Open by default. Independent by design.

Open access

Published work will be available online, without a subscription.

Every Acta journal will publish open access, online. Readers will not need a subscription or institutional licence to read published articles. The journals are being built for an international readership, and open access is part of that commitment.

Open access does not mean the absence of editorial standards. Each journal will maintain independent editing, review, and publication ethics policies. The model describes how readers reach the work, not how the work is selected.

Charges

No article processing charge is planned at present.

There is no submission fee and no article processing charge (APC) at present. This applies across the portfolio. Any change to the publication model or to charges will be published clearly on the relevant journal site before it takes effect.

The press does not operate a paid fast-track, a submission fee, or a charge for colour reproduction. If that position changes, the change will be stated publicly and will not be applied retroactively.

This table describes the current position. It is not a fee schedule and may be updated before publication begins.

Peer review

Review arrangements are being settled journal by journal.

Each journal will publish its review model, criteria for editorial assessment, and the responsibilities of editors and reviewers before submissions open. No review model, acceptance rate, or timeline is claimed at this stage.

The press expects review to be rigorous, confidential, and independent. Reviewers should declare conflicts of interest and should not use manuscripts for their own purposes. Editors should give reasons for decisions and should not be directed by the operator.

Editorial independence

Editors decide what is published. The operator provides publishing services.

Each journal’s editors are responsible for editorial decisions, including the selection of reviewers and the final decision on a manuscript. Standard Law Academic provides production, hosting, metadata, and administrative support. It does not direct editorial judgment.

The separation between editorial and operational decisions will be set out in each journal’s editorial policy. Where an operational decision affects publication—for example, a technical constraint or a legal requirement—the journal will explain the constraint and its effect.

Publication ethics

The journals will adopt policies on authorship, conflicts, integrity, and correction.

Authorship and contribution

Authorship should reflect substantial contribution to the work. All authors should approve the submitted version and agree to its publication. Contributions that do not meet authorship criteria should be acknowledged.

Conflicts of interest

Authors, editors, and reviewers will be asked to disclose financial and non-financial interests that could bear on the work. A conflict that cannot be managed should lead to withdrawal from the decision.

Research integrity

Submissions must be original, must not be under consideration elsewhere, and must properly attribute the work of others. Fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism are incompatible with publication in the journals.

Corrections and retractions

The journals will publish corrections where errors affect the scholarly record and will consider retraction where findings are unreliable or misconduct is established. Procedures will be published in each journal’s ethics policy.

Manuscript preparation

The journals share a two-column LaTeX template.

Manuscripts are prepared in LaTeX. The template provides a full-width title block, an abstract and keywords panel, a two-column body, numbered sections, footnotes, a table example, and an author–year reference list. It compiles with pdfLaTeX and supports Chinese manuscripts with XeLaTeX.

The template is a formatting aid, not the journals’ author guidelines. It does not establish a submission route and does not settle questions of style that the guidelines will address.

Licensing & copyright

Licensing terms will be published with the first issues.

The journals intend to publish under terms that allow readers to access and reuse published work, consistent with open access. The specific licence, copyright arrangements, and permitted uses will be published before the first issue and in each journal’s author guidelines.

No licence is claimed on this site before it is confirmed. Authors should not assume a particular licence until the relevant journal publishes its terms.

Preservation & archiving

Preservation planning begins with the first issue.

The journals will publish metadata designed to support discovery and long-term preservation. Archiving arrangements, persistent identifiers, and preservation partners will be published once they are confirmed.

The journals are not yet published and are not currently indexed in any database. No indexing, abstracting, or impact metric is claimed at this stage. Applications to relevant indexes will follow publication of the first issues.

Submission status

The journals do not currently accept submissions.

No call for papers is currently listed. Calls will be published on the relevant journal site and will state the question, the timeline, and the submission route. The press is not soliciting proposals by email at this stage.

This site does not provide a submission form, an email address for submissions, or a manuscript portal. Nothing on this page should be read as an invitation to submit.

Policies overview

The table records the status of the main policies. Policies marked “to be published” will be issued by each journal before submissions open.

“Confirmed” refers to the publishing model stated on this site. It does not imply that a formal policy document has been issued.

Complaints & appeals

Procedures are in preparation.

The journals will publish procedures for complaints and appeals, including how to raise a concern about an editorial decision, a published article, or the conduct of an editor or reviewer. Concerns will be handled confidentially and without prejudice to the person raising them.

Contact details for these procedures will be published when they are confirmed. This pre-launch site does not accept complaints or correspondence.