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Author Guidelines

Kutafin Law Review AI Policy Statement and Guidelines

Kutafin Law Review adheres to the principles of responsible and productive integration of AI tools and AI-assisted tools (Generative-AI) in academic writing, research and publications. Understanding ethical complications and concerns that may arise due to AI integration in the procedures of generating ideas and texts, data collection and analysis, production of images and graphical elements, etc., we insist on complying with the rules necessary to ensure publication ethics and transparency of manuscripts’ preparation. In our approach to the admissibility of the AI use, we rely on three pillars:

1. AI usage disclosure and reporting,
2. AI authorship prohibition,
3. Reasonableness in determining the scope and extent of permitted AI use.

Guidelines for Authors

Authors are required to disclose whether they used Artificial Intelligence Generated Content tools and AI-assisted technologies (Large Language Models (LLMs), Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPT), chatbots, image creators, etc.) in the production of submissions. Authors must specify the AI tool, version, producer of the AI tool and describe in the cover letter and the submitted manuscript (“Introduction,” “Methodology,” “Acknowledgments” or any other relevant sections, depending on the type of AI contribution) for what purposes and to what extent they used AI tools. It is also possible that the author places the section entitled “Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process” after “Acknowledgments” section. The statement will appear in the published work.  

Artificial Intelligence Generated Content tools and AI-assisted technologies cannot be considered capable of initiating an original piece of research without direction by human authors. Thus, AI tools and AI-assisted technologies cannot be listed as authors or co-authors or cited as authors because they cannot be responsible for the accuracy, integrity, and originality of the work. Likewise, they cannot assert the absence of conflicts of interest or sign any relevant statements regarding approval or consent for submission. Authors must take full accountability for their submissions, including the appropriate scrutiny and attribution of any AI-generated content.

Since Kutafin Law Review encourages the use of advanced editing services and human editors for more in-depth refinement of the submissions, we also support the use of an AI assistant (automated assistive writing technologies and tools) for the same purposes including but not limited to improving readability and language. However, AI-assisted technologies cannot be used to replace researcher tasks such as producing scientific insights, analyzing interpreting data, or drawing scientific conclusions.  As AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete or biased, authors should carefully review and edit the result. It is the author’s responsibility to assert that there is no plagiarism in the submission, including in AI-generated texts and images and ensure appropriate attribution of all quoted materials, including their full citations. Authors are recommended to indicate sections that enlist AI assistance; outline the purpose and incorporation process for generated texts and images; and provide original prompts given to AI systems (if relevant).

Basic tools that are used to improve spelling, grammar, references and general editing are not included in the scope of this guidelines.

If AI tools are used as an aid to language translation (as well as machine translation devices and tools), the researcher is responsible for the accuracy of the final text.

The final decision about whether the use of an AI tool is appropriate and permissible in the circumstances of submitted manuscript lies with the Journal’s Editorial Board. Any violation of the AI Policy constitutes a violation of publication ethics.

AI Use Statement

During the preparation of this work the author(s) used [TOOL/SERVICE] in order to [REASON]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the publication

Sample: During the preparation of this work the author(s) used GPT-4 and Claud 2.0 to proofread the manuscript; the author reviewed and edited the content as needed and takes full responsibility for the content of the publication.

Guidelines for Reviewers

Kutafin Law Review discourages the AI use of artificial intelligence to assist in the review of manuscripts. Reviewers are prohibited to upload a manuscript, associated files, the description of the manuscript or comments to the manuscript to any AI system or tool as doing so would violate the confidentiality agreement between the authors and the Journal.

For further reading:

The use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in writing for Elsevier

ICMJE’s instructions for Authors

COPE’s instructions for authors

Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

1. The manuscripts are accepted if has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere.

   Manuscripts that are considered for submission must be between 5,000 to 12,000 words (excluding footnotes and references). These should be scholarly, with citations and references – exploring (with conclusions) a topic of significant interest. 

2. The materials should be prepared in a format OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, RTF, or World Perfect.

3. Internet links are provided as a complete URL. 

4. The text should be typed in Times New Roman font in size 12 with double-line spacing; to highlight the accents it is recommended to use italics rather than underlining (except Internet links). All images, graphics and tables are placed within the text according to the meaning of the particular part of text  (and not at the end of the document).

5. For your manuscript to be considered for publication it should include the following:

   • Introduction
   • Body of the article
   • Conclusion

   Headings

   In all submissions, a maximum of four levels of heading is allowed, one of which is reserved for the title and three of which can be within the article. Type with initial capitals for main words only title, headings and subheading. Headings and subheadings should be centered.

6. Citations and References

   In-text references must be included following the use of a quote or paraphrase taken from another piece of work* and contain the author(s)’s or editor(s)’s surname, year of publication and page number(s), e.g. (Author, 2020).

   * See Footnotes section below for more information.

   A reference list is the detailed list of references that are cited in your work. This list includes information about the sources like the author, date of publication, title of the source and more. The list of references should only include works that are cited in the text and that have been published or accepted for publication.

   • Reference list entries should be alphabetized by the last names of the first author of each work.
   • Journal names and book titles should be italicized.
   • Transliteration of Russian names and titles should be presented with the BGN
   • Please always include DOIs as full DOI links in your reference list (e.g., “https://doi.org/abc”) (if applicable).

    

   Sample:

   Last name, F.M., Last name, D.P., (2020). Title of the article. Journal, 62(1), pp. 93–112, doi: 10.1080/15387216.2020.1843513

7. Footnotes

   All footnotes should provide the following information:

   • Interesting additional information, which would be a pause in the main flow of the text, should be in a footnote.
   • Significant points, which are fundamental to the main ideas, should be in the body of the text.
   • Anonymous source materials or references to them, used as foundations for the points being discussed, should be in the footnotes.
   • Jurisprudence and case law should be in the footnotes rather than in the reference list.
   • Footnotes should not normally account for more than 3-5% of the overall text. Footnotes do not count towards the overall word count.
   • Footnotes should be in 10 point Times New Roman font.

8. Punctuation and spelling

   Please keep to the American English spelling and punctuation rules.

9. Please, remove the authors' names from the title of the article and other parts of the document to ensure the  anonymity of reviewing.

Copyright Notice

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Licensethat allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

Privacy Statement

Specified when registering the names and addresses will be used solely for technical purposes of a contact with the Author or reviewers (editors) when preparing the article for publication. Private data will not be shared with other individuals and organizations.