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These instructions explain how to prepare a manuscript for the Crossroads International Journal for Multidisciplinary Research (CIJFMR). Please read them in full before you submit. Manuscripts that follow them move through the checks faster and reach reviewers sooner; manuscripts that do not are returned to the author for correction before review begins.
At a glance
| Item | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Disciplines | Law and legal studies, social sciences, humanities, management and business studies, and interdisciplinary work connecting them |
| Language | English (British, American or Indian spelling, applied consistently) |
| Article types | Research article, review article, short communication, case study or case comment, book review |
| Authors per manuscript | Maximum four, including the corresponding author |
| Review | Plagiarism check, editorial guideline review (Review 1) and double-blind peer review (Review 2) |
| Files | Anonymised manuscript (required) and a separate title page (recommended), Microsoft Word only (.docx or .doc), up to 20 MB each |
| Abstract and keywords | 200 to 300 words; four to six keywords |
| Citation | One recognised style used consistently (Section 9) |
| Originality limits | Similarity index below 20%; AI-generated content below 25% (Section 4) |
| Charge at submission | None |
| Processing charge | Only after acceptance (see Article processing charges) |
| Licence | Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) |
| Submission | Online form at cijfmr.com/submit. No account is needed. |
Contents
- Who may submit
- Article types and word limits
- Originality and prior dissemination
- Plagiarism and AI-content screening
- Authorship
- Files to submit
- Preparing the anonymised manuscript
- Manuscript structure by article type
- Citation and referencing
- Formatting and style
- Tables, figures and appendices
- Research involving people, data and ethics
- Declarations
- Use of artificial intelligence tools
- How to submit
- What happens after submission
- Corrections and revisions
- Acceptance and publication
- Withdrawal of a manuscript
- Pre-submission checklist
1. Who may submit
CIJFMR welcomes manuscripts from academics, researchers, doctoral and postgraduate scholars, practitioners, policymakers and students enrolled in degree programmes, in India and abroad. Every manuscript is held to the same scholarly standard, whatever the author's career stage or designation: editors assess the work, not the author.
The Journal considers manuscripts throughout the year. Each manuscript enters the next available issue once it completes review and production. Issue information appears on the Call for papers page.
2. Article types and word limits
Word limits exclude the abstract, footnotes or endnotes, the reference list or bibliography, tables, figure captions and appendices. They include the main text and headings.
| Article type | Word limit | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Research article | 5,000 to 10,000 | Original research presenting a clear question, a defined method and a sustained argument or analysis. Doctrinal, empirical, theoretical, comparative, historical and mixed-method work all qualify. |
| Review article | 5,000 to 10,000 | A critical, structured synthesis of existing literature, case law or policy on a defined subject, identifying gaps and directions for further research. A descriptive summary of sources does not qualify. |
| Short communication | 2,500 to 4,000 | A concise contribution on a recent development, judgment, statute, policy, dataset or preliminary finding that merits timely scholarly comment. |
| Case study or case comment | 3,000 to 6,000 | Close analysis of a judicial decision, regulatory action, organisation, event or field setting, with an evaluation of its significance. Comments on judgments must analyse the reasoning, not merely report the facts and holding. |
| Book review | 1,500 to 3,000 | A critical evaluation of a scholarly book published within the last three years, placing it within its field. |
Exceeding the limit. The editors may accept a research or review article of up to 12,000 words in exceptional cases, where the depth of the analysis justifies the length. Explain the reason in the "Note to the editor" box of the submission form; the editors decide before review begins.
Falling short. A manuscript substantially below the minimum for its category may be reclassified or returned to the author.
3. Originality and prior dissemination
By submitting, the author confirms that the manuscript is the author's own original work; that it has not been published, in whole or in substantial part, in any journal, book, edited volume, conference proceedings, blog or other outlet; and that it is not under consideration elsewhere and will not be submitted elsewhere until CIJFMR issues a final decision or the author withdraws it.
The following do not count as prior publication, provided they are disclosed in the "Note to the editor" box: a preprint on a non-commercial preprint server or institutional repository; a conference or seminar presentation where no full paper appeared in published proceedings; and a thesis or dissertation chapter that has been substantially reworked into a journal article.
Simultaneous submission to another journal is a breach of publication ethics. Such manuscripts are rejected and handled under the Publication ethics and malpractice statement.
4. Plagiarism and AI-content screening
The editorial office screens every manuscript for similarity and AI-generated content before it goes to review.
| Result | Usual outcome |
|---|---|
| Similarity index below 20% and AI-generated content below 25% | Passes to Review 1 |
| Similarity index of 20% to 25%, or AI-generated content of 25% or more | Returned to the author for correction |
| Similarity index above 25% | Normally declined |
The similarity index excludes the reference list and properly quoted and attributed material. Recycling text from the author's own published work counts towards the limit and must be disclosed and cited. Software reports guide editors but do not decide outcomes on their own: an editor reviews every report, may return a manuscript within the limits that borrows ideas, structure or arguments without attribution, and may allow a manuscript slightly above the limits where the overlap consists of statutory text, common legal phrases or standard methodological descriptions. Deliberate plagiarism leads to rejection and may be dealt with under the Journal's ethics procedures.
5. Authorship
Limit. A manuscript may list no more than four authors, including the corresponding author.
Who qualifies as an author. Each listed author must have made a substantial contribution to the conception, design, research, analysis or interpretation of the work; drafted the manuscript or revised it critically for important intellectual content; approved the version submitted; and accepted responsibility for the accuracy and integrity of the work. People who provided only general supervision, funding, language editing or technical assistance belong in the acknowledgements. Gift, guest and ghost authorship are not permitted.
Corresponding author. The corresponding author submits the manuscript, receives all communication from the Journal, accepts the licence agreement on behalf of all authors, pays any processing charge, receives the certificates of publication for all authors, and keeps co-authors informed.
Contribution statement. For manuscripts with two or more authors, the title page should include a short statement of each author's contribution; authors may use the CRediT taxonomy (for example, conceptualisation, methodology, investigation, writing of the original draft, review and editing).
ORCID. The Journal strongly encourages every author to provide an ORCID iD, which appears on the published article.
Changes to authorship. Additions, removals or reordering of authors after submission are accepted only on a written explanation from the corresponding author, confirmed in writing by every author, including any author being removed. Changes after acceptance are allowed only in exceptional circumstances approved by the Editor-in-Chief.
6. Files to submit
The Journal accepts manuscripts in Microsoft Word format only (.docx or .doc), up to 20 MB per file. PDF and other formats are not accepted.
| File | Contents |
|---|---|
| Anonymised manuscript (required) | Title, abstract, keywords, main text, footnotes, references, tables, figures and any appendices, with every identifying detail removed (Section 7) |
| Title page (recommended) | The details listed below |
Title page contents.
- Full title of the manuscript and article type.
- For each author: full name, designation, department, institution, city, country, email address and ORCID iD.
- The corresponding author's name and contact details.
- Word count of the main text.
- Author contribution statement (for two or more authors).
- Declarations: conflict of interest, funding, ethics approval and consent (where relevant), data availability and use of AI tools (Section 13).
- Acknowledgements, if any.
Supplementary material, such as questionnaires, interview schedules or additional tables, should be placed in appendices at the end of the manuscript file. The editorial office may ask for underlying data or original image files during review or production.
7. Preparing the anonymised manuscript
CIJFMR uses double-blind review: reviewers must not be able to identify the authors from the manuscript. Before you upload:
- remove author names, affiliations, email addresses and acknowledgements from the manuscript file;
- refer to your own earlier work in the third person, for example "Sharma (2024) argues" rather than "as I have argued elsewhere (Sharma 2024)"; where this would still reveal your identity, replace the citation with "[Author, 2024]" in the text and the reference list;
- move funding bodies, project titles and grant numbers that could identify you to the title page;
- name the file by the manuscript title, not by the author's name;
- clear identifying information from the document properties (in Word: File, Info, Check for Issues, Inspect Document, then remove document properties and personal information);
- accept or reject all tracked changes and delete all comments.
Anonymisation is checked at Review 1. A manuscript that reveals the author's identity is returned for correction.
8. Manuscript structure by article type
Every manuscript opens with the title, abstract and keywords, followed by the main text and the references.
- Title: concise and specific, ideally no more than 20 words, without unexplained abbreviations.
- Abstract: 200 to 300 words in a single paragraph that stands on its own, stating the problem, purpose, method or approach, principal findings or arguments, and contribution, with no citations or footnotes.
- Keywords: four to six keywords or short phrases that do not simply repeat the title. Authors in economics and management may add JEL codes.
8.1 Research article: doctrinal, theoretical or policy research
Introduction (context, research problem and significance); research objectives and questions; hypothesis or central argument (where applicable); research methodology (for example doctrinal, comparative, historical, critical or theoretical, with the sources used); review of literature; analysis and discussion under substantive sub-headings; findings; suggestions and recommendations; conclusion; references or bibliography. Headings may be adapted to the argument.
8.2 Research article: empirical research
Introduction; review of literature and theoretical framework; research objectives, questions and hypotheses; research methodology (design, population and sample, sampling technique, instruments, period of study, methods of analysis and ethical safeguards); results; discussion; implications and limitations; conclusion and scope for future research; references.
8.3 Review article
Introduction and scope of the review; method of review (databases, search terms, period covered, inclusion and exclusion criteria, where relevant); thematic or chronological analysis; critical evaluation and identification of gaps; directions for future research; conclusion; references.
8.4 Short communication
Introduction; the development, issue or finding; analysis; implications; conclusion; references.
8.5 Case comment on a judicial decision
Introduction (the core legal question and why the case matters); case details (full case name, citation, court, bench, date of decision); facts and procedural history; issues before the court; arguments of the parties; decision and reasoning, distinguishing the ratio decidendi from obiter dicta; critical analysis (consistency with precedent, statutory interpretation, constitutional values and comparative perspectives); impact on the law and on practice; conclusion; references. Where a later decision has modified or overruled the judgment, the comment must say so.
8.6 Case study (non-judicial)
Introduction and purpose; background and context; method and sources of information; presentation of the case; analysis using the relevant theoretical or regulatory framework; lessons, implications and recommendations; conclusion; references. Case studies of named organisations must rest on public information or information the author is authorised to disclose.
8.7 Book review
Full bibliographic details of the book (author or editor, title, edition, publisher, place, year, pages, ISBN and price where known); overview of its aims, argument and structure; critical evaluation of its strengths, weaknesses, methods and sources; its contribution to the field and intended readership; conclusion. In the submission form, enter a short summary of about 100 to 150 words in place of an abstract, and three to five keywords.
9. Citation and referencing
Because CIJFMR is multidisciplinary, authors may use the citation style that is standard in their discipline, but must apply one style consistently. Manuscripts that mix styles are returned.
| Discipline | Accepted styles | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Law and legal studies | Indian Law Institute (ILI) style, OSCOLA or The Bluebook (current editions) | Footnotes. In-text author-date citation is not accepted for legal manuscripts. |
| Social sciences, management and business studies | APA (current edition) | In-text author-date citation with a reference list; footnotes only for explanatory notes |
| Humanities | Chicago Manual of Style (notes and bibliography) or MLA (current editions) | Footnotes with bibliography (Chicago), or in-text citation with a works cited list (MLA) |
| Interdisciplinary work | The style of the discipline the manuscript principally addresses | As above |
General rules. Every source cited in the text appears in the reference list, and every entry in the list is cited in the text. Give the DOI as a full link (https://doi.org/...) for every source that has one. Cite Indian judgments by full case name and an authoritative report (for example SCC, AIR or SCR) or neutral citation, with the year and court; statutes by short title and year, with the section, article or rule; and web sources with the author or organisation, title, URL and date of access. Prefer primary and official sources to secondary commentary. Translate quotations from other languages, giving the original in a footnote where the wording matters.
Verification of references. Authors must confirm that every reference exists and supports the statement for which it is cited. A manuscript containing fabricated, inaccurate or unverifiable references is rejected; this applies with particular force to references suggested by AI tools.
10. Formatting and style
- A4 page, margins of 2.54 cm (1 inch) on all sides.
- Main text in Times New Roman, 12 point, 1.5 line spacing, justified; footnotes in Times New Roman, 10 point, single spacing, justified.
- Page numbers at the bottom centre of every page.
- No page borders, watermarks, decorative elements, coloured text or text boxes.
Headings. Use no more than three levels, numbered consistently:
| Level | Format | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Roman numerals, bold, all capitals | I. INTRODUCTION |
| Level 2 | Capital letters, bold, title case | A. Legislative Background |
| Level 3 | Arabic numerals, italics, sentence case | 1. Judicial interpretation after 2017 |
Please use Word's built-in Heading styles for headings: the Journal uses them to build the web version of the article.
Language and style. Write in clear, formal academic English and apply one spelling convention consistently. Prefer the active voice and precise statements; use gender-neutral language. Define each abbreviation at first use, for example "Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act)". Italicise case names, book titles and words from other languages, giving an English meaning at first use. Write numbers from one to nine in words and 10 onwards in figures, except in tables, statistics, units, dates, section numbers and percentages. Write dates as 30 October 2026. Present quotations of more than 50 words as indented block quotations without quotation marks. Place footnote numbers after punctuation, in superscript, and do not put substantive argument in footnotes.
11. Tables, figures and appendices
- Number tables and figures consecutively and refer to each in the text.
- Give each a short, descriptive title (above tables, below figures) and state the source beneath it; write "Source: Author's compilation" for original material.
- Insert tables as editable Word tables, not images.
- Supply figures at a resolution of at least 300 dpi, legible in greyscale; do not rely on colour alone to convey meaning.
- Obtain written permission to reproduce any copyrighted table, figure, photograph or map, and state the permission in the caption.
- Place lengthy instruments, datasets and supporting tables in appendices.
12. Research involving people, data and ethics
Human participants. Research involving surveys, interviews, focus groups, experiments or observation must have approval from an appropriate institutional ethics committee where the author's institution or the law of the place of research requires it, with the committee and approval reference stated on the title page (or an explanation of why approval was not required); must have obtained informed consent from each participant, with additional safeguards for minors and vulnerable persons; and must protect participants' identities unless they have consented in writing to be identified.
Personal data. Authors must handle personal data in accordance with applicable law, including the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 for research involving data principals in India.
Data availability. Empirical manuscripts must state where the underlying data can be accessed, or why it cannot be shared.
Confidential material. Authors must not rely on information obtained in breach of confidentiality, privilege or law. Legal practitioners must not disclose client confidences in case studies or comments.
13. Declarations
The title page should contain the following declarations; where one does not apply, state "Not applicable".
| Declaration | What to state |
|---|---|
| Conflict of interest | Any financial, professional or personal relationship that could appear to influence the work, or "The authors declare no conflict of interest". |
| Funding | Each funder and grant number, or "This research received no specific grant from any funding agency". |
| Ethics approval and consent | The approving committee and reference number, and confirmation of informed consent. |
| Data availability | Where the data can be accessed, or why it cannot be shared. |
| Use of AI tools | The tool, its version and the purpose for which it was used, or "No AI tools were used in preparing this manuscript". |
| Prior dissemination | Any preprint, conference presentation or thesis from which the manuscript derives. |
In the submission form, the corresponding author also confirms, on behalf of all authors, the originality of the work, that it is not under consideration elsewhere, that all authors approve the submission, ethics compliance, the open-access licence, and the use of their details under the Privacy statement.
14. Use of artificial intelligence tools
CIJFMR permits limited, disclosed use of AI tools under its Use of AI tools policy. In summary: AI tools cannot be authors; authors may use them for language polishing, grammar checking and similar assistance, and must disclose that use in the submission form and on the title page; authors must not use them to generate the substantive analysis, arguments, findings, data or references; and authors remain fully responsible for everything in the manuscript. AI-generated content of 25% or more leads to the manuscript being returned for correction. Undisclosed or inappropriate use is a breach of publication ethics.
15. How to submit
- Prepare the anonymised manuscript and the title page in Word.
- Open the online submission form. No account or login is needed.
- Select the article type and subject area, and enter the title, abstract and keywords.
- Enter the corresponding author's details (name, email, country, mobile or WhatsApp number, designation, institution and ORCID iD), then each co-author's name, email, designation and institution, in the order they should appear.
- Upload the anonymised manuscript and the title page.
- Complete the declarations and the question on AI use.
- Use the "Note to the editor" box for anything the editors need to know, such as a preprint, a request to exceed the word limit, a waiver request or reviewers you wish to exclude.
- Submit.
The corresponding author receives an acknowledgement by email with a manuscript reference number (for example CIJFMR-2026-0001). Keep it: you need it to track your manuscript and in all correspondence. If the acknowledgement does not arrive within 24 hours, check your spam folder and then write to editor@cijfmr.com. Please submit each manuscript only once.
16. What happens after submission
| Stage | What happens | Target time |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Acknowledgement | Email with the manuscript reference number | Immediate |
| 2. Plagiarism check | Similarity and AI-content screening | Within 3 working days |
| 3. Review 1: guideline check | An editor checks scope, structure, word limit, citation style, anonymisation and declarations | Within 7 working days |
| 4. Review 2: peer review | Double-blind review by an independent expert | Normally 2 to 4 weeks |
| 5. Decision | Accept, revise or reject, with reasons | After the review |
| 6. Copyright and charge | Licence agreement and processing charge through a private link | Within 14 days of acceptance |
| 7. Production | Copy-editing and formatting | Normally 1 to 2 weeks |
| 8. Publication | Online publication in the next available issue, with certificates of publication | Next available issue |
These are targets, not guarantees. The Journal never shortens review to meet a deadline. See also the Publication process.
17. Corrections and revisions
At any stage, the editors may ask for a correction or revision. The corresponding author receives an email with the reasons and a private link to upload the corrected manuscript, which returns to the same stage for checking.
- Upload one revised, anonymised Word file, with the changes highlighted or shown in tracked changes.
- Use the note box on the upload page to summarise the changes. After peer review, give a point-by-point response to each of the reviewer's comments, explaining how and where the manuscript addresses it, or respectfully why you disagree.
- Deadlines: 7 days for corrections requested at the plagiarism check or Review 1; 14 days for minor and 30 days for major revisions after peer review, unless the editor agrees to an extension. A revision received after the deadline may be treated as a new submission.
18. Acceptance and publication
On acceptance, the corresponding author receives an email with a private link to accept the Author licence agreement on behalf of all authors and to pay the article processing charge, where applicable. The manuscript then moves to production. If a query arises during copy-editing, please reply within 72 hours; at this stage only typographical and factual errors may be corrected, and substantive changes need the editor's approval.
On publication, the article appears in the current issue on cijfmr.com, free to read under CC BY-NC 4.0, and the corresponding author receives the article link. A certificate of publication is issued for every author and sent to the corresponding author; each certificate can be verified on the verification page.
19. Withdrawal of a manuscript
Authors may withdraw a manuscript at any time before acceptance by writing to editor@cijfmr.com with the reference number and a brief reason. Withdrawal after acceptance is permitted only for serious reasons and requires the editor's agreement. A published article cannot be withdrawn; any later change follows the Corrections, retractions and expressions of concern policy.
20. Pre-submission checklist
- The manuscript falls within the aims and scope and is original, unpublished and not under consideration elsewhere.
- It meets the word limit for its article type and lists no more than four authors, each of whom meets the authorship criteria.
- The abstract runs to 200 to 300 words and is followed by four to six keywords.
- It follows the structure recommended for its article type and the formatting in Section 10.
- One citation style is applied consistently, and every reference has been checked.
- Tables and figures are numbered, titled and sourced, and permissions have been obtained.
- The manuscript file contains nothing that identifies the authors, including in the document properties.
- A separate title page contains author details, the contribution statement and the declarations.
- Ethics approval and informed consent are documented where the research involves people.
- Any use of AI tools is disclosed.
- Both files are in Word format (.docx or .doc).
Questions
Write to the editorial office at editor@cijfmr.com or use the contact page, quoting your manuscript reference number in every message about a submission.
Beware of impersonation. CIJFMR receives manuscripts only through cijfmr.com and editor@cijfmr.com, and requests payment only through the secure link sent after acceptance. The Journal never asks for payment at submission or into personal bank accounts, wallets or messaging apps.