About the Journal

About the Journal

Focus and Scope

Spanish Journal of Legislative Studies is an annual electronic Journal created in 2019 whose objective is to disseminate academic researches focused on the analysis of the normative content and/or the social impact of current, past or ongoing legislation at the international, national or regional level, with special emphasis on the legislative changes, normative interpretation changes or the social impact of the legislation.

It is addressed to researchers and professionals in law, in order to promote the knowledge of the normative, as well as the social impact, changes and background of the legislation.

The studies should be presented in English or any other language commonly used to spread knowledge, science and culture, in order to ensure that the text can be accessed by a reasonable number of readers.

Estructure

ARTICLES

Original works that provide the latest information, and are of general interest to the national and international scientific community. All information contained in the studies must be completely original. Articles whose precise content has been totally or partially reproduced in previous publications will not be accepted within this classification. These papers, once received, will be subject to a double-blind peer review process, in which their originality, relevance, novelty and methodological quality will be assessed.

REVIEWS

Peer Review Process

All the Main Articles are subjected to a double-blind peer review process, so that both the identity of the authors and the identity of the reviewers or evaluators will always be concealed. The originality, relevance, novelty and methodological quality of the papers will be assessed. All articles must conform to the editing standards that appear on this site web and will include the title, an abstract and key words in Spanish and English.

After an initial evaluation by the Editorial Board to verify that the original complies to the guidelines for authors indicated on the website, the original will be sent to external reviewers, selected based on the content of the article, in order to submit it to an evaluation process. The reports made by the reviewers are objective.The result of the review process may be:

  • Favorable, with no restrictions.

  • Favorable, with recommendations for modification. The original is returned to the author for review, and the original is re-evaluated.

  • Unfavourable.

The decision of the Editorial Board is sovereign and, in such a case, it is free to publish or reject any article.

Plagiarism and other fraud

Ther articles sent will be subject to a double process of detection of possible plagiarism:

  • TURNITIN

  • Search for similarities through a computerized process with the journal´s own database.

In case of plagiarism, the article will not be published under any circumstances. Previously, the Editorial Board will contact the author so that he or she can make whatever claims he or she deems appropriate.

The journal reserves the right to request access to sources and other materials relating to the original scientific data on wich the articles submitted are based, in order to ensure theri veracity and validity, both before and after the publication of the article. Similarly, it will exercise the actions it deems appropriate in the case of doubts about the authorship of the manuscripts.

Each article must be original and has not been previously published, nor be before another journal for consideration.

Publication frecuency

Spanish Journal of Legislative Studies is an Annual Journal.  Issues are are published in December. Each issue is an “open item”.

Quality Policy

Spanish Journal of Legislative Studies meets all the quality requirements for scientific electronic journals.

Archiving

This Journal uses the LOCKSS system to create an archiving system distributed among participating libraries and allows those libraries to create permanent journal archives for preservation and restoration purposes.
The journal is registered with Sherpa Romeo

Open Access Policy

Spanish Journal of Legislative Studies publishes under Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International. This licence allows share (copy and redistribute) and adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the material),  the published works under the following conditions:

  • Attribution: You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.

  • NonCommercial: You may not use the material for commercial purposes.

  • No additional restrictions: You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally  restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

 The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms

Origin

The Spanish Journal of Legislative Studies was created in 2019 by the Department of Legal Science at Miguel Hernández University.  It was an initiative of professors José Antonio Pérez Juan (History of Law and Institutions), who was the department's director at the time, and Fernando Miró Llinares (Criminal Law), who was the dean of the Faculty of Social and Legal Sciences in Elche.

Following the disappearance of the former Journal of the Faculty of Social and Legal Sciences of the UMH (issued from 2006 to 2016 with the ISSN-e:1886-6611), the aforementioned professors promoted the launch of a new scientific journal, essentially focused on law. This new journal was established in 2019, thanks to the commitment and dedication of the editorial team and the involvement of faculty members from the Department of Legal Science, as well as external faculty.

This led to the creation of the Spanish Journal of Legislative Studies, which, during its first four years of publication, issues 1 (2019) to 4 (2022), was directed by one of its founders, Professor José Antonio Pérez Juan.

During this initial period, the journal's editorial team comprised Professor Lydia Esteve González (Private International Law) from the University of Alicante, UMH professors Elena B. Fernández Castejón (Criminal Law), and Sara Moreno Tejada (History of Law and Institutions), Professor Victoria Sandoval Parra (History of Law and Institutions) from the University of Murcia (as assistant editor) and UMH Professor Rocío Rodríguez Mas (as coordinator).

In 2023, Professor Elena Crespo Navarro (Public International Law) assumed the direction of the Spanish Journal of Legislative Studies, maintaining the same editorial team until issue 7 (2024), with Professor Rocío M. Pozo Tomás joining as coordinator for that issue.