Submissions

Author Guidelines

Read more about Instructions for Authors on journals' main website: For Authors

Contracts and forms are available on journals' webiste:  Contracts, forms

Qualification of papers: Basic rules

1. The preliminary selection of papers is conducted by the Editorial Board. The Editorial Board pays particular attention to compliance with the profile of the journal. At least one of the requirements found below must be met:
   1. the paper contains an innovative solution of a given research question;
   2. the paper reviews the present state of research;
   3. the paper popularizes results of Polish research in English or German;
   4. the paper submits foreign research to critical review;
   5. the paper is an edition of a primary source.
2. The Editorial Board reserves to itself the right to accept the paper which does not comply with these criteria. The Editorial Board enjoys the right to return the paper to the author before the preliminary decision with requests that concern text requirements (in terms of main text and/or footnotes – see below), linguistic aspects or the content of the paper.
   
   
3. Any paper that is preliminarily accepted is examined by two independent peer reviewers, whose tasks are:
   1. to appraise the quality of the paper, especially in terms of the bibliography, sources, and conclusions, as well as comprehension of the text and cohesion between title and body text;
   2. to assess the linguistic aspects of the paper;
   3.  to verify the paper’s compliance with pending copyrights.
       
4. When the review procedure is finished, the author receives the decision of the Editorial Board with attached anonymized reviews. If the decision includes the requirement of correcting the paper, author should respect and take into consideration suggestions and recommendations of reviewers or, if not accepted, answer them in a message to the Editorial Board. Substantial changes in the paper, especially those which result from recommendations of reviewers, should be highlighted. The track changes function should not be applied.
   
   
5. The journal does not collect article processing charges (APC) or article submission charges (ASC).

Directions for authors

1. Papers sent to the journal should be written in Polish, English, or German. The text should undergo proof-reading before submitting. The journal provides only proof-reading of English abstracts. The poor language of the paper could be the reason of returning the paper to the author (see above).
   
   
2. Each paper should include an English abstract (max. 1500 characters with spaces) and keywords in English and paper’s language. The abstract should briefly review the most important issues raised in the paper and conclusions.
   
   
3. Text, abstract, and keywords should be sent via editorial panel (.rtf, or .doc., or .docx).
   
   
4. The Editorial Board prefers papers that do not exceed 40,000 characters with spaces (1 publisher’s sheet). Paper should not exceed 60,000 characters with spaces (1,5 publisher's sheet). The limit includes an abstract, keywords, and bibliography. The Editorial Board reserves to itself the right to decide whether to publish papers exceeding limits. The Editorial Board may also suggest that author divides the paper into parts. The responsibility of dividing and adjusting the parts of the paper rests on the author.
   
   
5. In case of publishing photos, pictures, or tables, the rights owner's consent should be enclosed in written form.
   
   
6. Texts should be created in accordance with qualities required from a scholarly article. It is unacceptable to submit the paper already accepted by the Editorial Board to another journal or volume, or to submit the paper to “Cracow Studies” that had been already sent to another journal or volume. The breach of this rule constitutes a reason to reject the paper, or event reject papers submitted by the same author in the future.
   
   
7. The Editorial Board reserves to itself the right to introduce amendments and corrections to the paper in terms of text requirements (main text, bibliography, footnotes) without consulting the author, especially when the submitted text does not meet these requirements. Moreover, the Editorial Board enjoys the right to introduce non-substantial changes in the main text so as to eliminate spelling, punctuation and language mistakes, or to improve the language of the text.

Specific rules for reviews

1. Reviews (reviews and review notes) submitted to the journal should be written in Polish, English, or German. In case of review articles (longer, critical reviews) the general rules for publication of scholarly articles apply, including review procedure. 
   
   
2. Reviews should concern works such as books, publishing series, and journals that are important for the development of scholarship and that deal mainly with legal history, in particular: history of law, history of state, history of administration, history of political and legal thought, ancient law. The editorial office should be authorized to publish reviews of other legal works (history, philosophy of law, comparative legal studies) if they refer to legal history.
   
   
3. Reviews should concern works published within two years before submitting the review. The Editorial Board enjoys the right to decide to publish the review that exceeds this limit.
   
   
4. The title of the review should be limited to: the author of the reviewed work, its title, publisher, place and date of publication, and the number of pages, ISBN, and DOI number. Example (please pay attention to italics):
   Surname, Name of the author. Title. Place: Publisher, Date of publication (number of pages, ISBN, DOI). 
   
   
5. The key words in English should be attached.
   
   
6. The review should be within the range of 4,000–20,000 characters with spaces (0,1-0,5 publisher’s sheet). The limit does not concern review articles, in terms of which general rules for scholarly papers apply.

Specific rules for the section “Chronicle of Scholarly Events”

1. The section “Chronicle of Scholarly Events” consists of unreviewed papers such as conference reports or other reports regarding scholarly events (conferences, symposiums, seminars etc.). Furthermore, chronicles of scholarly events in particular countries (hereinafter: “chronicles”) are published in this section.
   
   
2. Reports of scholarly events submitted to the journal should be written in Polish or English. The chronicles should be written in English. In terms of editorial requirements, general rules apply.
3. Chronicles should concern major scholarly events such as: conferences and other events, most relevant publications etc. that are important for the development of scholarship and that deal mainly with legal history, in particular: history of law, history of state, history of administration, history of political and legal thought, ancient law.
   
   
4. Chronicles should concern events held within a particular year.
   
   
5. The title of the chronicle should be limited to words “Chronicle of Scholarly Events in” and indication of the territorial and temporal range of the chronicle.
   
   
6. The keywords in English should be attached.
   
   
7. The chronicle should not exceed the size of 0.75 of the publisher’s sheet (30,000 characters with spaces).

Specific rules for reports on research projects

1. As „Reports on research project” there will be considered accounts concerning:
   1. research project (domestic, foreign, international) lasting more than one year and involving more than one task, or
   2. series of minor projects related by the joint object of study, clearly thematically related to each other, including more than one task in total.
      
      
2. The editorial office reserves to itself the right to accept only reports related to the journal profile, in particular concerning history of law, history of state, history of administration, history of political and legal thought, as well as studies on legal culture and legal  heritage (including those conducted in other, non-legal disciplines of human and social studies).
   
   
3. Reports on research projects should be written in Polish or English.
   
   
4. In terms of editorial requirements, general rules apply.
   
   
5. The editorial office declare that there will be accepted maximum one report (not necessarily the final one) from a given project or series of projects, not excluding the simultaneous publication of reports from specific events taking place as part of them as notes in the „Chronicle of Scholarly Event” section.
   
   
6. The key words in Polish and English should be attached.
   
   
7. The report on research project should not exceed:
   1. for projects lasting up to 3 years: 5,000 characters, including spaces (1/8 of the publishing sheet),
   2. for projects lasting more than 3 years: 8,000 characters, including spaces (1/5 of the publishing sheet).

Text requirements:

The main text

• Font: Times New Roman; size: 12; line space: 1,5, no additional space between paragraphs.
  
  
• A new paragraph should start with indentation. This rule does not apply to the first paragraph in a given chapter or section, and to the abstract (no indentation).
  
  
• In texts written in English, words (excluding prepositions and conjunctions) in title of the paper should start with a capital letter.
  
  
• If text mentions a person for the first time the name and surname should be used (if possible). In following mentions only surname should be used.
  
  
• Titles of publications in the main text: in italic.
  
  
• Titles of speeches, paragraphs, sections etc.: in quotation marks (US English): “ ”.
  
  
• Phrases in foreign language: in italic.
  
  
• Quotes up to three lines should be placed between quotation marks (US English): “ ”. Quotes inside the quote should be placed between quotation marks (so-called French): « ».
  
  
• Quotes exceeding three lines should be placed in a new paragraph, font size 10, no indentation, no quotation marks.
  
  
• Annotations: are to be placed after the full stop at the end of a sentence.
  
  
•  Brackets: should be round brackets, or parentheses: ( ). Brackets inside parentheses should be square brackets: [ ]. If author intends to use brackets to omit a part of the text, or to comment or add supplementary information inside quotations should be square brackets, e.g.: [...], [Lorem ipsum – AA]. Square brackets should be also utilized to introduce abbreviations in bibliography, e.g.: The National Archives [TNA], and to introduce abbreviations of classical sources (see below). 
  
  
• When ranges of values (e.g. pages, years, units) are mentioned, the en dash should be used: –. In particular, the hyphen (-) should not be used. Examples: “On pages 120–141”, „in the years 1939–1945”, „in articles 11–20”, „in §§ 2–9”.
  
  
• The date format in the main text: January 1, 2024.
  
  
• The date format in the footnote: 1.01.2024 [DD/MM/YYYY].

Abbreviations

The list of utilized abbreviations should be attached at the end of the paper.

Footnotes and bibliography

• Font: Times New Roman; size: 10; line space: 1,0.
• The bibliography should be added at the end of the text, and divided into:
• Primary archival sources
• Primary printed/edited sources
• Legal sources
• Secondary sources
• Internet sources

General rules (according to the Chicago style)

• When ranges of pages is mentioned, the en dash should be used: –. In particular, the hyphen (-) should not be used.
  
  
• In footnotes, in particular do not use: idem, op. cit., et caetera.
  
  
• If the same source is cited in the following footnote, the Ibid. should be used.
  
  
• Do not use abbreviations for journal titles (only full titles should be utilized).
  
  
• If multivolume editions are cited, the number of volume or part should be included using Arabic numerals (even if original edition uses Roman numerals). The number of volume (part) should be followed by colon (:) and the title of the volume (part) in italic.
  
  
• If the cited publication was authored or edited by more than 1 person, in bibliography the authors/editors should be separated by semicolon: ; . In footnotes the surnames of authors should be separated by comas: , .
  
  
• If the number of authors or editors exceeds 3, the [et. al.] should be used after the name of the first author or editor.
  
  
• In bibliography: the titles in non-congress languages (i.e., not in English, German, French, Italian, or Spanish) should be followed by the translation of the title into the language of the text (in square brackets).
  
  
• In bibliography: the titles written in non-Latin alphabet should be followed by the transliteration prepared according to the rules binding in the language of the text.

Examples:

Classical sources:

Surname, Name [abbreviation according to the Oxford Classical Dictionary (https://oxfordre.com/classics/page/3993; hereinafter: OCD]. Full title in italic [Abbreviated title according to the OCD].

Only abbreviations included in the OCD could be used. Title abbreviations could be used only when the original version of the text is cited. If translation – general rules for editions apply.

Bibliography: Cicero, Marcus Tullius [Cic.]. De officiis [Off.].

Footnote: Cic., Off. 2,24.

Bibliography: Cicero, Marcus Tullius [Cic.]. De officiis. Transl. Walter Miller. London: William Heinemann; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1961.

Footnote: Cic., De officiis, 2,24.

Book

Surname, Name. Full title in italic. [In case of translation: Transl. name and surname]. Place: publisher, date. DOI.

Bibliography: Brundage, James; Eichbauer, Melodie H. Medieval Canon Law. 2^nd ed. London–New York: Routledge, 2023. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003156734.

Footnote: Brundage, Medieval Canon Law, 1.

Bibliography: Frost, Robert. Oksfordzka historia Unii Polsko-Litewskiej. Vol. 1: Powstanie i rozwój 1385–1569. Transl. Tomasz Fiedorek. Poznań: Dom Wydawniczy Rebis, 2018.

Footnote: Frost, Oksfordzka historia, 22.

Bibliography: Hartmann, Wilfried; Pennington, Kenneth, eds. The History of Courts and Procedure in Medieval Canon Law. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2016. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1j0pt7h.

Footnote: Hartmann, Pennington, The History of Courts, 2.

Chapter

Surname, Name. “Full title in quotation marks”. In: Title of the volume in italic, editors, full range of pages. Place: publisher, data. DOI.

Bibliography: Pennington, Kenneth. “Introduction to the Courts”. In: The History of Courts and Procedure in Medieval Canon Law, eds. Wilfried Hartmann; Kenneth Pennington, 3–29. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2016. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1j0pt7h.6.

Footnote: Pennington, “Introduction”, 3.

Paper in the journal

Surname, Name. “Full title in quotation marks”. Journal title in italic number of the volume (year): full range of pages. DOI.

Bibliography: Gordley, James. “The Betrayal of the French Civil Code: A Tragedy in Three Acts”. Krakowskie Studia z Historii Państwa i prawa 16, no. 2 (2023): 163–80. https://www.doi.org/10.4467/20844131KS.23.012.17830. 

Footnote: Gordley, “The Betrayal”, 163.

Printed/Edited primary source

Surname, Name, ed. Full title in italic. Place: publisher, date. DOI.

For publications such as collections of documents, the page number can be replaced by the document number, and the date the source was created can be provided. If the edited primary source is referred to repeatedly, it is recommended that an abbreviation is used.
 Bibliography: Stella, Attilio, ed. The Libri Feudorum (the ‘Books of Fiefs’): An Annotated English Translation of the Vulgata recension with Latin Text. Leiden–Boston: Brill, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004529175.

Footnote: Stella, The Libri Feudorum, 111.

Archival primary source
The archives/institution [abbreviation].

Fonds name [abbreviation]: Ms. reference.

 Bibliography:

Central Archive of Historical Records in Warsaw [Archiwum Główne Akt Dawnych – AGAD]

Fonds Metryka Koronna [MK]: vol. 45.

Footnote: AGAD, MK 45, 56v.

Legal act from official gazette

Usual abbreviations for official law gazettes should be used. The abbreviations should be explained in the list of abbreviations attached at the end of the paper. Please pay attention and give full titles of cited legal acts in the bibliography. If more acts cited, they should be listed primarily hierarchically, and secondarily – chronologically.

Bibliography: Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (RGBl. 1896, Nr. 21, S. 195).

Footnote: Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (RGBl. 1896, Nr. 21, S. 195).

Internet source

Surname, Name. “Full title in quotation marks”. Website address (accessed: XX.XX.XXXX).
Bibliography: Olorunnipa, Tolusel; Linskey, Annie; Rucker, Philip. “Joe Biden triumphs over Trump, says it is ‘a time to heal’ even as Trump does not concede”. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/joe-biden-elected-president/2020/11/07/53ec8726-1f0b-11eb-ba21-f2f001f0554b_story.html (accessed: 24.01.2024).

Footnote: Olorunnipa, Linskey, Rucker, “Joe Biden triumphs”.

"Ghostwriting" and "guest authorship" rules

The Editorial Board of "Cracow Studies of Constitutional and Legal History" makes every effort to maintain the highest standards of academic publications. For this reason, NO ghostwriting or guest authorship will be accepted. "Ghostwriting" is a situation in which, despite significant participation in the preparation of the text, such a person was not indicated as the co-author of the text, or they were not expressly credited in the content of the article. "Guest authorship" consists of including a person among the authors whose contribution to the preparation of the article was negligible or non-existent. The editors reserve the right to disclose any such situations.