Contents
Preface
“Do not raise the
bar unnecessarily by exaggerating requirements for successful publication, but
rather encourage young researchers to try and experiment. Researchers can raise
their ambition level through gained experience.”
Dr Janne Harkonen,
University of OULU
In
some instances journal editors lift the bar unreasonably by exaggerating
requirements for successful publication under the guise of bringing the game to
a higher level. Unfortunately it is difficult to raise the game without
understanding that running a journal is learnt through writing and publishing
attempts when constructive feedback is available. It may be occasionally possible
to enter the big league of very high level journals directly, but only with
adequate levels of support and feedback.
Articles
are, however, expected to be high quality contributions representing
innovation, of value and practical use to both the university student and the professional.
Articles must conform to the house style referencing of the University of
Zimbabwe Students Journal detailed below. The referencing style is a simplified
version that will assist editors and authors in easily formulating articles for
publication. The articles, notes, reports and reviews for the website will not
be heavily subjected to the requirements of the house style detailed below.
Authors must however make a good effort to use the citation requirements set
below.
Simbarashe Mubvuma
Editor-in-chief
2012-2013
The Editors of
the University of Zimbabwe Students
Journal welcome the submission of manuscripts in English for consideration
for publication for both our print issue or on our website. Provided that the topic under discussion has
some relevance to Zimbabwe as per the specific directions and topics from the
managing editors or the website calendar of the various sections of the journal
or would be of interest to the (largely Zimbabwean) academic and professional
readership of the Journal, the piece will be considered for publication.
The University of Zimbabwe
Students Journal accepts manuscripts of the following types:
1.
Articles
These are the
feature pieces of each part of the print or website journal issues. These
provide a detailed, if not seminal, study of the topic under discussion.
Articles should not exceed 8 000 words (this number excludes references). Special
permission must be sought from the editors to consider pieces longer than this.
All references in articles must be footnoted. Each article must be accompanied
by an abstract of not more than 500 words. The abstract should summarise rather
than introduce the argument of the article, and should contain appropriate key words.
2.
Notes and Comments
Notes and
Comments are shorter, more focused pieces. Traditionally, many notes are case
notes (usually applicable for the legal review) which lay out notes to a
particular subject of law. However, notes can discuss any specific issue of
academic interest, and are not constrained to legal notes.
Notes should
be between 2000 and 2500 words long. Notes longer than this will, regrettably,
not be accepted. Notes do not require an abstract. All references in notes can
be placed in-text, and in brackets, or footnoted.
3.
Book reviews
Book reviews are critical discussions of scholarly
books on any topic related to the various sections of the U.Z Students Journal.
These should be between 2000 and 3000 words long. References can be in text and
in brackets or footnoted.
4.
Case Reviews (Law Review)
These are case
summaries of the decisions of the courts. They involve an academic analysis of
such decisions and the UZSJ requires that they contain the following sections:
i.
Statement of facts
ii.
Statement of law
iii.
Summary of arguments in point form
iv.
Summary of arguments with point headings
v.
Analysis and critique of arguments
vi.
Conclusion
Case reviews
should not exceed 2500 words.
Consideration for publication
A manuscript will be considered for
publication:
·
only on the assurance that it has not in whole or
in part or in substance been published or
Offered for publication elsewhere;
·
on the understanding that it may be submitted in
confidence to at least two expert referees for evaluation; and
·
on the understanding that the editors reserve the
right to make what changes they consider desirable:
(a) To bring the manuscript into the house style of the
University of Zimbabwe Students Journal;
(b) To eliminate
errors of typing, grammar, syntax, punctuation, spelling, idiom and the like;
(c) To eliminate
ambiguity, illogicality, tautology, circumlocution and redundancy;
(d) To produce
accuracy and coherence;
(e) To improve the
mode of expression and style of writing; and
(f) To avoid possible criminal or civil liability.
·
On the
understanding that it may appear on the website or/and in the print copy.
Authors are
required to read their manuscripts very carefully to avoid the need for the
editors to exercise these rights extensively. In particular, authors are asked
to acquaint themselves with the
House style of the University of
Zimbabwe Students Journal, and to check their manuscripts carefully against
the guidelines that follow.
NOTE: Regrettably, manuscripts that do not accord with
the house style of the UZSJ will be returned to authors immediately,
with a request that the manuscript be placed, to the best of the authors’
ability, in house style. The quality of the piece will normally not be assessed
before this
Has occurred.
HOUSE STYLE OF THE UZSJ
General
What follows
in this document are the stylistic requirements that most commonly require the attention
of UZSJ authors and editors. This document is by definition a general
guide; it is not possible to cover every possible referencing and stylistic
quirk. Where this document does not provide assistance, authors are requested
to consider one of the following:
- · consult the Editors by visiting the University of Zimbabwe Students Journal Website,
- · To consult the main House Style for South Africa Law Journal which is the one this guide was hugely adopted and can be found readily on the web.
Matters of presentation and layout
Page layout
The page should have 1 inch (2.54 cm)
margins all round (top, bottom, left, right). Line spacing
Should be 1.5.
Font and type
A Times New Roman font is used by the
UZSJ. The text must be in 12 pt. font. Footnotes must be in 10 pt. font.
Italics are
used for emphasis, for case names (law review), names of journals and titles of
books, plays, operas and films, names of ships and the titles of paintings and
other works of art; and for web sites and other electronic references.
Headings
Headings
should be left aligned and underlined.
Spelling, grammar and other
related matters of style or convention
Spelling and capital letters
The UZSJ uses the‘s’ form of English spelling: recognise, emphasise,
analyse, realise, organization (but assets are ‘realized’). We say ‘in so far
as’ and not ‘insofar as’.
Quotations
Quotations are reproduced exactly, including all original italics and
original punctuation, notwithstanding that the original forms may not comply
with the UZSJ style.
Quotations appear in single quotation marks.
Quotations within quotations appear in double quotation marks. (Back to single
for the rare quotation within a quotation within a quotation.) Short quotations
appear as part of the text. Long quotations, i e quotations of more than three lines
or more than one sentence, are isolated from the text by being indented
from the margin. It
Is permissible to isolate a shorter quotation for
emphasis.
Ellipses need not be used at the start of a
quotation but must be used in the middle and at the end of a quotation to
indicate missing words. We use three dots for any missing word/s and a fourth dot
to show any missing full stop.
Square brackets are used for all editorial changes and interpolations.
Requirements for referencing standard legal sources
Cases
Manning v. Manning 1996 (2) ZLR 1 H
Broad (Pty) Ltd v Thin 2008 (4) SA 456 (SCA).
Mandaza v. Chitiyo unreported case no. 49/2012
All case titles are to appear in italics.
The case name and citation should be given in full
and exactly as it appears in the relevant law report. However, additional
parties should be left out unless it is necessary to retain them in order to
make sense of the discussion (e.g. where the author makes mention of ‘the
respondents’).
Double citations are neither required nor
encouraged.
Books
When a book is referred to for the first time,
authors’ names must be given as they appear on the title page of the book or on
the title page of the chapter / relevant page of the article. For instance,
John D Smith must appear as John D Smith and not as J D Smith or J Smith.
In a reference the co-authors of any work (book, article, and
chapter, whatever) take an ampersand:
Smith & Mashangana. We cite up to three
authors: Smith, Mashangana & Pillay. Thereafter use ‘et al’.
If the named persons are the authors of the book, then no more need be
said. But if these are the
Editors, then the abbreviation (Ed) or (Eds) must appear after the
names.
Book titles appear in italics.
If the book is
in an edition after the first, the number of the edition must appear after the
title: 2
Ed, 3 Ed, 4 Ed
– but not 2nd or 3rd Ed. If it is the first edition of the book, then no
edition need be
Referred to;
it will be assumed that it is the first edition.
The year of publication must appear in brackets after the title (first
editions) or edition.
The precise
page number where the authority was found comes next, if necessary. If the book
operates by paragraphs or sections (which may be connoted either by ‘para’ or
by ‘§’), then this will be a sufficient reference. If it is necessary to refer
to both paragraph/section and page, then do so as follows: para 27 p 160. This
latter method should be used only where absolutely necessary. Where the
reference is generally to a chapter in the book, this should be indicated by the
abbreviation ‘ch’ (unless the word chapter starts the sentence, in which case
it must be in full).
Examples:
John D Smith & Sipho Dlamini Hand’s Law of Arbitration 5 Ed
(2006) 115.
P Q Munenga The History of the Mutapa (1984) ch 3.
Chapters in books
Where an author refers to a chapter
in a book written by a specific author (most commonly in a book constituted of
chapters by experts on a common theme, and which have been collected an edited
by a general editor or editors), then both the chapter and the book must be
referenced in full the first time the work is cited.
The author must be referred to
exactly as he or she was in the book.
Example:
M Bear & D Bear ‘Too hot, too
cold, and just right?’ in Mary Goldilocks (Ed) The Politics of
Cookery 3 Ed (2004)
23–7.
Journal articles
The name of the author(s) must appear
exactly as they appear in the journal being cited.
The year (in brackets) the volume
(where relevant) and the title of the journal must be supplied.
The title of the journal must be in
italics.
Examples:
Jane Dube ‘The new Consumer
Protection Act: An introduction’ (2002) 119 SALJ 700 at 725.
S P Moyo ‘The decline and fall of
science’ (1998) 23 SAJHR 456.
Where the periodical carries no
volume number, the year is not placed in brackets, e.g. 2006 Act
Juridical 43; 2003 TSAR
89; 2004 Annual Survey of South African Law 776.
Theses
Mary Brown South African Theories
of Justice (unpublished LLM thesis, Rhodes University,
2001) 334.
Newspapers
Angela Jones ‘Nuclear reactor in
trouble’ The Star 24 May 2005 at 2.
White papers, etc.
The White Paper on Energy Policy (GN
3007 in GG 19606 of 17 December 1998).
The ‘National Policy on HIV/AIDS for
Learners and Educators’ (published in GG 20372 of 10
May
Internet
references
Wherever possible, a published or
authoritative source should form the basis of a reference.
However, it is true that more and
more frequently authors are referring to websites. This may be
done, provided that the author
considers carefully how authoritative the source of the information
is before using it.
Where an internet reference is to be
used, it must appear as follows:
John Bringardner ‘IP’s brave new
world’ available at http://www.law.com, accessed on 12 May
2008.
B I G Stick ‘Time to bring back the
death penalty?’ The Star 24 May 2005 at 2, available at
http://www.thestar.com/arts/wed, accessed on
23 February 2009.
NB: the URL must
appear in italics, in black, and must NOT be underlined.
Where an author has accessed a
published source on the internet (e g a journal article accessed
through Westlaw) then the original
citation should be given, and there is no need to refer to the
URL.
The exceptions to the above rule are
newspaper articles accessed from the internet, or resources such as law
commission reports etc. from other countries, which may not be obviously or
easily accessible to interested readers. For convenience, a URL reference may
be given to assist the reader.
The use of footnotes in articles
Authors are welcome to use footnotes
to elaborate on points that would otherwise clutter the
main text of the article. The other
important purpose of footnotes is to provide the relevant
references without cluttering the
text.
In footnotes a reference to any
authoritative source (which must comply with the house style
described above) is given once in
full.
Thereafter a book, chapter, journal
article, newspaper article, thesis will
be cited by author and a
cross-reference (using ‘op cit’)to the FIRST footnote where the full
reference appeared. An abbreviated
reference to the work may be used to provide further
guidance where appropriate (e g
several of an author’s works are cited sporadically in an article).
Examples:
Smith & Dlamini op cit note 5 at
67.
Pillay et al Disclosure op cit
note 19.
11
Legal Cases are also cited using the
cross-referencing method, but ‘supra’ is used: Fedsure supra note
12 para 34.
Supra note 16 at 365G–H.
For consecutive references to the
same work, ibid is used with or without a page number /
paragraph reference as appropriate.
Examples:
Ibid.
Ibid at 45.
Ibid para 45
References in the text (used for all
notes and book reviews)
Essentially the same rules apply for
first and subsequent references.
Examples:
Smith & Dlamini op cit at 56
Jacob’s case
(supra).
The use of ‘supra’ and ‘op cit’ can
be obviated by giving a special abbreviated name (e.g. Smith)
in brackets when the work is first mentioned.
Thereafter the work can simply be
referred to as ‘Smith’. This style
should be used where there are repeated references to the work in a note, as
for instance where the note is essentially about a particular case.
Miscellaneous
A name should appear in full before
any acronym is used for it. However, this does not apply to
acronyms that are very well known,
such as NGO and UN and US. (Having used ‘United States’
once, it is acceptable to start
calling it ‘the US’ without announcing this in advance.)
If at all possible, avoid starting a
sentence with an acronym or any other kind of abbreviation.
Where an entire sentence appears in
parentheses, the full stop is placed inside the second bracket.
(Here an entire sentence is
bracketed.)
When giving starting and ending page
numbers and paragraph numbers, chop off the
unnecessary ones: thus 34–5 and not
34–35. Care must be taken with teens: it is 514–15 not 514–
5. However, with
ones it is correct to say 20–1, 400–1 and so on.
UNIVERSITY
OF ZIMBABWE STUDENTS JOURNAL 2013
All Rights Reserved
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