Online Journal - Guide for Authors

Introduction

Articles will be considered on any topic that contributes to knowledge and skills related to the use of science in the law, particularly: its use as evidence in the trial process, but also in forming legislation or in the administrative agency decision making; evidential evaluation; and standards of practice. Articles relating to forensic science education will also be considered, where best teaching practice can be shared amongst fellow academics.

Articles include peer-reviewed research articles; reviews (submitted and commissioned); short technical notes; cases with learning points; education; letters/topical debate; conference reports; and book reviews. Jobs/funding opportunities and notice of conferences/symposia are also welcomed.

If any of your questions are not dealt with here, please contact the Editor at editor@theforensicinstitute.com.

Failure to adhere to these guidelines can seriously delay the handling of your contribution.

Articles

Articles are normally original reports whose conclusions represent a substantial advance in understanding or exposition of an important problem. They do not normally exceed 8 pages and have no more than 50 references, but clarity will be the main criterion for setting the length of articles. (One page of undiluted text is about 1,300 words.)

Articles should address a wide legal and scientific audience and may include supplementary material that can assist the non-specialist to understand the main thrust of the paper.

Articles have a summary, separate from the main text, of up to 150 words, which does not have references, and does not contain numbers, abbreviations, acronyms or measurements unless essential. It is aimed at readers outside the discipline. This summary contains a brief account of the background and rationale of the work, followed by a statement of the main conclusions introduced by the phrase 'Here we show' or its equivalent.

Articles are typically 4,000 words of text, beginning with up to 500 words of referenced text expanding on the background to the work (some overlap with the summary is acceptable), before proceeding to a concise, focused account of the findings, ending with one or two short paragraphs of discussion.

The text may contain a few short subheadings (not more than six in total) of no more than 40 characters each (less than one line of text in length).

Articles typically have 5 or 6 small figures.

Readability

The Online Journal of the Forensic Institute is an international, open access, on-line journal covering all the forensic sciences. Contributions should therefore be written clearly and simply so that they are accessible to readers in other disciplines and to readers for whom English is not their first language.

Essential but specialised terms should be explained concisely but not didactically.

Format of Articles

Contributions should be double-spaced and written in English (spellings as in the Oxford English Dictionary)

Contributions should be organised in the sequence: title, text, methods, references, Supplementary Information line (if any), acknowledgements, interest declaration, corresponding author line, tables, figure legends.

Title page

This should contain a brief (may not exceed 90 characters, including spaces) , but informative, title, the names and addresses of the authors and a list of keywords (max. of 5). The author for correspondence, with telephone, fax numbers and e-mail address, should be given.