format employed by the series. Papers will be evaluated based on their contemporary relevance, contribution to their selected fields of research, structure and analytical vigour. Please refer to the submission guide below.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Length and Footnotes
1) Articles should be between 5000-8000 words and should advance legal scholarship and knowledge in a specific area of sustainable development law and policy.
2) Articles should include an abstract of approximately 250 words that is not an extract from the article itself.
3) Details of the author should be supplied as the first footnote, attached by an asterisk to the author’s name.
Form of Submission
4) Articles must be submitted in Word format and sent as an email attachment to
5) Contributions will only be considered for publication if they comply with the style guide. All citations should be as footnotes and accord with the Oxford Standard for Legal Citation (OSCOLA).
6) Authors should please make use of the following checklist prior to submission:
an abstract is included;
headings are consecutively numbered without automatic numbering;
headings are not underlined;
paragraphs are not separated by a full blank line, but only by an indent at the beginning of the new paragraph;
footnotes are consecutively numbered by way of automatic numbering;
footnotes are not separated by a full blank line;
footnotes appear at the end of each page of the manuscript and not at the end of the manuscript;
quotations have been checked for accuracy; and
references comply with the Oxford Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA).
Deadlines
8) We review articles on a rolling basis, for publication in any of our two editions published in a year. Authors should take note of the following deadlines:
Spring Edition: Only articles submitted on or before 12 noon on 31st March will be considered for publication in the spring edition.
Fall Edition: Only articles submitted on or before 12 noon on 31st August will be considered for publication in the Fall edition.
Deadlines are firm, articles submitted after the deadline may not be published. All papers should be submitted by email.
Evaluation
9) Contributions are submitted to at least two referees and the identities of the contributors and referees are kept confidential.
10) Further details about the Journal can be found at :
Peer Review Process
All manuscripts are peer reviewed prior to publication. The JSDLP utilizes a double-blind peer review process, to ensure originality, scholarly relevance, and readability- which means that both the reviewer and author’s identities are concealed from the reviewers, and vice versa, throughout the review process. To facilitate this, authors are required to submit manuscripts that would not give away their identity.
After respective submission deadlines, members of the Editorial Committee read all submissions and agree which should go forward to the review process. Referees are then assigned by the Committee from a pool of referees according to their expertise. Reviewers are sent a manuscript review template (attached), which provides guidance on key review indicators and on how to communicate review results.
The factors that are taken into account in review are as follows:
Relevance: Is this paper relevant to the thematic focus of this journal?
Originality: Are the results/ideas novel and previously unpublished?
Significance: Does the paper canvass and discuss ideas that significantly advance ormove knowledge forward)
Soundness: Is this paper technically sound and complete?
Are the claims supported by theoretical/ experimental/empirical results?
Ethics: Is there any ethical issue?
Readability: Is the paper well organized and easy to understand?
Language: Is the paper written in correct English and style?
Citations: Are all sources properly cited in accordance with the Oxford Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities, which is the house style for the journal?
Referees may accept the manuscript, reject the manuscript or might require a revision for style and/or content. Each Reviewer will give a recommendation about publication of a manuscript according to the following list of options:
• Accept- No revision needed.
• Accept- Minor revisions needed.
• Major revisions needed- Suggest revision & resubmission.
• Decline (provide appropriate reasons in comments).
After the reviewer’s report is received, the paper is assigned to an Associate Editor for the review/redrafting/editing process, which can be substantial, depending on the article. Upon receipt of the revised article from the author, and after final approval by referees and associated editor, the Editor-in-Chief reviews the paper and makes a final determination on whether or not to include the paper for publication in the JSDLP based on the recommendations of the reviewers and associated editor. The Editor-in-Chief then issues a written confirmation of acceptance or rejection to the author. Once an article is accepted, the Managing Editor will carry out a thorough desk edit and liaise with Afe Babalola University Press/the author/Associate Editor over author queries, publisher proofs and corrections.
The JSDLP strives to ensure that the time between submission and final decision are as reasonable as possible, without compromising quality.
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.
Copyright information
Copyright over published articles belong to the Institute for Oil, Gas, Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development (OGEES), Afe Babalola University, Nigeria
Open Access Policy
This is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.
Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) definition of open access.
All articles are provided for free download under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License
Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement
As a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), our publication ethics and publication malpractice statement is mainly based on the COPE Code of Conduct and Best-Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors (2011).
Authors are advised to carefully read and ensure full compliance with the full statement, available here
Questions and Enquiries
All enquiries or questions should be directed to:
The Editor-in-Chief
Journal of Sustainable Development Law and Policy
Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, Nigeria
Email: info@ogeesinstitute.edu.ng