Aim and Scope

The aim of the Journal is a prompt promotion of jurisprudence achievements by using an electronic publication form, creation and maintenance of a creative scientific and practical discussion platform for deliberating and solving the most important state-legal problems:

• development of statehood, law, and the civil society of the Russian Federation;
• promotion and facilitation of the spiritual development of the personality;
• legal education of the populace;
• advocacy for scientific knowledge and humanism in the name of prosperity of our society and state.

The journal is intended for dissemination of the results of relevant and original research; on its pages it combines legal theory and practice, presents proposals for improving state policy and mechanisms of legal regulation of public relations, and reception of positive foreign and international experience.

The journal popularises the scientific schools of Kutafin Moscow State Law University (MSAL), in general, stimulates scientific activities of domestic and foreign specialists, young scientists.

Section Policies

TRENDS

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

FOCUS

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

RUSSIA

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

WORLD

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

POINT OF VIEW

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

PERSONAS

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

RELEVANT: CONSTITUTIONAL LAW

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

APPENDIX

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Publication Frequency

4 times per year

Open Access Policy

"Russian Law Online" is an open access journal. All articles are made freely available to readers immediatly upon publication.

Our open access policy is in accordance with the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) definition - it means that articles have free availability on the public internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself.

For more information please read BOAI statement.

Archiving

• Russian State Library (RSL)
• National Electronic-Information Consortium (NEICON)

Peer-Review

An bilateral anonymous ("blind") peer review method is mandatory for processing of all scientific manuscripts submitted to the editorial stuff. This implies that neither the reviewer is aware of the authorship of the manuscript, nor the author maintains any contact with the reviewer.

1. Members of the editorial board and leading Russian and international experts in corresponding areas of life sciences, invited as independent readers, perform peer reviews. Editor-in-chief, deputy editor-in-chief. We aim to limit the review process one month, though in some cases the schedule may be adjusted at the reviewer’s request.
2. Reviewer has an option to abnegate the assessment should any conflict of interests arise that may affect perception or interpretation of the manuscript. Upon the scrutiny, the reviewer is expected to present the editorial board with one of the following recommendations:
• to accept the paper in its present state;
• to invited the author to revise their manuscript to address specific concerns before final decision is reached;
• that final decision be reached following further reviewing by another specialist;
• to reject the manuscript outright.
3. If the reviewer has recommended any refinements, the editorial staff would suggest the author either to implement the corrections, or to dispute them reasonably. Authors are kindly required to limit their revision to 2 months and resubmit the adapted manuscript within this period for final evaluation.
4. We politely request that the editor to be notified verbally or in writing should the author decide to refuse from publishing the manuscript. In case the author fails to do so within 3 months since receiving a copy of the initial review, the editorial board takes the manuscript off the register and notifies the author accordingly.
5. If author and reviewers meet insoluble contradictions regarding revision of the manuscript, the editor-in-chief resolves the conflict by his own authority.
6. The editorial board reaches final decision to reject a manuscript on the hearing according to reviewers’ recommendations, and duly notifies the authors of their decision via e-mail. The board does not accept previously rejected manuscripts for re-evaluation.
7. Upon the decision to accept the manuscript for publishing, the editorial staff notifies the authors of the scheduled date of publication.
8. Kindly note that positive review does not guarantee the acceptance, as final decision in all cases lies with the editorial board. By his authority, editor-in-chief rules final solution of every conflict.
9. Original reviews of submitted manuscripts remain deposited for 5 years.

Indexation

Articles in "Russian Law Online" are indexed by several systems:

• Russian Index for Science Citation (RISC) – a database, accumulating information on papers by Russian scientists, published in native and foreign titles. The RSCI project is under development since 2005 by “Electronic Scientific Library” foundation (elibrary.ru).
• Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. The Google Scholar index includes most peer-reviewed online journals of Europe and America's largest scholarly publishers, plus scholarly books and other non-peer reviewed journals.

Publishing Ethics

1. General provisions

1.1. This Policy establishes standards of ethical conduct for all the parties involved in the publication of manuscripts in the "Russian Law On-line" Journal (Journal): Editorial Board, peer-reviewers, authors and readers.

This Policy is based on recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), in particular, on the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors,
as well as the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in the Scholarly Publishing.

1.2. For the purposes of this Policy:

• Editorial Board is all the persons engaged in the production and publishing of the Journal, including the Editor-in- Chief, members of the Editorial Council, and journalistic staff.
• Manuscript is any scientific article, essay, critical review, overview, translations of regulatory legal acts, international agreements and other documents.

1.3. The founder and publisher of the Journal is Federal State Budget Educational Institution of Higher Education "Kutafin Moscow State Law University" (MSAL)

2. Ethical standards of the activities of Editorial Board are as follows

2.1. The decisions of Editorial Board on admission or rejection of manuscripts will be based on significance, originality, clarity and accuracy of the material and its relevance to the area of focus of the Journal.

2.2. All submitted for publication articles are subject to review by competent specialists in the manner and on the basis of the rules established by Editorial Board. The decision on the possibility of publication of a manuscript is made only after receiving the results of the review.

Overviews, critical reviews, translations, and other materials of informative character are not subject to review.

2.3. Editorial Board does not publish Manuscripts that clearly contain incorrect information, plagiarism, libel and defamation, as well as those violating norms of ethics and scientific communication.

2.4. The changes to the membership of Editorial Board do not entail the revocation of previous decisions regarding admitted manuscripts.

2.5. The decision on admission for publication in the future may be withdrawn in the event of serious violations on the part of the author.

2.6. Gender, race, colour, ethnic origin, property, marital, social and official status, age, place of residence, attitude to religion, beliefs, institutional affiliation of the author, as well as other circumstances not related to the academic characteristics of the manuscript do not affect its assessment and decision-making on the part of Editorial Board.

2.7. The final decision on publication of a manuscript is made by Editor-in-Chief of the Journal.

2.8. Editorial Board does not disclose any information about the submitted manuscript to anyone other than the author, peer reviewers, and founder (Publisher).

2.9. Editorial Board shall not use unpublished information contained in the manuscripts for their own purposes without written consent of the authors.

2.10. In the event of a conflict of interest as a result of competitive, cooperative or other relationships with any of the authors, a member of Editorial Board declares his self-disqualification and asks another member of Editorial Board to consider the manuscript for publication.

2.11. Editorial Board will take necessary actions in respect of breaches of ethics or the discovery of plagiarism in submitted for publication or published manuscripts, regardless of when the manuscript was published. First and foremost Editorial Board will address the author of the manuscript for clarification on the identified violations.

If the information about the breaches of ethics or plagiarism proves to be consistent, it will be communicated to the public through publication in the next issue of the Journal.

2.12. In the event of the discovery of significant errors or inaccuracies in the information provided, Editorial Board immediately notifies the author and does not publish the manuscript until the errors or inaccuracies are corrected.

When detecting significant errors or discrepancies in the published manuscript, Editorial Board immediately notifies the author and takes all necessary and reasonable measures to correct them and eliminate negative effects.

3. Ethical standards for reviewers

3.1. Peer review should be conducted as objectively as possible. All comments must be clearly defined and explained so that authors can use them to improve the manuscript. Criticism, based purely on the personal views of the reviewer, is inappropriate.

3.2. Peer-reviewers should, if possible, point out the relevant work that has not been explored by the author of the work in question.

3.3. Peer-reviewers must notify Editorial Board of any substantial similarity or equivalence of the manuscript under review and any other work (published or unpublished) he is aware of.

3.4. In case the peer-reviewers find significant errors, inaccurate information, plagiarism or other violations, they must immediately inform Editorial Board.

3.5. Peer-reviewers must immediately inform Editorial Board in cases of breaches of ethical norms on the part of the authors in the reviewed manuscripts.

3.6. Peer-reviewers must not disclose any information about the manuscripts under consideration, must not discuss the manuscript with anyone other than Editorial Board unless other is permitted by the decision of the Editor-in-Chief.

3.7. Peer-reviewers shall not use unpublished information contained in the manuscripts submitted for publication for their own purposes.

3.8. In case of a conflict of interest as a result of competitive and cooperative relationships and/or other connections with any of the authors (if for any reason it becomes known) Peer-reviewers declare their self-disqualification and ask Editorial Board to appoint different Peer-reviewers to consider the manuscript.

3.9. Peer-reviewers shall immediately notify Editorial Board in case they fail to complete a qualified scientific assessment of a manuscript under review on time.

4. Ethical standards for the authors

4.1. Since the authors bear public responsibility for the content of the manuscript, the authors are only deemed to be the persons who match the following criteria simultaneously:

1. having made a significant contribution to the narrative of manuscripts, data collection or analysis/interpretation of the study and its results;
2. having prepared the manuscript or significantly reviewed it in terms of intellectual content;
3. having approved of the final manuscript and having agreed on its submission for publication.

All persons who contributed greatly to the creation of the manuscript (e.g. technical assistance, assistance in editing, general support), but do not meet the above mentioned criteria must not be listed as authors.

The authors submitting the manuscript to Editorial Board must ensure that all the co-authors (as defined above) are included in the list of authors, and no other persons are included, as well as to ensure that all co-authors have seen and approved of the final manuscript and agreed on its submission for publication.

4.2. The authors must submit original and scientifically reliable manuscripts, and then participate in an objective discussion about the significance of their work, including responses to comments on the official website of the Journal. The manuscript must contain sufficient details and links. Review articles should be accurate, objective and comprehensive, and also contain the author's opinion.

4.3. The use in the manuscript of a priori inaccurate, false information is considered unethical and unacceptable behavior.

4.4. The authors must ensure that their submitted manuscripts are completely original works, and that any use of works and/or texts of other persons is duly registered (as references).

4.5. Plagiarism in all its forms is unethical behavior and is unacceptable. Plagiarism means the representation by the authors of someone else's manuscript as his own, copying or paraphrasing essential parts of a foreign manuscript without attribution, claiming the results and conclusions of other researches as their own.

4.6. One and the same manuscript must not be published in more than one journal or any other source. The authors must not submit the manuscript that has already been published in other sources. In case of submission of the manuscript for publication in several journals, authors must inform Editorial Board. Failure to follow this rule is considered unethical and unacceptable behavior.

The publication of certain types of manuscripts (e.g., reviews, translations, etc.) in more than one source is allowed in certain cases, subject to the following conditions:

1. the authors, the editorial boards of journals and other stakeholders must explicitly give assent to the secondary publication;
2. the secondary publication should reflect the basic provisions of the primary material, can complement them, but cannot contradict them;
3. the secondary publication should refer to the original source of publication.

4.7. When submitting the manuscripts for publication, the authors shall inform of any cases of any conflicts of interest. Possible information showing a conflict of interest, which must be disclosed, includes financial (fees, educational grants or other sources of funding, patent-licensing agreements, etc.) and non-financial (personal or professional relationships, communication) benefits. All sources of financial support must be disclosed (including grant number or other data when available).

4.8. The authors warrant that they duly examined other works on the subject and shall refer to the publications having a significant impact on the nature of the submitted manuscript and the conclusions made. The information received in private (from conversations, correspondence or discussions with third parties) must not be used without the express written permission of their source. The author shall not use information obtained in the course of providing confidential services, if they have not received the express written permission of the person who these services were provided to.

4.9. The authors are obliged to participate in the review process and to cooperate fully by immediately responding to all requests from Editorial Board. In case of primary decision to improve the submitted manuscript the authors must respond to all the remarks and comments of their peer-reviewers, as well as timely modify and resubmit the manuscript by the due date.

4.10. In case the authors detect significant errors or discrepancies after submitting the manuscript for publication or after the publication, they are obliged to immediately notify Editorial Board and cooperate with them in order to fix the errors.

In case Editorial Board notifies the authors of the presence of significant errors or discrepancies in the published manuscripts, they undertake to promptly correct the errors or inaccuracies or to provide proof that the manuscript contains no such errors or inaccuracies.

5. Ethical standards for the readers

5.1. The readers shall obey the rules of etiquette and networking when commenting on the manuscripts published in Journal.

5.2. The readers must use any materials and data published in Journal correctly.

5.3. Any use of published materials is allowed only with reference to Journal as the original source of publication.

5.4. In case the reader finds significant errors, inaccurate information, plagiarism or other violations, they must immediately notify Editorial Board via contacts specified in section "Contacts".

Founder

• Kutafin Moscow State Law University (MSAL)

Author fees

Publication in "Russian Law Online" is free of charge for all the authors.

The journal doesn't have any Article processing charges.

The journal doesn't have any Article submission charges.

Disclosure and Conflict of Interest

Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in a reviewer’s own research without the express written consent of the author. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.

Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.

Plagiarism detection

"Russian Law Online" use native russian-language plagiarism detection software Antiplagiat to screen the submissions. If plagiarism is identified, the COPE guidelines on plagiarism will be followed.

Preprint and postprint Policy

Prior to acceptance and publication in "Russian Law Online", authors may make their submissions available as preprints on personal or public websites.

As part of submission process, authors are required to confirm that the submission has not been previously published, nor has been submitted. After a manuscript has been published in "Russian Law Online" we suggest that the link to the article on journal's website is used when the article is shared on personal or public websites.

Glossary (by SHERPA)