About the Journal

FOCUS AND SCOPE

The Journal of Law and Gender (RDG) is published by the Philosophy of Law Area of the Department of Political Science and Public Law at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

Aimed at legal scholars and interdisciplinary professionals who are interested in the use of methodology characteristic of the social sciences, as well as law, gender, and feminist perspectives, the journal is published twice a year. Thus, it encompasses social science disciplines such as criminology, legal psychology, anthropology, and legal sociology.

The framework for addressing issues and problems is respect for human rights, and the methodological approach is plural and interdisciplinary.

PEER REVIEW PROCESS

The OJS system automatically informs authors of the receipt of their manuscripts. All articles will receive two peer reviews. Members of the Editorial Board will conduct a general review of the work during the initial phase. They may reject any work that is noticeably low in quality or does not contribute to the journal's thematic areas without further external review. Articles that pass the first filter will be referred to two external reviewers. In the event of discrepancies in the two reviewers' evaluations, the Editorial Board may send the text to a third reviewer. Subsequently, the peer review system is dependent on an external panel of experts that undergoes periodic updates.

Upon reviewing the reviewers' reports, the Editorial Board may render one of the subsequent decisions, which will be communicated to the author:

 

Publishable without modifications (or with minor modifications).

Publishable with modifications.

Re-evaluable: not publishable, but with the possibility of being rewritten and resubmitted.

Not publishable.

 

Once a decision has been communicated, no correspondence will be entered into regarding submitted but unpublished materials.

The editorial coordinator will provide a reasoned decision regarding the acceptance, rejection, or request for revisions of the article within four months of its receipt. The authors are exclusively communicated with by the journal through the OJS tool from the commencement of the editorial phase until the articles are published.

RDG, both in the peer review process and in the general edition, adheres to the Code of Good Practices in Research of the Autonomous University of Barcelona. We also encourage the use of gender-neutral language in our publications. We also recommend that authors of works conducted with research data that include the variables sex and gender anonymize them and report whether their conclusions have considered possible differences between these variables.

Manuscripts submitted to all sections of the Journal ("Articles," "Monographic Dossier," "Courts," and "Reviews") are subject to blind peer review.

PUBLICATION FREQUENCY

RDG publishes two regular issues per year (in June and December) and, occasionally, a special issue.

The materials submitted by authors (articles, contributions, case law critiques, book reviews) may be submitted at any point throughout the year, and they will be incorporated into the corresponding current volume. Authors must indicate in their submission which of the different sections of RDG they are intended for.

 However, the Editorial Board will ultimately determine the final assignment to a specific section.

OPEN ACCESS POLICY

RDG's content is immediately accessible for free, as it is believed that the public's access to research promotes a more comprehensive and improved global exchange of knowledge. Therefore, users are permitted to read, download, distribute, print, search, partially reproduce, or link to the texts without obtaining prior authorization from the Editorial Board or the author.

The journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License.

ETHICAL AND BEST PRACTICE STATEMENT

RDG adheres to the Code of Good Practices in Research of the Autonomous University of Barcelona. The journal also has a Protocol for detecting plagiarism and implementing measures.

The Autonomous University of Barcelona promotes the publication of open-access digital journals, ensuring the transmission of quality scientific knowledge and rigor in research and the publication of results. It is also committed to ensuring the ethics of its publications in accordance with both the Code of Good Practice in Research and the review and editing process established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). All parties involved in the editing process—directors, reviewers, and authors—must be familiar with and accept these basic principles.

It also guarantees an appropriate response to the needs of authors and readers, ensuring the quality of the published texts while protecting and respecting the content and integrity of the articles.

The Editorial Board of RDG is committed to publishing corrections, clarifications, and retractions whenever necessary. In compliance with these best practices, the refereeing system used for the selection of articles is published, as well as the evaluation criteria that external reviewers (anonymous and peer reviewers) must apply. RDG keeps these criteria up to date, based exclusively on the scientific and academic relevance, originality, clarity, and pertinence of the submitted article.

The confidentiality of the evaluation process is guaranteed at all times, i.e., the anonymity of the reviewers and authors; the content evaluated; the reasoned report issued by the reviewers; as well as any other communication made by the Editorial and Advisory Boards. Likewise, confidentiality will be maintained for any clarifications, claims, or complaints that an author may wish to send to the journal committees or to the article's reviewers.

RDG declares its commitment to respect and uphold the integrity of previously published works. For this reason, RDG implements a strict policy against plagiarism and the fraudulent use of artificial intelligence tools. If the use of or recourse to practices such as those described above is identified, the work in question will be removed from the journal or not published, as the case may be. The journal undertakes to act in these cases as quickly as possible. By accepting the terms and conditions of publication in the journal, the authors guarantee that the article and associated materials are original and do not infringe the copyright of third parties. Furthermore, in the case of shared authorship, the authors must declare that there has been full consensus among all the authors involved and that the text has not been previously submitted or published in another journal or media outlet.

EDITORIAL BOARD

Responsible for the decision to publish the received works and ensuring that they are reviewed without regard to the race, sex, sexual orientation, religion, ethnic origin, country of origin, citizenship, or political orientation of the authors. Anonymization significantly contributes to this.

It publishes updated guidelines on the responsibilities of authors and the characteristics of papers submitted to the journal, as well as on the refereeing system used to select articles and the evaluation criteria that external reviewers must apply.

It undertakes to publish any necessary corrections, clarifications, and apologies if deemed appropriate and to refrain from using the articles received for its own research without the consent of their authors.

It guarantees the confidentiality of the evaluation process, which includes the anonymity of the reviewers and authors, the content being evaluated, the report issued by the reviewers, and any other communication made by the committees (editorial and scientific). It will also maintain confidentiality regarding any clarifications, claims, or complaints that an author may wish to send to the journal's committees or to the article's reviewers.

It is committed to respecting and safeguarding the integrity of previously published works.

Strong regarding plagiarism, eliminating those identified or preventing their publication. In these cases, the Editorial Board will act as quickly as possible.

THE AUTHORS

The authors of manuscripts must guarantee that the work submitted to the RDG journal is original and does not contain excerpts from other authors' works or excerpts from their own previously published work. Furthermore, the authors must confirm the accuracy of the data.

The authors of the papers undertake to ensure that the materials consulted are the most current and relevant within the field in which the research was conducted.

The authorship of the work must guarantee the inclusion of all individuals who have made a significant scientific and intellectual contribution to the conceptualization and planning of the work, as well as participating in the interpretation of the results and the writing of the text. However, the authors must be hierarchically organized according to their level of responsibility and roles.

All authors accept responsibility for what they have written.

THE REVIEWERS

Agree to conduct an objective, informed, critical, constructive, and impartial review of the article. Acceptance or rejection is based solely on the work's relevance, originality, interest, and compliance with the style and content standards indicated in the editorial criteria. They respect the established deadlines (if this is not possible, they must notify the journal's secretary well in advance). They will not share, disseminate, or use information from the articles submitted for review without the corresponding permission of the Editorial Board and/or the authorship of the work.

The reviewers undertake to conduct a critical, honest, constructive, and impartial review of the articles and to evaluate them as quickly as possible to meet the deadlines. They will review the manuscript only if they consider themselves competent in the subject matter and only if they are not in a situation of conflict of interest.

Reviewers must submit a complete, critical report with appropriate references to the journal's review procedures and established public standards. They are required to inform the editors if they notice that any part of the work has already been previously published or is under review by another publication.

The RDG Editorial Board, once it has confirmed that the article meets the style and content standards indicated in the editorial criteria, will submit the article to two independent reviewers, using a double-blind review system.

The evaluation will consider, among other aspects, the interest of the article, its contribution to knowledge on the subject, the novelty it provides, the properly established relationships, the critical judgment developed, the bibliographic references used, and the correct writing. It will also provide recommendations, if relevant, for possible improvement.

In accordance with the reviewers' recommendations, the Editorial Board will inform the author(s) of the reasoned outcome of the evaluation by email sent through the web application to the address used when submitting the article. The lead author will then be informed, in complete confidence, of the review outcome and their observations and comments.

If the manuscript has been accepted with modifications, the author(s) must resubmit a new version of the article, addressing the requests and suggestions of the external reviewers. They must also provide a report indicating the content of the modifications made to the article.

The final decision will be communicated to the author(s) by the Editorial Board.

PUBLISHING FEES

Since the publication costs of the Journal of Law and Gender are covered by the internal budgets of the publishing university (UAB), authors will not be required to pay any article-processing charges (APCs).

HISTORY OF THE JOURNAL

RDG began publishing in 2024 at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, promoted by the Philosophy of Law Area of the Department of Political Science and Public Law at the UAB, under the direction of Dr. Noelia Igareda and Dr. Marc-Abraham Puig, and the Board of Directors of Dr. Maria Barcons Campmajó.

The journal adopted an open access format to reach the widest possible audience with a conception of law that takes into account gender and feminist perspectives and the methodologies of the Sociology of Law.

SPONSOR

Autonomous University of Barcelona