The Journalists: Dr. Sharmila Narayana, Christ University Law Journal

The Journalists is a deeper look at the journals published by law schools around the country. In this edition, we take a look at the Christ University Law Journal, with Campus Ambassador Naga Sai Srikar HK interviewing the journal's Associate Editor, Dr. Sharmila Narayana.

What is the aim and objective of CULJ?

Christ University Law Journal (CULJ) provides a platform for incisive legal research on contemporary developments and publishes articles on all aspects of law. The publication intends to be a space for enterprising legal academics to embark on research in general areas of law.

The bi- annual, double-blind peer reviewed journal, published since 2010, intends to be a serious reference point on academic literature in law, catering to practitioners, judges, researchers, academicians and students. The journal comprises of researched articles on relevant legal issues, Case Comments that analyse latest judicial decisions and a Book Review section that meticulously captures the essence and evaluates recent publications in law, adding to the repertoire of legal knowledge.

What makes a well written article, and what do you look for in an article?

A well written article needs to be deep in terms of research, contemporariness of the topic, analysis of the issues discussed and good citations supplemented with clear and structured writing, following all norms of academic writing.

The issues need to be analysed using relevant case laws and logical arguments.

What is the review process followed by the journal?

We follow a double blind, peer review process. When we receive a submission, it is first put for a similarity check. If that is cleared the author details are removed from the paper, they are then coded and sent for review, based on specific parameters, to an in-house faculty who has specialised in that specific area(internal review).

Once approved the paper is further forwarded for review to an academician outside the University (external review). This way the identity of the author and the reviewers remain anonymous. The Editorial Board comprises of faculty members and students.

Students help in the screening and preliminary editing process. The current student editors are Deepa. S and Divya Pinheiro.

How has the journal progressed so far and what are the future plans?

Our future plans are to index the journal in UGC CARE list and SCOPUS. Currently the journal is listed in Ulrich’s Periodicals and Index Copernicus.

The current external Editorial Board members are:

• Prof. Srividhya Ragavan from Texas A&M University,

• Prof. Sarasu Thomas from NLSIU, Bangalore,

• Prof. Radley Henrico from University of the Western Cape, South Africa,

• Prof. Partho Shome from International Tax Research & Analysis Foundation,

• Prof. Aparna Chandra from NLSIU, Bangalore,

• Prof. Manoj Kumar Sinha from The Indian Law Institute,

• Prof. Clemens Arzt from Berlin School of Economics and Law,

• Prof. Phillipe Cullet from SOAS London,

• Prof. Raphael Heffron from University of Dundee,

• Prof. Mauro Bussani from University of Trieste (Italy),

• Prof. Dodo Thampapillai from Crawford School of Public Policy and Prof. Sital Kalantry from Cornell Law School.

In your opinion, why should law students take academic writing seriously?

Academic writing skills are imperative to the profession of law, be it lawyers or judges. Good writing skills are required to convey ideas clearly and effectively, make logical arguments, engage critically in scholarly conversation and to inform.

Hence, it is important that law students pick up the art of academic writing, citing sources wherever required.