MNLU Mumbai: Call For Papers By Law, Humanities And Social Sciences (LHSS) Journal
In a bid to contribute more comprehensively to the conversation around interdisciplinarity in law and humanities and social sciences, the LHSS Collective, MNLU Mumbai, plans to start the Law, Humanities and Social Sciences Journal (LHSS-J). In the coming days, the journal aspires to furnish a platform for emerging research in the field while also harbouring expertise from fields such as history, philosophy, political science, sociology and literature in their engagement with law. At the same time, it would also strive to expand the horizons of readership for interdisciplinary research beyond the borders of conventional academic spaces.
A glance at any textbook of jurisprudence betrays a stark absence, that of juridical insights and theories from a uniquely Indian perspective. What explains this lack, despite the evidently robust debates around cases, legislations and policies in our courts, classrooms, and think tanks? Why do stellar concepts such as the basic structure doctrine and constitutional morality remain mere artefacts in the judicial system, with negligible presence in our public spaces and discussions? At the very least, this disconnect suggests a want of conversation between the laws and the human social currents amid which they emerge, and which in turn, they reshape.
Legal theories evolve only in sustained engagement with, and reflection on, the law at work in society. Such an approach calls for a critical response to law as an idea, an institution but also as an instrument for ordering society, politics and culture. Perhaps a colonial hangover, the relationship between the law as an institution and its daily life in India remains fraught. Law in courtrooms and legislatures, but also in law schools and academia puts on a hyper-specialised mantle, claiming a necessary distance from the clutter of politics, society and culture. Judgments, while salutary in intent and technically flawless, run aground at implementation. Scholars, fresh from the halls of legal academia, step out into the world of internships, practice, and large corporations to stumble upon questions and situations that lie beyond the ken of the statute books. Clearly, a dialogue between law and its larger milieu needs to happen.
The LHSS Journal hopes to begin, mentor and sustain such conversations between law and other humanities and social sciences disciplines such as history, sociology, economics, literature, political science, philosophy. In its bid to house the best of research and reflection on the intersection of law and the other social sciences, the journal would range along the following themes:
- Framing of Legal Narratives in Indian Cultural Contexts
- Rights, Equality and Social Justice
- Cultural Lives of the Law
- Law in a Digital Age
- Law in the Colonies: The Raj and Beyond
- Legal Interpretation and Literary Techniques
- Visual Cultures and Law
- Identity, Law and Language
- Social Lives of Legal Education in India
- Law in Crises
Submission Categories:
The LHSS Journal will accept the following categories of papers:
- Articles - 3000-5000 words
- Position Papers - 3000-5000 words
- Case comments - 2000-3000 words
- Book reviews - 1500-3000 words
Submission Guidelines:
- All submissions must be made via this Google form.
- All submissions must be original, unpublished, and not under consideration by any other journal.
- Co-authorship is permitted (maximum of two authors per submission, including the first author).
- Plagiarism and AI-generated content will be checked rigorously, and any submission found in violation will be rejected without further review. For purposes of plagiarism, the similarity tolerance is 10 percent.
- Please include a brief acknowledgment of any research funding received, placed as a short note following the main text. Acknowledgments may be attributed to peers/colleagues and/or other individuals in the same manner too.
- Non-English words should be italicized, with an English translation provided in the endnotes.
- Authors are responsible for obtaining necessary permissions for any reproduced images, tables, etc. All figures and tables should be numbered sequentially (e.g., Figure 1, Table 2).
- Quotations under four lines should be in quotation marks; those exceeding four lines should be set as block quotations with a single line space and indented from the left margin.
- Submissions should be in MS Word format (.docx or .doc) and named with the title of the paper.
- Each submission should include a brief abstract (150–200 words).
Formatting Specifications:
- Title: Times New Roman, Size 14, Bold, ALL CAPS, 1.5 Line Spacing.
- Main Body: Times New Roman, Size 12, 1.5 Line Spacing, single line space between paragraphs.
- References: APA Citation Style in footnotes, Times New Roman, Size 10, 1 Line Spacing.
- Submissions should not contain any author-identifying information to ensure an unbiased review process.
Evaluation Process :
- Each submission will undergo a double-blind peer review process.
- Peers will review submissions for:
- originality of the questions/problems posed;
- originality of the solutions/responses to the problem/question;
- clarity and integrity of research tools/methods deployed;
- thoroughness of literature review
Submission Process:
- Submissions must be submitted here
Review Process
- Each submission would go through a double blind peer review process in addition to initial filters of plagiarism and AI checks.
Deadline: 31st January, 2025
Contact: lhssjournal@mnlumumbai.edu.in