About the Journal

The Review

The Italian Review of Legal History is an online journal that aims to intensify the scientific debate around the history of law in Italy, Europe and the world. It shall be a tool for all colleagues and academics – whether Italian or foreign – to tackle the main issues in this field on an international level.
All articles will be preferably published both in their original language and in English, in order to foster dialogue among researchers from all over the world and help share their work on legal history.
The I.R.L.H. has adopted a code of conduct and a peer review system that are in line with the best practices currently in use. As such, the criteria in place require a relevant research focus that makes an original contribution to the science, as well as an innovative choice of subject matter that employs rigorous methodology.
The journal will cover a period ranging from the early Middle Ages to the present day. The evolution of law will be analyzed in all its forms, both from a general point of view and in specific detail. Focus will be placed on the intrinsic historicity of law, and on contextualizing it within public institutions, society, culture and the economy.
Continuity and discontinuity are hallmarks of legal history. The world is going through a phase of profound changes, and there has been a pursuit of new ways for law to deliver a more just society. In that light, a dialogue between positive law scholars and legal history scholars can provide the key to interpreting the present day, in addition to being a starting point for a reconstruction of rules and principles.
No less important is the continual dialogue with all academic disciplines that examine history: not only does this promote a divulgation of knowledge, it also helps develop a much-needed network of various specialized fields, which each have their own distinctive methodologies, languages and sources. In these modern times, fraught with challenges for all those who see universities and research as part of their civic engagement, the I.R.L.H. aims to be a forum for a diachronic analysis of legal and institutional dynamics.
The journal will be open to the exploration of all topics in the field of legal history, as suggested by the scientific committee or by Italian or foreign colleagues. The goal is to engage in an interdisciplinary exchange of ideas between jurists, legal positivists and historians of all areas of study through contributions from individual scholars, as well as through interviews with experts and an online forum.
Certain that this heartfelt tribute will catch him completely by surprise, we would like to dedicate the first two issues of the I.R.L.H. to our maestro, colleague and friend Antonio Padoa Schioppa.

Open Access Policy

In order to promote the dissemination of the research findings and the scientific debate, the articles published in Italian Review of Legal History are fully open access and freely available to the public. No fees are required for publication to the Authors.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution - Share Alike 4.0 International License.

Preprint and postprint version of the articles can be archived anywhere under the same license.

Archiving

The University of Milan has an archival arrangement with the National Central Libraries of Florence and Rome within the national project Magazzini Digitali.

The journal has enabled the PKP PN (Preservation Network) plugin, in order to preserve digital contents through LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe)  project.

 

CODE OF CONDUCT

The duties of the Board of Directors, the reviewers and Authors of the Italian Review of Legal History are based on the ethic principles settled down in the CODE OF CONDUCT AND BEST PRACTICE GUIDELINES FOR JOURNAL EDITORS of COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) (www.publicationethics.org) and in Elsevier (www.elsevier.com/editors/perk/about-cope)


Board of Directors duties

General duties

The Board of Directors, the Scientific Committee, and the Editorial Board are generally renewed every 10 years or whenever a member steps down from his/her position.
Members of these bodies are selected based on their professionalism, without discrimination on the grounds of gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, language, age, citizenship, or political orientation.
There are no limits on the number of consecutive terms a member can serve.

The Board of Directors:

  1. aims to improve the scientific quality of the Italian Review of Legal History. With this purpose, it follows the guidelines on how to write and review an article andassesses their correct application.
  2. provides new members with any information relevant to carry out their duties
  3. ensures an impartial and independent management of the papers, also avoiding conflicts of interest
  4. welcomes and encourages criticism and debate.

Relations with the Authors

The Board of Directors:

  1. establishes, and publishes on the website, the submission guidelines on how to submit their articles, and communicates the reviewing flowchart, with the aim to ensure the highest quality of the publications.
  2. considers for publication any submitted article irrespectively of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnic origin, language, age nationality or political belief.
  3. selects the submissions according to the quality standards and scientific relevance.
  4. ensures that the articles selected are reviewed by two different reviewers, Italians or foreigners, who hold a professorship in the same or in related discipline. In the event of conflicting reviews the submission will be revised by a third reviewer, following the same criteria.
  5. ensures the secrecy on the Author identity of the submissions.
  6. if the case, cares that any suggestion of amendments is communicated to the Authors; the Authors are allowed to give a motivated personal opinion on the remarks.
  7. neither uses nor communicates to others the content of an article, rejected or not yet published, without the explicit consent of the Author.
  8. works, if necessary, together with the Authors to ensure that amendments and clarifications are published through adequate channels, allowing the publicity of the debate following the publication, and has a duty to act promptly in case of errors and misconducts. This duty extends to both published and unpublished papers. In these cases, appropriate steps will be taken, following the recommendations, guidelines and flowcharts from COPE (https://publicationethics.org/retraction-guidelines). 
  9. urges the Authors to comply with copyright and licensing regulations and to obtain any necessary releases.

Relations with the reviewers

The Board of Directors:

  1. provides the reviewers with the guidelines on how to review the articles.
  2. before appointing a reviewer, verifies the possibility of a conflict of interest and has a policy to request a formal conflict of interest declaration from peer reviewers and ask peer reviewers to inform them about any conflict of interest so that they can make a decision on whether an unbiased review is possible
  3. ensures the secrecy of the reviewers identities.
  4. strives to ensure that reviews at their journal are fair, unbiased and timely.


Authors duties

The Authors:

  1. ensure that their articles are entirely original. The citations must be reported giving the due relevance to the source authorship.
  2. report precisely sources and citations of their research to help others to verify the results. False or unaccurate statements are unacceptable and banned.
  3. do not submit articles that are already published, or in press in other journals. Where articles already published on the Italian Review of Legal History would be subsequently published on different journals or books a reference to the original publication must be done.
  4. correct and integrate their texts according to point 10 of this Code.
  5. in the event of errors, or inaccurate or misleading statements they report the fact to the Board of Directors for the amendment or correction.
  6. are required to declare any relevant conflict of interest at the moment they submit their papers for publication and to mention any financing institute or any project regarding the article.


Reviewers duties

The reviewers:

  1. inform promptly the Board of Directors in case of delay or withdraw from reviewing process.
  2. manage the articles under review with the due discretion. The articles cannot be shown or discussed with others, unless with the explicit consent of the Author and the Director.
  3. respect the given deadline, working objectively. The reviewers evaluate the originality, the scientific value, the bibliographic update, and the writing style of the articles. If necessary, they propose amendments, and spot resemblances or overlaps among articles or other works of which they are aware. The revisions must be accurately reported. They are more than welcome to give confidential advices to the Journal or suggestions to the Author.
  4. are not allowed to express personal statements on the Author. The opinions must be motivated and clearly formulated.
  5. do not use nor communicate to others the content of not published, or not yet published, articles without the explicit consent of the Board of Directors and the Author.

Double-peer review Procedure

Articles to be published undergo a double-blind peer review process.

The Board of Directors assigns each articles to two Italian or foreign reviewers, ensuring the anonymity of the Authors and emphasizing the confidentiality of them.

Reviewers are required to evaluate each article based on the following criteria: Originality, Scientific Rigor, Bibliographic Updates, and Expository Form.

Reviewers may request or recommend changes and provide SUGGESTIONS TO THE AUTHOR and CONFIDENTIAL SUGGESTIONS TO THE JOURNAL.

The Board of Directors will forward the evaluation with the Suggestions to the Author. If requested by the Reviewer, the Board of Directors will send the modified/corrected/integrated articles by the Author back to the Reviewer.

The Author may eventually express a reasoned opinion on the Reviewer's comments.

The Board of Directors, following a unanimous positive evaluation, may decide to publish (in exceptional cases and in any case not exceeding 15% of the articles in each issue) contributions from scholars of recognized prestige without subjecting them to the peer review process.

Contributions referred to in Article 2, paragraph 2, letter c) of the ANVUR Regulation, such as Discussions, Bibliographic notes, commemorations, presentations, editorials, are not subject to peer review.

The percentage of articles published in which the author (or one of the authors) is a member of the editorial team or a reviewer must not exceed 25% in the last two published issues. Articles authored by members of the editorial team are guaranteed a review process that adheres to the Code of Ethics and is free from conflicts of interest. The authorship by a member of the editorial team is explicitly disclosed in the full text or metadata of the article.

The Board of Directors may refuse to publish submissions that lack the necessary requirements of novelty, originality, relevance, and scientific rigor without sending them to reviewers (desk rejection), notifying the author within 45 days of the submission.

 

Declaration on Artificial Intelligence

The I.R.L.H. acknowledges the importance of artificial intelligence innovations understanding the challenges and opportunities they entail.

Authors who have used artificial intelligence tools in the editing of a manuscript, in the production of images or graphical elements of the article, or in the collection and analysis of data, are invited to explicitly declare their use, mentioning the AI tool, the field of application, the search queries used and the date of use, in order to allow reproducibility and verification.
The author will remain responsible for the accuracy and correctness of any published content and guarantees compliance with the code of ethics and anti-plagiarism rules.
Authors who have used AI, or AI-assisted tools, are required to include a paragraph at the end of their manuscript, entitled "Declaration on Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies in the Writing Process", with the following information:
"During the preparation of this paper the author(s) used [TOOL/SERVICE NAME] on [DD/MM/YYYYY] using the search terms: [SEARCH TERMS] in order to [REASON]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) have reviewed and edited the content as necessary and take full responsibility for the content of the publication."

Editors are not allowed to upload received manuscripts into artificial intelligence software, in order not to risk compromising privacy and copyright.

Reviewers undertake not to use artificial intelligence tools to evaluate manuscripts in order to guarantee the application of critical thinking and original assessment, as required for this work.

 

 

updated on 1st January 2025