ISSN 1028-1053 printed version
ISSN 2077-4907 online version

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

• Scope and Editorial Policy
• Author Guidelines
• Submissions

Law, Democracy & Development is the journal of the Faculty of Law at the University of the Western Cape. The first issue appeared in May 1997. The journal set out to build on the proud traditions established by UWC and the Law Faculty in the struggle for democracy, with many of our staff and alumni having gone on to serve as Ministers of state, judges of the highest courts and in other key positions in the post–apartheid dispensation. Our focus is on legal and socio–legal issues relevant to the development challenges facing South Africa and Africa – above all, the nurturing of institutions of governance based on the promotion of human rights.

From an academic perspective, thus, LDD is not confined to any single area of law, nor to law in any narrow or technical sense, even though it consistently engages with the content and proper interpretation of the law. Over and above this, however, it is concerned with the role of every branch of law and legal institutions in promoting or obstructing democracy and development within a specific social context. As the 21st century unfolds, we believe that understanding law and governance in this sense is more important than ever in promoting a culture of accountability and respect for human rights across Africa.

Given this focus, LDD has sought to engage with legal scholars in all African countries in order to stimulate discussion across national boundaries. To this end our printed version was circulated to law faculties and developmental agencies throughout Africa and attracted an increasing number of contributions from other countries.

By going online as from 2010, LDD has greatly increased its reach as well as its accessibility to scholars in Africa and beyond. Contributions are invited online (for more detail, see Guidelines for authors).

Editorial comment and summaries of all articles will continue to appear in French as well as English.

LDD is a peer–reviewed journal and has been accredited by the Department of Education and Training for the publication of subsidised research outputs since 2001.

All contributions should be submitted in the house style of the journal – that is, using the format of presentation and citation which is set out under House style.

Revising an article to bring it in line with the rest of the journal can be a laborious task, and the editors’ primary role is to concentrate on the substance of articles rather than their format. It is therefore more time–effective and conducive to quality if authors ensure that contributions are submitted in the required style (which is similar to that of other legal journals).
Contributions that are not in the required style may be returned to authors for revision before being considered for publication.

Page fees will be charged for the articles published in the journal. Once the article has been published, an invoice will be sent to the author, who will forward it to his or her university's research department or office to make the necessary payment.

You may follow two routes to submit your article: our preferred route and a simple route.
In the preferred route, you register as a user on our website and sign in to submit your article using an online form (this helps our administration).
In the simple route, you send us an e–mail with your article attached to it.

• PREFERRED ROUTE

  Step 1: Familiarise yourself with the Guidelines for authors and House style. Note. If this is your first time submitting an article online to LDD proceed to step 2, otherwise skip to step 3.

Step 2: Navigate to Author Registration and create a user profile. Once this has been done, you will receive an automated email containing an activation link to confirm your registration.

Step 3: Login either at Author login or Submit articles > Upload an article. Click on the Upload Facility link that becomes visible, and complete the submission form.

LDD's editors will be automatically notified of your submission, and will reply to you shortly.

• SIMPLE ROUTE

  Alternatively, attach your article to an e–mail and address it to the editor–in–chief, Pof.  Radley Henrico, at rhenrico@uwc.ac.za. In the body of your article, please provide your name and institutional affiliation, and indicate if you have submitted the article to another publication.

  For any further information, please click here to contact administrator.