All submissions should be made through the European Law Open ScholarOne system here. 

Authors should indicate whether their article is a ‘Core analysis’, ‘Dialogue and debate’ piece, a ‘Books and classics’ paper (see a description of each type in ‘Article type’ above) in the online submission system in addition to whether the contribution is part of a special issue or symposia.

Any queries about submission should be sent to the Managing Editors via europeanlawopen@gmail.com.

Manuscript preparation: Overall submission guidelines

 Authors should submit two documents via ScholarOne:

1.      A title page file containing:

• A title which is short, direct and accessible for non-specialists and which accurately reflects the content.
• The author(s) names and affiliation including institution, city and country.
• Email address for the corresponding author (who should be indicated with an asterisk).
• Competing interest statement. For more information see ‘Disclosure statements’ below.
• Word count including references.
• We require all corresponding authors and encourage all co-authors to include an ORCID iD.

 2. The main article file including no identifying information :

• Word document, in English, text of 12pt or larger, double line spaced, with a left margin of at least 2.5 cm and a right margin of 6.5 cm.
• An abstract of no more than 300 words in length that summarises the purpose of the paper and the main theses, and that is written at a level that is understandable by a broad audience.
• Please include 4 to 6 keywords to be published with your paper. The first keyword should be the relevant sub-field of law (for example Environmental Law). The next keyword(s) should be any sub-topic/niche topic within this (for example Climate Law). Any other keywords should address further themes or specifics of your paper. If your paper focuses on a particular case or piece of legislation or considers a particular geographic region then those should be included as keywords.
• Please ensure that the main article file is fully anonymised. Please remove the acknowledgments, any footnotes or running headers with author names, to allow anonymised review.
• Tables, figures and graphics should not be embedded in the manuscript but please indicate the position in the text (see more information below).
• A number of required disclosure statements should be included at the end of your paper including acknowledgements, data availability, funding and competing interests (see ‘Disclosure statements’ below).
• Papers should adhere to the ‘Style’ guidelines found in full here.

Tables, figures and graphics

Please ensure that all tables, figures and graphics are provided in an editable format and are of a suitable quality and resolution to be published online. Do not embed these files in the manuscript – they must be supplied in separate files, one file per figure. Please indicate the position of figures, tables and graphics in the text along with any caption as follows:

Table 1: Table caption INSERT TABLE 1 ABOUT HERE

Figures, tables and graphic reproduced from already published work must be accompanied by the permission of the original publisher (or copyright holder, if not the publisher). Full information on how to prepare and supply tables, figures and graphics can be found here and should be followed with care.

Multimedia and supplementary materials files

Any multimedia and supplementary materials should also be provided as separate files.

Disclosure statements

Authors will be asked in the ScholarOne system to confirm that the substance of the content presented has not been published previously and is not currently being considered for publication elsewhere.

In the interest of transparency, authors must also include the following disclosure statements at the end of their paper (with the exception of the Competing Interest statement which should be included in the title page).

Acknowledgments

This should recognise help and advice from associates and colleagues who contributed to the article but do not meet the recognised criteria for authorship, as well as other kinds of non-financial support from individuals and organisations.

Data Availability Statement

Research articles including data must contain sufficient information to allow others to understand, verify, and replicate findings. The article must contain a Data Availability Statement explaining how data and other resources were created, from where they are available, along with information about any restrictions on the accessibility of data and other resources.

Examples:

Data availability: The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in [repository name] at http://doi.org/[doi], reference number [reference number].

Data availability: The data that support the findings will be available in [repository name] at [URL / DOI link] following a [6 month] embargo from the date of publication to allow for commercialisation of research findings.

Data availability: The data that support the findings of this study are available from [third party]. Restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under licence for this study. Data are available [from the authors / at URL] with the permission of [third party].

See the ELO research transparency policy for more details.

Funding statement

This must detail the sources of financial support for all authors in relation to the article, including grant numbers, or declare that no specific funding exists. The statement should also make it clear whether the funder had a role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

For example:

“This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under research grant XXXX. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.”

Where no specific funding has been provided for research, please provide the following statement: “This work received no specific grant from any funding agency, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.”

Competing interests

Authors should include a Competing Interest statement within their title page. 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 an author’s presentation of their work. They may include, but are not limited to, financial, professional, contractual or personal relationships or situations (for example, professional or legal consulting in matters or to institutions/actors related to the field of research).
• Competing Interests do not necessarily mean that an author’s work has been compromised. Authors should declare any real or perceived Competing Interests in order to be transparent about the context of their work.
• If the manuscript has multiple authors, the author submitting the manuscript must include Competing Interest declarations relevant to all contributing authors.
• Example wording for a Competing Interest declaration is as follows: “Competing Interests: Author A is employed at company B. Author C owns shares in company D, 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 Interest: Author A and Author B declare none”.

Open Access

All ELO content is published online-only using a continuous publication model. All content is published on a Gold Open Access (OA) basis: it is made freely accessible immediately on publication under a Creative Commons licence that allows users to re-distribute and re-use the material. The standard license that ELO uses is CC-BY 4.0, but authors are able to select other Creative Commons licenses in the publishing agreement that is signed on acceptance.

Gold Open Access publication in this journal is paid for through a series of different funding routes designed to ensure that every author, irrespective of their circumstances, can publish in the journal and enjoy the benefits of Gold OA. For full details, please refer to our open access options.