Asian Journal of International Law tips for first time authors (28 KB).

Important notice

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Submissions to Cambridge University Press journals can only be made via the online peer review systems linked to from this Cambridge Core website, or else directly to the editorial offices of those journals that do not operate online peer review systems.

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Notes for Contributors and House Style

The Asian Journal of International Law is a publication of the Asian Society of International Law. It publishes peer-reviewed scholarly Articles (8,000 to 12,000 words excluding footnotes), shorter Notes & Comments (3,000 to 5,000 words, including footnotes), and Book Reviews (of a single book generally to 500 words including footnotes) on public and private international law. The regional focus of the Journal is broadly conceived. Some articles may focus specifically on Asian issues; others will bring one of the many Asian perspectives to bear on issues of global concern. Still others will be of more general interest to scholars, practitioners, and policy-makers located in or working on Asia.

The Journal is published in English as a matter of practical convenience rather than political endorsement. English-language reviews of books in other languages are particularly welcomed. Abstracts of selected articles in other Asian languages will be posted on the Journal's website.

The Journal is produced for the Asian Society of International Law by the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law and published by Cambridge University Press. For further information, visit www.AsianJIL.org.

1 SUBMISSIONS

Articles, Note and Comments and Book Reviews should be submitted in Microsoft Word via the Journal’s ScholarOne website. Please read the guidelines below BEFORE submitting your work. Once your work is ready for publication, please click here to go to the submission site.

All Articles are double-blind peer-reviewed. All submissions must be original and should not be under consideration for publication in any other forum.

Authors, particularly those whose first language is not English, may wish to have their English-language manuscripts checked by a native speaker before submission. This is optional but may help to ensure that the academic content of the paper is fully understood by the editor and any reviewers. We list a number of third-party services specialising in language editing and/or translation and suggest that authors contact as appropriate.

Please note that the use of any of these services is voluntary, and at the author's own expense. Use of these services does not guarantee that the manuscript will be accepted for publication, nor does it restrict the author to submitting to a Cambridge published journal.

Please visit our Open Access page for information on our open access policies, compliance with major funding bodies, and guidelines on depositing your manuscript in an institutional repository.

2 PRESENTATION

2.1 Font

The abstract, indented quotations, and footnotes should be 10 point Times New Roman. All other text should be 12 point Times New Roman.

2.2 Titles

Contributions should have a title which is both concise and descriptive. Titles to articles should be centred in bold, italicised, and have title capitals.

2.3 Abstract

All articles should be accompanied by an abstract of no more than 150 words in 10 point Times New Roman; not italicised; and indented both left and right by 0.25" or 0.5 cm.

2.4 Name and Autobiographical Notes

Contributors are requested to supply their full name in whatever convention they personally prefer, not necessarily adopting the first name followed by last name convention. Where a name is indicated as the author of an article or view, or in a citation, the surname/family name shall appear in all capitals. For example: Alan TAN, OWADA Hisashi, XUE Hanqin, B.S. CHIMNI. It is not necessary to capitalize the family name when referring to an individual in the text.

An example of the author brief bio is appended below. This and all other publishing information should be provided at the end of the manuscript file.

SOH Kwan Lee is associate professor at the Law Faculty, National University of Singapore.

Acknowledgements. The author would like to thank the reviewers for their comments.

Funding statement. None.

Competing interests. The author declares none.

2.5 Competing interests

All authors must include a competing interest declaration in the first footnote of the manuscript. This declaration will be subject to editorial review and may be published in the article. Competing interests are situations that could be perceived to exert an undue influence on the content or publication of an author’s work. They may include, but are not limited to, financial, professional, contractual or personal relationships or situations. If the manuscript has multiple authors, the author submitting must include competing interest declarations relevant to all contributing authors. 

Example wording for a declaration is as follows: “Competing interests: Author A is employed at organisation B. Author C is on the Board of company E and is a member of organisation F. Author G has received grants from company H.” If no competing interests exist, the declaration should state “Competing interests: The author(s) declare none”. 

2.6 Headings

The number of levels of headings should not normally exceed four.

• First-level headings should be flush left, bold and use title case. Precede by roman numerals and full-point, e.g., I., II., etc. Please note that it is the Journal’s style NOT to have the heading of "Introduction".

I. First-Level Heading in Bold

• Second-level headings should be flush left, italicised and use title case. Preceded by letters and full-point, e.g., A., B., etc.

A. Second-Level Heading in Italics

• Third-level headings should be flush left. Type with title capitals for the first word and proper names only and italicize. Precede by Arabic numbering, e.g., 1, 2, etc.

1. Third-level heading in italics

• Fourth-level headings should be flush left. Type with title capitals for the first word and proper names only and italicize. Precede by lower-case letters in parentheses, e.g., (a), (b), etc. End with a colon and run into text.

(a) Fourth-level headings in italics: [Run into text…]

2.7 Quotations

Quotations should be clearly indicated and it is vital that they are accurate.

• Where letters or words are replaced or inserted within a quotation, the replacement or inserted letters or words should be indicated in square brackets "[ ]".

• Where words, phrases, or sentences are omitted within a quotation, the omission should be indicated by ellipses "…". No indication of punctuation before or after the ellipsis is necessary.

• Where the quotation will run to more than forty words it should be typed as a separate paragraph in 10 point Times New Roman, left-indented and right-indented by 0.25" or 0.5 cm.

• Double quotation marks should be inserted at the beginning and end of every quotation, but not when the entire quotation is indented.

• Single quotation marks should be used at the beginning and end of quotations within quotations enclosed by double quotation marks.

• Quotations of more than forty words within footnotes should be typed as a separate paragraph in 10 point Times New Roman, left-indented and right-indented by 0.25" or 0.5 cm.

2.8 Paragraphs

The first paragraph of new sections should be flush left. Subsequent paragraphs should be left-indented by 0.25" or 0.5 cm.

2.9 Numbering and/or Bullets

Numbered lists should be in 12 point Times New Roman, left-indented by 0.25" or 0.5 cm, and in the format that follows:

1. Point 1

2. Point 2

3. Point 3

Similarly, for bulleted lists:

• Point 1
• Point 2
• Point 3

2.10 Use of Capital Letters

Where reference is made to a specific office, organization, or body then capital letters should be used. Where the reference is general or non-specific then lower-case letters should be used. For example: "A court must decide the case before it. The International Court of Justice is no exception. The Court cannot reinterpret…"

Titles of cited works will be capitalized in "title case". The following should therefore be capitalized: (i) the first word; (ii) if there is a subtitle, the first word of the subtitle; (iii) all other words in the title except articles ("the", "a", "an"), conjunctions ("and", "but", "or", etc.), and prepositions of fewer than five letters ("on", "with", but "Amongst", "Between").

Where a title includes hyphenated words, the first element is always capitalized. The second element is capitalized if it is a proper noun or adjective, or if the words have equal weight. Thus "Anti-American", "Multi-Polar", and "Down-Time", but "Re-imagining", "Follow-up", "Co-existence".

2.11 Abbreviations and Contractions

A period should be used in conjunction with all abbreviations and contractions except in the case of proper names. Please also note that there should not be a gap between the periods. For example, "Company" is abbreviated to "Co.", "exempli gratia" is abbreviated to "e.g.", "free trade agreements" is abbreviated to "F.T.A.s", and "Limited" is contracted to "Ltd.", whereas the "United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization" is abbreviated to "UNESCO", the "International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights" is abbreviated to "ICCPR", and the "Reciprocal Enforcement of Commonwealth Judgments Act" is abbreviated to "RECJA".

2.12 Spelling

British (as opposed to American) English will be used, with -ize rather than -ise. Thus "organization", "prioritize", etc. But note that some words must be spelled with -ise (advise, compromise, exercise, revise, supervise, etc.).

2.13 Foreign Words

Foreign words not currently absorbed into the English language should be italicized.

2.14 Lists

Lists of three or more items will use a comma before the last item. Thus "A, B, or C"; "D, E, and F" (not "A, B or C").

2.15 Numbers

Number ranges use the shortest pronounceable form. Thus 48–9, 523–34, 1023–123, 203–4, but 10–11, 112–13.

2.16 Diagrams

Please note that any diagrams/pictures/figures/tables we receive in colour will be black and white in print and in colour online.

2.17 Notes & Comments

Notes & Comments are intended to discuss current developments in international law or offer a perspective on an issue of current concern. In some cases, Articles submitted to AsianJIL may be accepted as Notes & Comments with the requirement that they be edited down to meet the word limit of 3,000 to 5,000 words including footnotes.

2.18 Book Reviews

Book reviews generally have a 500 word limit (including footnotes) and should be in 10 point Times New Roman. Footnotes should also be kept to a minimum. Reviewers should include all relevant information relating to the book reviewed. It should include the title of the book reviewed in italics, followed by the edition of the book being reviewed in parentheses "( )" if more than one edition has been published. This should be followed by the name(s) of the author(s)/editor(s) with surname/family name in all capitals.

The following publication information should also be included: place of publication, name of publisher, year of publication, total number of pages inclusive of the index (separate subtotals for preliminary matter, the tables and main text should be provided where they are separately numbered), the type of binding (softcover/hardcover), and the price of the book.

For example:

Reform and Development of Private International Law: Essays in Honour of Sir Peter North
edited by James FAWCETT.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. xxxiii + 354 pp. Hardcover: £65.

Principles of Public International Law (6th ed.)
by Ian BROWNLIE.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. xlii + 742 pp. Softcover: £36.99.

The byline should be flush right and the reviewer’s name be preceded by "reviewed by" in italics. The reviewer’s name should appear in the convention he/she prefers and the surname/family name typed in all capitals. For example: Alan TAN, OWADA Hisashi, XUE Hanqin, B.S. CHIMNI.

All book reviews should be submitted to the Book Review Editor, Ms Lucia Meilin Oriana at AsianJILReviews@unsw.edu.au

The Constitutionalization of International Law

by Jan KLABBERS, Anne PETERS, and Geir ULFSTEIN.

Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. xx + 393 pp. Hardcover: £60; $120.

Text of book review

reviewed by TAN Hsien-Li

3 REFERENCES AND CITATIONS

Citations should follow the examples of different materials below. The publishers are unable to check the accuracy of references and citations and it is the contributor’s responsibility to ensure that all references and citations are correct.

3.1 Secondary Materials

3.1.1 Books

John MO Shijian, International Commercial Law, 4th ed. (Chatswood, New South Wales: LexisNexis Butterworths, 2008) at 357.

M. SORNARAJAH, The International Law on Foreign Investment, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004).

XUE Hanqin, Transboundary Damage in International Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004).

Subsequent citations to authors include only the family name and that is not capitalized—hence Sornarajah, supra note 12 at 34 (not SORNARAJAH, supra note…).

3.1.2 Edited Books

ODA Shigeru and OWADA Hisashi, eds., The Practice of Japan in International Law 1961–1970 (New York: Columbia University Press for University of Tokyo Press, 1982).

Béatrice POULIGNY, Simon CHESTERMAN, and Albrecht SCHNABEL, eds., After Mass Crime: Rebuilding States and Communities (Tokyo, New York: United Nations University Press, 2007).

Subsequent citations to editors include only the family name and that is not capitalized—hence Pouligny, Chesterman, and Schnabel, eds., supra note 12 at 34 (not POULIGNY, CHESTERMAN, and SCHNABEL, eds., supra note…).

3.1.3 Articles in Books

V.S. MANI, "The Friendly Relations Declaration and the International Court of Justice" in Antony ANGHIE and Garry STURGESS, eds., Legal Visions of the 21st Century: Essays in Honour of Judge Christopher Weeramantry (The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 1998), 527.

Surya P. SUBEDI, "Regulation of Shared Water Resources in International Law: The Challenge of Balancing Competing Demands" in Surya P. SUBEDI, ed., International Watercourses Law for the 21st Century: The Case of the River Ganges Basin (Aldershot, Hants, England; Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing Company, 2005), 7 at 11.

3.1.4 Journal Articles

ONUMA Yasuaki, "Towards an Intercivilizational Approach to Human Rights" (1997) 7 Asian Yearbook of International Law 21 at 34.

Shirley V. SCOTT, "Climate Change and Peak Oil as Threats to International Peace and Security: Is It Time for the Security Council to Legislate?" (2008) 9 Melbourne Journal of International Law 495.

3.1.5 Working Papers and Occasional Papers

Kanti BAJPAI, "Human Security: Concept and Measurement", Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame, Occasional Paper, 19 August 2000.

3.2 International Materials

3.2.1 Treaties

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 19 December 1966, 999 U.N.T.S. 171, 6 I.L.M. 368 (entered into force 23 March 1976) [ICCPR].

Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, 18 December 1979, GA Res. 34/180, UN Doc. A/34/46 (entered into force 3 September 1981) [CEDAW], art. 8.

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 30 October 1947, 58 U.N.T.S. 187 (entered into force 1 January 1948) [GATT].

Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, 24 February 1976, online: ASEAN http://www.aseansec.org/1217.htm [Treaty of Amity and Cooperation].

Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 11 December 1997 (entered into force 16 February 2005), online: UNFCC http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/convkp/kpeng.pdf [Kyoto Protocol].

3.2.2 UN Documents

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, GA Res. 217 (III), UN Doc. A/810 (1948).

Fragmentation of International Law: Difficulties Arising from the Diversification and Expansion of International Law, Report of the Study Group of the International Law Commission (ILC), finalized by Martti KOSKENNIEMI, UN Doc.A/CN.4/L/682 (2006), at 104, para. 201 [ILC Study Group Report].

Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, World Conference on Human Rights, UN Doc. A/CONF.157/23 (1993), chapter I(5).

3.2.3 Judgments, Orders, and Advisory Opinions

Case concerning East Timor (Portugal v. Australia), [1995] I.C.J. Rep. 90 at 103.

Fisheries Jurisdiction Case (Spain v. Canada), Order of 8 May 1996, [1996] I.C.J. Rep. 58 at 59.

Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons Case, Advisory Opinion, [1996] I.C.J. Rep. 226 at 230.

Nuclear Tests Case (New Zealand v. France), Order of 22 September 1995, Dissenting Opinion of Judge Weeramantry, [1995] I.C.J. Rep. 288 at 341.

Case Concerning Land Reclamation by Singapore in and Around the Straits of Johor (Malaysia v. Singapore), Decision of 1 September 2005, [2007] XXVII Reports of International Arbitral Awards 133 at 133-45.

3.3 Electronic Resources (e.g. Institutional Reports, News Articles, etc.)

European Federation for Transport and Environment, "Bunker Fuels and the Kyoto Protocol: How ICAO and the IMO Failed the Climate Change Test" (June 2009), online: EFTE http://www.transportenvironment.org/Pages/aviation/.

"Ships Hijacked by Rampant Somali Pirates Since Last Year" Xinhua (3 January 2010), online: Xinhua http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2010-01/03/content_12746253.htm.

TAKANO Shingo, "Promoting EPAs Now Focus of Trade Efforts" Asahi Shimbun (1 January 2010), online: Asahi Shimbun http://www.asahi.com/english/Heraldasahi/TKY201001010074.html.

"India Must Not Lag Behind in Climate Change Initiatives: PM" Times of India (3 January 2010), online: Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-must-not-lagbehind-in-climate-change-initiatives-PM/articleshow/5407132.cms.

3.4 Repeat Citations

Subsequent citations should be in the form: Author, supra note 12 at 345.

For citations which repeat the citation in the immediate preceding footnote, please use ibid. For instance:

1 XUE Hanqin, Transboundary Damage in International Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004).

2 Ibid.

3 Ibid., at 21.