Author Guidelines

Canadian Legal Research Journal (CLRJ)

Peer-Reviewed • Open Access • Double-Blind Peer Review • Crossref DOI Registered • CC BY 4.0

1. Introduction

The Canadian Legal Research Journal (CLRJ) is an international, peer-reviewed, open-access scholarly journal dedicated to advancing legal scholarship, justice studies, public policy, governance, legal education, and interdisciplinary legal research. The Journal welcomes high-quality submissions from academics, legal practitioners, judges, researchers, policymakers, graduate students, and professionals worldwide.

All submissions are evaluated in accordance with CLRJ’s editorial policies, publication ethics, peer-review standards, and scholarly publishing requirements.

2. Aims and Scope

CLRJ publishes original scholarship in, but not limited to, the following areas:

S. No.	Subject Area	S. No.	Subject Area
1	Constitutional Law	10	Labour and Employment Law
2	Administrative Law	11	Family Law
3	Criminal Law	12	Tax Law
4	Civil Litigation	13	Intellectual Property Law
5	Human Rights Law	14	Artificial Intelligence and Technology Law
6	International Law	15	Comparative Legal Studies
7	Immigration and Refugee Law	16	Legal Theory and Jurisprudence
8	Environmental and Natural Resources Law	17	Public Policy and Governance
9	Corporate and Commercial Law

3. Types of Manuscripts Accepted

Manuscript Type	Recommended Length
Research Articles	5,000–15,000 words
Review Articles	4,000–12,000 words
Case Comments	2,000–6,000 words
Legislative Analyses	2,000–8,000 words
Policy Papers	3,000–12,000 words
Book Reviews	1,000–3,000 words
Short Communications	1,500–4,000 words

Word limits include footnotes but exclude references, appendices, tables, and figures.

4. Conditions of Submission

The manuscript must be original and unpublished.
The manuscript must not be under consideration by another journal or publisher.
All authors must approve the submission.
The manuscript must comply with copyright laws and publication ethics.
All sources must be properly cited.
Any use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools must be disclosed.
Prior dissemination through preprints, conferences, theses, or repositories must be declared.

5. Manuscript Preparation and Formatting

Language: English
Font: Times New Roman, 12 pt
Spacing: 1.5 lines
Margins: 1 inch (2.54 cm)
Alignment: Justified
File Format: Microsoft Word (.doc/.docx) or .rtf
Page Numbering: Consecutive throughout

Heading Structure

1. Main Heading
1.1 Subheading
1.1.1 Sub-Subheading

6. Manuscript Structure

A. Separate Title Page

Article Title
Author Name(s)
Institutional Affiliation(s)
ORCID iD(s)
Corresponding Author Information
Email Address
Postal Address
Country
Funding Information
Conflict of Interest Declaration
Acknowledgements (if applicable)

B. Anonymous Manuscript

The manuscript file submitted for peer review must not contain author-identifying information.

Title
Abstract (150–300 words)
Keywords (5–8)
Introduction
Literature Review
Methodology (where applicable)
Legal Framework
Analysis and Discussion
Findings
Conclusion
References

7. Citation and Referencing

Preferred Citation Style: McGill Guide (Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation)

Alternative Citation Styles:

APA 7th Edition
OSCOLA
Chicago Manual of Style

Authors must use one citation style consistently throughout the manuscript. Where available, DOI links, URLs, neutral citations, case citations, and legislative citations should be provided.

8. Metadata and DOI Requirements

To facilitate indexing, discoverability, and citation tracking, authors should provide:

Author Names
Institutional Affiliations
ORCID iDs
Abstract
Keywords
References
Funding Information
DOI Links (where available)

Publisher: Mian Karam Ellahi Trust (MKET) Canada
Crossref DOI Prefix: 10.68513

9. Authorship, Ethics and AI Disclosure

Authorship shall be limited to individuals who have made substantial scholarly contributions to the research and manuscript preparation. Guest, honorary, and ghost authorship are prohibited.

Any use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Generative AI tools must be disclosed. AI systems cannot be listed as authors and remain incapable of assuming responsibility for published content.

Authors must uphold the highest standards of research integrity and avoid plagiarism, falsification, fabrication, duplicate publication, citation manipulation, and undisclosed conflicts of interest.

10. Peer Review Process

CLRJ operates a rigorous Double-Blind Peer Review system.

Editorial Screening
Similarity and Plagiarism Assessment
Independent Peer Review by at least two reviewers
Editorial Decision

Possible Decisions:

Accept
Minor Revisions
Major Revisions
Resubmit for Review
Reject

11. Open Access, Copyright and Licensing

CLRJ provides immediate Open Access to all published content. Authors retain copyright in their work. Published articles are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.

Readers may freely read, download, copy, distribute, print, share, and cite published articles with appropriate attribution.

12. Article Processing Charges

Fee Type	Amount
Submission Fee	CAD $0.00
Article Processing Charge (APC)	CAD $0.00
Publication Fee	CAD $0.00

There are currently no fees payable by authors.

13. Digital Preservation and Archiving

Crossref DOI Infrastructure
Crossref Metadata Deposits
Zenodo Repository
Institutional Repositories
Publisher Archives
Library and Archives Canada Preservation Frameworks
Other Recognized Preservation Services

14. Submission Checklist

✓ Manuscript is original.
✓ Title page is submitted separately.
✓ Anonymous manuscript file is prepared.
✓ Abstract and keywords are included.
✓ References are complete.
✓ DOI links are included where available.
✓ ORCID information is supplied.
✓ Funding statement is included.
✓ Conflict of Interest statement is included.
✓ AI disclosure statement is included, where applicable.
✓ All authors have approved the manuscript.

15. Contact Information

Canadian Legal Research Journal (CLRJ)
418 Coxwell Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Website: https://www.clrj.ca
Email: info@clrj.ca
Publisher: Mian Karam Ellahi Trust (MKET) Canada
Crossref DOI Prefix: 10.68513

Statement of Editorial Standards

The Canadian Legal Research Journal is committed to maintaining the highest standards of scholarly publishing, editorial independence, transparency, publication ethics, metadata quality, citation integrity, accessibility, Open Access dissemination, and long-term digital preservation in accordance with internationally recognized best practices for scholarly communication.