Annex 1: Author Guidelines

Maastricht Student Law Review: Author guidelines    

1. Word count:

• Minimum 3000 words.
• No upper limit.

2. Text and Document Format:

• British English.
• Times New Roman.
• Size 12.

• Line spacing: 1.5.
• Margins: 2.54 on all sides (default setting).
• Submissions should be in Word-format, not PDF.
• Abstract of around 150 words (optional).

3. Structure: (paragraph = indent)

• Submissions must be divided into sections and, where appropriate, sub-sections.
• Where the structure of a submission divides its content into separate sections, it is preferred for those sections to be numbered (ie 1, 1.1, 1.1.1) and have titles. Titles should be laid out in descending levels corresponding to smaller font, as follows: i. Title 1 – (14 pt.) ii. Title 1.1 – (12 pt.) iii. Title 1.1.1 – (12 pt.). The Editorial Board of the Maastricht Student Law Review advises against the use of more than three levels of titles.

4. Referencing:

• References shall abide by the principle of academic integrity.
• Authors must use footnotes, not endnotes.
• Long and extensive descriptions in footnotes are discouraged.
• Both footnotes and bibliography must be included in the submitted manuscript.
• Footnotes must comply with the OSCOLA format, unless explicitly derogated from in this document. The following bullet points constitute a non-exhaustive list of important reminders of OSCOLA referencing rules.
• When the author references a work more than once, an abbreviated reference using the author’s surname should be employed,^[1] as is demonstrated in the footnotes below.^[2] For subsequent citations of cases, a short form of the case name is sufficient to identify the source. Subsequent citations of legislation may use abbreviations or other short forms
• When citing case law, if the name of the case is given in the running text, do not repeat it in the footnote. For example: The no-conflict rule was laid down in Phipps v Boardman,^[3] which confirmed the holding of an earlier Court of Appeal decision.^[4] 
• Regarding the order of sources in footnotes, always cite more relevant sources before citing less relevant ones. Separate equally relevant citations with a semi colon and include a full stop after citing the last one. Less relevant citations should be preceded by “See also”.  
• Foreign words: In the text, italicize foreign words and phrases, but not quotations. Provide a translation immediately afterwards in brackets, or in a footnote, if required. Do not italicize words that are in common usage in legal English, such as ultra vires, stare decisis, obiter dicta, ratio decidendi, a priori and a fortiori. Commonly used abbreviations, such as ie and eg, are not italicized and have no full stops.
• Avoid the use of all expressions in Latin, such as supra, ante, loc cit.
  ibid / ibidem may, however, be used to refer to the work cited in the previous footnote.
• Spell out numbers from one to ten. Use numerals for numbers greater than ten.
• Date/Month/Year eg 20th January 1999.
• Define unfamiliar abbreviations at first mention, then abbreviate at subsequent mentions.

• Derogations from OSCOLA

• Always use double quotation marks. If the quote itself uses quotation marks, use single quotation marks for the part within the quote. For example:
  Judge X, referencing earlier case law, stated that “the conclusion which should be followed in the present case 'must be influenced by proportionality and subsidiarity', meaning that there is no appreciable margin of discretion”.
• When pinpointing within a source, use “para.” for paragraphs, and “p.” for pages. If multiple paragraphs or pages are referenced use, respectively, “paras.” and “pp.”.
• Indent long quotations (longer than 3 lines) and reduce the size of that indented quotation to 11.