LEXANTARA is accepting submissions. Read these guidelines before you submit through the online submission system.
Contents: Eligibility · Submission files · Legal method · Citation style · Tables and figures · Production · Checklists · Declarations · Online submission · Document templates · Use of generative AI
Submission eligibility and originality
Submissions must be within scope, original in contribution, approved by all authors, and not under consideration by another journal. The corresponding author submits personally through the journal’s submission system and remains responsible for approvals and correspondence. Administrative assistance must be disclosed where relevant; submission agents may not impersonate authors or communicate fabricated decisions.
Preprints, theses, working papers and conference presentations may be eligible under the Publication Ethics policy. Disclose related manuscripts, shared datasets, earlier versions, commissioned reports and prior or planned book publication in the cover letter, and provide copies for confidential assessment. A new title, language or location does not establish a new contribution. The editor determines whether overlap is acceptable.
No fixed minimum citation count, compulsory citation of LEXANTARA or its editors, nationality preference, or commercial editing purchase applies. Requests for language improvement must concern intelligibility and scholarly assessment. Assistance must preserve author accountability.
Submission files and anonymisation
Submit four components: a separate title page; an anonymised main manuscript in editable DOCX; a cover letter; and any supplements or permissions. A PDF may accompany the editable manuscript but does not replace it. Unsupported formats or accessibility needs should be discussed with the editorial office before submission.
Title page and author information
Include the full title, article type, author names in the intended order, affiliations and countries, corresponding author email, ORCID identifiers where available, and component word counts. List funding and funder roles, competing interests, author contributions, acknowledgements, ethics and consent details, data and materials availability, AI declaration, and prior dissemination. Independent researchers may state their actual status; a university affiliation is not required.
Provide a non-identifying version of relevant methods and declarations for review. Identity-bearing funding, ethics and conflict information is retained on the confidential title page; the editor arranges anonymisation without depriving reviewers of material methodological or ethical information. Full declarations are restored before publication.
Main manuscript
Use a concise title, a 150–250 word abstract and four to six keywords. The abstract states the question, method, central finding or argument, and contribution. A normal structure is introduction; legal and scholarly context; research approach; analysis and discussion; conclusion; declarations; and bibliography. Doctrinal and theoretical work may use a different structure if its question, method and contribution are explicit.
Use readable 12-point text, 1.5 line spacing, normal margins, consecutive page numbers and automatic footnotes. Number headings consistently to no more than three levels. Apply British or American spelling consistently. Tables and figures must be editable or supplied in usable original files, numbered and cited in order. Production formatting is not a condition for initial consideration if the manuscript is complete and legible.
Anonymisation and cover letter
Remove names, identifying acknowledgements, document properties, tracked-change author names, identifying filenames, comments and identifying material in supplements. Cite the authors’ published work accurately in the third person; use a temporary anonymous placeholder only where necessary and provide the full reference confidentially. Remove identity-revealing repository links for review and provide them privately to the editor. Editors and office staff know author identity; double anonymity concerns the author–reviewer relationship.
The cover letter explains fit and contribution, discloses prior versions and overlaps, identifies material conflicts and permissions, and confirms author approval and exclusive submission. Do not include acceptance guarantees, suggested favourable reviews or fabricated institutional endorsements.
Legal method, authority and source verification
Authors must explain how legal materials and jurisdictions were selected and analysed. Doctrinal work identifies interpretive choices and competing authorities. Comparative work justifies jurisdiction selection, considers translation and institutional context, and avoids assuming that similar terms have identical effects. Empirical work explains sampling, access, measures or coding, analysis and limitations. Causal and generalisation claims must be proportionate to design.
State the date up to which the law was checked where currency affects the argument. Distinguish law in force, draft proposals, repealed rules, pending proceedings, interim orders, final decisions, and non-binding guidance. Identify whether a judgment or award is subject to appeal, annulment, review or enforcement proceedings when relevant. Do not present an unofficial translation, headnote, press release or AI summary as the authoritative text.
Check each material legal proposition against the original or an authoritative primary source. Provide the jurisdiction, issuing authority, date, identifier and pinpoint as applicable. Explain inaccessible or confidential sources and provide sufficient lawful information for independent assessment; do not create false public links or claim access that was unavailable. Hypothetical cases, model clauses and simulated transactions must be clearly labelled.
Citation style, quotations and legal materials
The journal uses The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition (2017), Notes and Bibliography system. Use consecutively numbered automatic footnotes and an alphabetical bibliography for secondary sources. Give a full citation at first mention and shortened notes thereafter, normally author surname, short title and pinpoint page. Prefer shortened notes to ibid. Do not use the Chicago author–date system.
For legal and public documents, follow the relevant guidance in chapter 14 and retain jurisdiction-appropriate identifiers. Cite primary legal authorities in footnotes; a separate table of cases, legislation or treaties may be supplied when useful. Do not mechanically convert legal authorities into book or journal-article references.
Cite cases with the case name, neutral citation or recognised report and pinpoint. Cite legislation by jurisdiction, title, number and year, and relevant article or section. For treaties, identify the instrument and provision and supply authoritative publication or registration details where applicable. Awards require the parties, institution or rules, case number, decision type, date and paragraph where available. Retain the original title or identifier of non-English authorities and identify any translation and translator.
Give pinpoints for quotations and specific legal propositions. Mark omissions, additions and translations clearly. Distinguish paraphrase from direct quotation and credit original ideas. Verify quotations, cited versions, DOI links and URLs. Use access dates for changeable online material where the style requires them. Cite datasets and software in a consistent retrievable form, with creator, title, date or version, repository and persistent identifier where assigned.
Do not cite solely from a secondary source while implying that the original was checked. Citation managers and AI suggestions are aids, not verification. There is no required recency percentage: current law, foundational works and recent scholarship serve different purposes.
Tables, figures, supplements and accessibility
Provide concise titles, explanatory captions, source and permission notes, units, defined abbreviations and alternative text for informative figures. Supply editable tables, not screenshots. Do not encode meaning by colour alone. Use legible labels, sufficient contrast and text explanations for essential visual findings. Authors should provide the best available original figure file; the production team supplies file specifications before final acceptance.
Submit supplements with the initial manuscript, cite them in the text, and label versions. Include documentary coding rules, interview guides, analysis code or expanded evidence where appropriate. Remove personal identifiers and unauthorised confidential content. Material supporting substantive claims must be accessible to reviewers and is assessed with the paper. Supplements are not a route to publish unreviewed new arguments.
The final supplement set is author-checked, linked and identified with its review status and licence. Corrections to material supplements follow the publication-record policy. Authors may request reasonable submission adjustments.
Acceptance, production, proofs and publication versions
After documented acceptance, confirm author names and affiliations, declarations, permissions, final editable files, approved supplements and the publishing agreement. Financial administration, if applicable, remains separate. Copyediting may improve clarity and consistency but must not alter substantive legal meaning without author agreement. Authors respond to production queries and verify quotations, tables, references and legal identifiers.
The corresponding author receives proofs and coordinates all author corrections within the deadline communicated by production. Proofs are for errors, completeness and production accuracy; new arguments, new evidence, title changes or substantial revisions require editor approval and may require renewed review. Request a reasonable extension when necessary. Silence is not treated as confirmation that disputed new substantive wording is correct.
The planned schedule is two issues per year, June and December. Submitted manuscript, accepted manuscript, uncorrected proof (if ever released) and version of record are clearly labelled. An accepted article is not the version of record until final production and publication. If an article is published online first, its actual first-publication date and stable citation details are given; later issue allocation does not disguise that date.
Received, revised where relevant, accepted, first-online and issue dates are published consistently and never backdated. DOIs are assigned only through an established registration arrangement. Subsequent substantive changes follow the corrections policy, not silent upload.
Submission checklist
- The article makes a substantive legal contribution in business or investment and fits an eligible article type.
- All authors approve the text, order, declarations and exclusive submission; related versions and overlaps are disclosed.
- The main manuscript and supplements are anonymised, complete and readable; the identifying title page is separate.
- The abstract is 150–250 words, keywords number four to six, and component word counts are reported.
- Legal authorities, quotations, translations, operative status and pinpoints are checked; the legal cutoff date is stated where relevant.
- The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition, Notes and Bibliography system is applied consistently; tables, figures, alternative text, source notes and permissions are supplied.
- Methods and evidence support the claims; ethics approval or justified exemption and publication consent are reported where applicable.
- Funding, conflicts, contributions, acknowledgements, data availability, substantive AI use and prior dissemination are declared.
- Confidential legal material is lawfully used and protected; repository and supplement files contain no unauthorised identifiers.
- The adopted fees, rights, privacy and review policies have been read; no acceptance or indexing guarantee is assumed.
Published article information
Before release, the journal verifies the article type and review label; author names, affiliations and ORCID; title, abstract and keywords; received and accepted dates and actual publication date; journal citation and DOI if registered; copyright and CC BY link; funding, competing interests, contributions, ethics, consent, data availability and AI statements; figure and third-party credits; reviewed supplements; and working links to any correction or related version. An independent handling statement is included where an author is connected to the editorial team or owner.
Author declaration templates
Adapt each statement to the actual study. These are templates, not evidence of approval or a substitute for accurate reporting. Provide complete declarations on the title page and suitably anonymised information for review.
Funding. This research received [funder, grant identifier, support]. The funder’s role was [role or no role]. Alternatively: No specific funding was received for this study.
Competing interests. The authors declare [specific financial, professional, client, institutional or other relevant interests]. Alternatively: The authors declare no competing interests relevant to this article.
Author contributions. [Name]: [actual intellectual and writing contributions, using CRediT roles where appropriate]. All authors approved the final manuscript and accept accountability under the journal policy.
Ethics and participation. The study was approved by [body, reference, date]; participants provided [form of consent]. Alternatively: [body] confirmed exemption on [date/reference]. Where not applicable: This article analyses publicly cited legal materials and involves no participant recruitment or new identifiable personal data; [explain other risks if relevant].
Consent to publish identifiable material. Specific consent for publication of [material] was obtained from [participants or authorised representative], with records retained securely. Explain a lawful ethical exception where applicable; do not disclose identities in the declaration unnecessarily.
Data and materials. The [dataset/materials/code] supporting this study are available at [repository, version, identifier]. Restricted version: [materials] cannot be publicly released because [specific reason]; [state lawful access conditions or that access is unavailable]. Doctrinal version: No new empirical dataset was generated; the legal authorities analysed are identified in the article.
AI use. During preparation the authors used [provider, tool/model/version, date] for [task and components]. They verified [sources/outputs] through [procedure] and accept responsibility. Research-related AI methods are reported in [section]. Alternatively: No generative AI was used for substantive drafting, research design, evidence generation or analysis.
Prior dissemination. An earlier version appeared as [preprint/thesis/working paper/conference paper, date, identifier]. The present submission adds [contribution] and discloses [overlap].
Independent editorial handling. [Author] is [journal/publisher role]. This article was handled by an independent editor; the conflicted person had no role in reviewer selection, assessment or the acceptance decision.
Online submission
Articles are submitted only through this journal’s submission system (Submissions), never through a consultancy form or payment page.
The corresponding author registers or signs in personally, chooses the article type, confirms the submission checklist and uploads the separate title page, anonymised manuscript, cover letter and any supplements or permissions. Enter the title, abstract, keywords, author order, affiliations, corresponding-author details and declarations accurately, check which files are visible to reviewers, review the adopted rights, fees and privacy policies, obtain coauthor agreement and confirm submission. The acknowledgement issued by the system is not acceptance.
Track progress and respond to editorial queries through the system. A revised submission includes the revised clean manuscript, an editor-visible version showing changes, an anonymised response to reports and updated declarations. Contact the editorial office for technical access problems, justified withdrawal or reasonable adjustments.
Document templates
Downloadable templates will be published here. Until then, prepare files with the following content.
- Anonymised article template: title; article type; main-text and footnote word counts; 150–250 word abstract; four to six keywords; introduction; legal and scholarly context; research approach; analysis and discussion; conclusion; anonymised declarations; bibliography; figure captions and alternative text; supplement list. Use 12-point readable text, 1.5 spacing, normal margins, page numbers, automatic footnotes and The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition, Notes and Bibliography system. Analytical headings may be adapted to doctrinal, comparative, theoretical or empirical methods.
- Title-page template: full article title; author names in agreed order; affiliations and countries; ORCID where available; corresponding-author email; component word counts; funding and funder role; competing interests; contributions; acknowledgements; ethics and consent; data availability; substantive-AI or no-substantive-AI declaration; prior dissemination and overlaps; permissions and independent-handling information where applicable.
- Response to reviewers (optional): manuscript identifier; reviewer or editor comment number; full substantive comment; author response; location of change; and reasoned explanation for any disagreement. Remove identifying material from the reviewer-visible copy.
Use of generative AI by authors
Authors follow Generative AI Policy section 4, including the mandatory substantive-use or no-substantive-use declaration, human accountability, source verification, research-method reporting and confidentiality rules.
Policy version: founding draft 2.2 (2 November 2026), pending formal adoption.