Publication Ethics & Malpractice Statement

IJILR is committed to the highest standards of publication ethics. This statement is based on the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Core Practices.

Duties of editors

Publication decisions. The Editor-in-Chief decides which manuscripts are published, on the basis of peer review, the manuscript's importance to researchers and readers, and applicable legal requirements regarding defamation, copyright infringement and plagiarism.

Fair play. Manuscripts are evaluated on intellectual content alone, without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, seniority, institutional affiliation or political philosophy.

Confidentiality. Editors must not disclose information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the author, reviewers, potential reviewers and the publisher.

Disclosure and conflicts. Unpublished material from a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor's own research without express written consent. Editors recuse themselves where they hold a conflict of interest.

Payment and judgement kept separate. Editorial decisions are taken solely on the basis of peer review. Payment or waiver status plays no part in the assessment of any manuscript.

Duties of reviewers

Contribution to decisions. Peer review assists the editor in editorial decisions and may assist the author in improving the manuscript.

Promptness. A reviewer who feels unqualified, or who cannot complete the review in time, must notify the editor and withdraw.

Confidentiality. Manuscripts under review are privileged documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others, and must not be uploaded to any generative AI tool or third-party service.

Objectivity. Reviews must be objective and supported by reasons. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate.

Acknowledgement of sources. Reviewers must identify relevant published work not cited, and alert the editor to substantial similarity with other published work, and to any citation that appears fabricated.

Duties of authors

Reporting standards. Authors must present an accurate account of the work performed with an objective discussion of its significance. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behaviour.

Originality and plagiarism. Authors must ensure their work is entirely original and that the work and words of others are appropriately cited or quoted. Plagiarism in all its forms is unacceptable.

Multiple or concurrent publication. Authors must not submit the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently.

Authorship. Authorship is limited to those who made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution or interpretation of the work. AI systems cannot be authors.

Disclosure. All authors must disclose financial or substantive conflicts of interest and all sources of funding.

Fundamental errors. An author who discovers a significant error in their published work must notify the journal promptly and cooperate in correcting or retracting it.

Plagiarism policy

Every manuscript is screened through Turnitin on receipt, before peer review. Manuscripts outside the acceptable similarity range are rejected without review. Properly quoted and cited material, statutory and treaty text, case names and standard legal terminology are excluded when assessing similarity.

Before publication: the manuscript is rejected. After publication: the article is retracted, a retraction notice is published permanently in its place, and the author's institution is informed.

Corrections and retractions

Published articles form part of the permanent scholarly record and are not removed. Where an article contains an error, a correction notice is published as a separate citable item. Where findings are unreliable or publication was improper, the article is retracted with a notice stating the reason; the original remains accessible and watermarked so the record stays verifiable.

Complaints and appeals

Authors may appeal an editorial decision on substantive grounds by writing to editor.ijilr@gmail.com with the submission ID and the grounds of appeal. Complaints concerning editorial conduct, delay or publication ethics are investigated in accordance with COPE guidance. A complainant dissatisfied with the outcome may refer the matter to COPE.

Artificial intelligence

Generative AI tools may be used for language editing and must be disclosed. AI systems cannot be listed as authors. Authors must independently verify every legal citation against the primary source — generative AI produces citations to cases and statutes that do not exist. A manuscript found to contain fabricated citations will be rejected, and if discovered after publication, retracted. Reviewers must not upload manuscripts to any AI tool.

Open access and licensing

All articles are published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. Authors retain copyright; IJILR holds the right of first publication. Authors may deposit any version in any repository without embargo.