Articles are accepted with the understanding that the authors have not violated any ethical practice followed in preparation of them. Author/s is/are responsible for all the statements made in their work and should be willing to defend them publicly, if challenged. Authors should prepare their articles submitted to the VidhiNama Blog exactly according to the instructions given. Articles which do not follow the format and style of the VidhiNama Blog may be returned to the authors for revision or rejected. VidhiNama reserves the right to make any further formal changes and language corrections necessary in an article accepted for publication.
GUIDELINES FOR AUTHORS
By submitting an article to VidhiNama, the author(s) warrant that the article is their own, original work and that it has neither been published previously nor is currently being considered for publication elsewhere. They also warrant that the sources of any ideas and/or words in the article that are not their own have been properly attributed through appropriate citations and/or quotes.
An author should not normally publish articles describing essentially the same research in multiple blogs or publication venues. Such redundant publication is generally considered to constitute unethical publishing behavior, and if discovered may result in an article under consideration being rejected, or a published article being retracted. If any author after publication of his/her article, wish to submit a modified and/or updated version of the said article, he/she should first get the consent from VidhiNama blog through sending an e-mail at official@vidhinama.com.
The article should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to benefit from their work. The fabrication of results and the making of fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and may be cause for rejection or retraction of an article or published article.
Where an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in an article of his/hers that has been published on VidhiNama, he/she has an obligation to promptly notify the editors and cooperate with them to correct the article or retract it as appropriate.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF EDITORS
Every article will go through the following three steps before publication:
- Every article will go through all the Assistant Editors at VidhiNama blog. The article will only go in the next stage after the approval of all the Assistant Editors.
- Once the article is approved by them, it would thereafter be perused by one of the Co-Editors who is specialized in the same branch of law.
- After the approval of the Co-Editor, the article will be scrutinized by one of the Editors. This will be the last step and the article will be published only after the approval of all the above members.
In case of any dispute regarding the publication of an article, the decision of the Editor-in-chief would be final.
Editors/Co-Editors
The Editors have ultimate responsibility for deciding if an article submitted to blog should be published, and in doing so is guided by the blog’s policies as determined by the editorial board and constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism. Editors may consult with the Co-Editors and other members of the editorial team, in making publication decisions.
VidhiNama’s editors perform work for the blog on a pro-bono basis. Given that most of the editors are in full-time employment, their reviewing activities for the blog must, by necessity, not be their top priority. Editors are free to decline invitations to review particular articles at their discretion, for example, if their current employment workload and/or other commitments make it difficult for them to scrutinize an article in a timely fashion and to do justice to the task in the available time-frame. If the rejection of an article is exercised by any editor or co-editor, the article will be sent to other Editor or Co-Editor. If because of some extra-ordinary and rare circumstances, an article is rejected by all Editors, then the article can be published by the approval of two Co-Editors.
Editors who have accepted article assignments are normally expected to submit their response within a time span of one-two week. In extra-ordinary circumstances, the time span might increase. They should also not accept article review assignments for which they feel unqualified. They should recuse themselves from the assignment if it becomes apparent to them at any stage that they do not possess the required expertise to perform the review, or that they may have a potential conflict of interest in scrutinizing the article (e.g., one resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, institutions, or companies associated with the article).
The editors will evaluate articles for their intellectual content without regard to the race, color, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the author(s). They will not disclose any information about an article under consideration to anyone other than the author(s), and in some instances the editorial board members, as appropriate.
Assistant Editors
When perusing an article, Assistant Editors are asked to do so as objectively as possible, refraining from engaging in personal criticism of the author(s). They are encouraged to express their views clearly, explaining and justifying all recommendations made. They should always attempt to provide detailed and constructive feedback to assist the author(s) in improving their work, even if the article is, in their opinion, not publishable.
Assistant Editors should identify in their perusal, relevant published work that has not been cited by the author(s), together with any instances in which proper attribution of sources has not been provided. They should call to the responsible editor’s attention any major resemblances between a Article under consideration and other published articles or papers of which they are aware, as well as any concerns they might have in relation to the ethical acceptability of the research reported in the article.
In Cases of Misconduct after Publication of an Article
Generally, any article published on VidhiNama blog would go through detailed examination and scrutiny from several members of the Editorial Board. And therefore, any chances of publication of low-quality articles or the articles which are prepared violating any ethical practice followed in preparation would be minimized in the stage of scrutiny of articles.
However, as there is always a possibility that even after taking best of precautions, one of the above mentioned type of articles go unnoticeable and get published on the website.
In such cases, after the misconduct of the author has been brought to knowledge of any member of the Editorial Board or the administrator of VidhiNama blog website, it may result in a published article being retracted. Also, any other actions necessary might be taken.
