Annual International Journal of Vaikunta Baliga College of Law (AIJVBCL) follows a rigorous review process. The review process is divided into multiple levels which are discussed as below:
First Phase (Technical Review Phase)
In the first phase, all the submissions are collected by the content managers from the Administrative Section who check whether all the required formalities for a valid submission are complied with or not like, submitting of a copyright agreement, declaration form, cover letter, etc. and paper codes are assigned to the manuscripts after which they are sent to the Plagiarism and Ethics Committee to check whether the submissions are within the prescribed limits of similarity index. The Plagiarism and Ethics Committee checks for the amount of similarity index, the sources with which the content matches, whether the contents are taken from the same sources, whether the sources from where the contents are taken are authentic or not, etc. At the same level, the manuscripts are simultaneously forwarded to the Format Assessing Committee where the format of the manuscripts is assessed to check whether the format of the journal is complied with or not. After the completion of the first phase, the reports of both the committees along with the reviewed manuscripts are sent back to the content managers who will update the authors about the reports and if amendments are required then a time will be allotted for the authors to re-submit the manuscripts after making all the suggested amendments to their submission. After re-submission, the same process will again continue and on completion of the entire process, the technical review phase will come to an end and the content managers will forward the manuscripts to the Peer-Review Committee 1.
Peer-Review Committee 1 (PRC 1)
The PRC 1 is formed by the legal academicians from the Review Committee and in case if required from external referees who shall be appointed by the organization or the Editorial Board Members on a request made by the content managers. The PRC- 1 will look into the title, content, subject matter and the quality of research done and will submit back the manuscripts to the content managers with their inputs and suggestions. The content managers will then again update the authors about the reports and if amendments are required then a time will be given to the authors for making all the necessary amendments and to re-submit the manuscripts. After re-submission, the manuscripts will undergo again the same process. On completion of the PRC-1 process, the manuscripts will be forwarded to the PRC-2.
Peer-Review Committee 2 (PRC-2)
The PRC-2 is formed by external referees invited by the Editorial Members who are responsible for checking grammatical and typological errors and for correcting them. At this level, manuscripts are not rejected either send for amendments unless required. The PRC-2 shall after completion of their editing process submit the manuscripts back to the content managers who shall then forward the manuscripts to the Peer-Review Committee 3.
Peer-Review Committee 3(PRC-3)
The PRC-3 is formed by members from Expert Committee and also from external referees invited either by Experts Committee Members, or by the Board of Advisors, or by the Board of Editors, or by the Core Team. They are the ultimate authority to decide upon selection and rejection of the manuscripts during the Editorial Process whose decision of rejection shall not be disputed by any member of the organization. However, they are responsible to provide reasons for rejecting the manuscripts on demand from the authors which shall be communicated by the content managers. After the completion of this process, the selected manuscripts shall be forwarded by the content managers to the Editor-in-Chief and the other members of the Board of Editors on whose approval the manuscripts shall be sent to the content designers for preparing the draft of the volume.
Board of Advisors (BOA)
After preparing the draft of the volume, it shall be sent to the BOA who will access the quality of the volume and shall put their suggestions. They have the full authority to reject any submission but a majority of the members shall support the decision and proper reasons shall be provided in writing. After the approval from the BOA, the content managers shall send the draft to the Core Team.
After the completion of all the processes, the volume shall be sent to the IT Section for publication of the journal on the official website.