The Journalists – Ed Board, National Law School of India Review

The Journalists” is a five-part series where we interview the editorial board of some of the more popular legal journals in the country. Previously we have spoken to the editors of the Trade, Law & Development, Indian Journal of Law & Technology, as well as the NUJS Law Review, and the Jindal Law Journal. In this edition, the team the team at the National Law School of India Review talks about the selection process, challenges faced by academic journals, and the most common errors that authors make..Bar & Bench: Broadly speaking, what are some characteristics that all good articles have?.NLSIR: A good article begins with sound research. It is not only the research and reading which precedes the process of writing an article which matters, but also the manner in which the research is used for the purposes of writing the article. Further, almost all good articles have a novel (or least a very well made) argument. While purely descriptive articles have also been accepted by NLSIR on a few occasions, articles with good analysis and innovative arguments are favoured. Also, the structure and method of argumentation/description should be clear and effective, and the topic must be thoroughly discussed. Finally, the article must be well written and formatted. The language should be clear and concise, with no grammatical errors or errors in sentence construction..B&B: How are editorial board members selected? .NLSIR: The selection of the members on the NLSIR Editorial Board is carried out towards the end of the academic year. The selection takes place through a blind, point based process which involves the submission of a short article on a topic released by the outgoing Chief Editor, followed by a Line Editing Test and an Article Review Test. Additional points are awarded for any publications in respected academic journals by the applicant, as well any past experience on an Editorial Board for journals at NLSIU (including NLSIR). The greatest weightage is given to the short article written by the candidates, whereas the points for past experience and publication are capped, so as to create a more level field for the application pool and encourage junior applicants. The process is aimed at testing the skills that are required of editors as well as gauging their aptitude for such academic exercises..B&B: What is the editorial procedure once a submission is received? Do you have blind reviews?.NLSIR: The NLSIR is a student-edited, peer reviewed journal. Our process does not involve blind reviews. Once a submission is received, it is allotted by the Chief Editor to one of the members of the Editorial Board. The editor can reject it, accept it or ask for a second review. If the article is recommended for a second review, then another, senior editor is assigned to the article, who independently decides whether to accept or reject the article. These decisions are taken based on the guidelines present in the Review Form, which is filled up by each editor for each article reviewed. This is made available to the applicant on request, so that it can be used as feedback by them..If an article is accepted through these two stages, it is sent to the peer reviewer who then sends in a final decision on the article. Accordingly, the applicant is informed whether the article has been finally accepted or rejected and whether there are any changes suggested by the Editorial Board. While some articles are accepted in the first go, most of them undergo modification to some extent. The editor assigned to the article assists the author throughout this process. Once the final draft is received, it is forwarded to the Line Editors, who proofread the article for grammatical/sentence construction/spelling errors and prepare the final draft for publication. Subsequently, the proofs for all articles are compiled and typeset by our publishers, the Eastern Book Company and undergo further rounds of proof reading before final publication..In addition, we always have some first year members on the Editorial Board, who we try to inculcate into the process. Essentially, we allot them the same articles that the editors on the Board are reviewing and ask them to discuss their independent opinions on the same with the respective editors. If their opinions differ from those of the respective editors, they are also made to understand why the decision was taken in a certain way. This helps them understand how the editing process works and gives them experience not just to be future editors but also on how to write good papers..B&B: What common errors do you notice in submissions? .NLSIR: Most often, submissions have basic writing mistakes, such as grammatical and spelling errors. Consequently, they do not make for good reads. Additionally, some articles lack substantial research and superficially cover extensively broad topics without actually adding anything of value of the subject. Another common error is usage of unreliable authorities while citing research, such as Wikipedia, blog posts, etc., which substantially weaken the article. Finally, the biggest problem (not so much an error) we notice with submissions is the lack of original analysis and too great a focus on description of the existing law..B&B: Thoughts on present academic research environment in Indian law schools?.NLSIR: There is a need to encourage students to write and research beyond the mere position of law of various issues, but instead to also analyse, argue and suggest changes. Although writing research papers or undertaking research assignments is placed on a high pedestal at law schools, more students need to engage with the same. Further, there is a dearth of writing on many recent, relevant occurrences across the various areas of law in the country..The NLSIR Editorial Board currently consists of Mansi Sood, Divyanshu Agarwal Shivendu Pandey, Prakshal Jain, Akshat Agarwal, Anindita Pattanayak, Ashwini Vaidialingam, Kaustav Saha, Sarayu Satish, Sharwari Pandit, Siddhant Bhatt