Author instructions and style guide
Current Issues in Criminal Justice is produced by the Institute of Criminology Press and is the major Australian journal on criminal justice. Contributors include academics, researchers and professionals, who provide expert analysis of the many aspects of criminal justice. The Journal covers national and international issues, and has subscribers from many different countries and disciplines.
The journal features ‘Contemporary Comments’ which are at the cutting edge of the crime and justice debate. There are also book reviews and news of upcoming events in the field.
Editors:
Dr Murray Lee and Dr Arlie Loughnan
Book Review Editor:
Dr Rita Shackel
Journal Directors:
Dr Murray Lee and Associate Professor Gail Mason
Submissions and author enquiries:
General information
Authors are welcome to submit articles, contemporary comments and reviews for publication in Current Issues in Criminal Justice. All articles are reviewed by two referees with relevant expertise, a process which takes between 12 and 16 weeks.
Articles are then assessed by the editor of the upcoming issue. Articles should be under 8,000 words, Contemporary Comments 2,000 - 4,000 words, and Reviews 500 - 1,000 words. Send submissions as email attachments to ; or post submissions to
Current Issues in Criminal Justice,
Sydney Institute of Criminology
Law School Building (F10)
Eastern Avenue, Camperdown Campus
The University of Sydney
NSW 2006
Book reviews should be submitted to the Book Review Editor, Current Issues in Criminal Justice, Institute of Criminology (address above), or by email to Arlie Loughnan.
Original files for graphics such as charts representing statistical data should be supplied where possible. Alternatively, all graphics should be of acceptable quality for reproduction. Images should be at least 300dpi and 100% of final reproduction size or larger. All graphics are printed in black and white.
It is the author's responsibility to ensure the style of the submission accords with the current Journal style. Manuscripts will be sent back to authors for editing if they do not meet the style guide supplied herewith.
While manuscripts are subject to editing, the Institute of Criminology does not hold itself responsible for statements made by contributors.
Articles submitted and accepted to Current Issues in Criminal Justice will be published on INFORMIT, a full text on-line library service and on HeinOnline.
Contact the Institute of Criminology if more detailed information is required.
Submission title and abstract
The submission title should be brief and to the point, so as to give a clear idea of the nature of the work when quoted by others.
Under the title of the article only the names of the authors should appear. Qualifications, present appointments, postal and email addresses should be given as a footnote on the first page.
The submission should include an Abstract of no more than 150 words.
Abbreviations
Uncommon abbreviations should be explained, with the name in full in the first instance, followed by the abbreviation in brackets. The abbreviation may then be adopted. Full stops should not be used in abbreviations or contractions (therefore NSW not N.S.W.). However, the following specific cases apply: 'for example' should be abbreviated as 'e.g.'; 'etcetera' should be abbreviated as 'etc.'; 'that is' should be abbreviated as 'i.e.'. Common abbreviations should only be used within brackets or in footnotes. Otherwise, the word/s should appear in full in the text.
When citing a reference for the purposes of comparison, the journal accepts the abbreviation of 'cf'. For example:
It has survived legal, including constitutional, challenges (Zdenkowski 1999a:308-10; cf Flynn 1999).
Footnotes and references
Footnotes should be kept to a minimum and used only for substantive observations.
References should follow the Harvard author-date system. All references to books, articles and other sources are to be identified at an appropriate point in the text by name of author, year of publication and (where appropriate) pagination. References within the text are placed within parentheses. Footnotes are not to be used for references. Latin terms such as 'ibid', 'loc cit' or 'op cit' are not required.
If the author's name is in the text, follow it by the year of publication, colon, page reference. There should be no space following the colon in a reference. For example:
Garland (1993:24) has argued that postmodern approaches to penology have certain limitations.
If the author's name is not in the text, at an appropriate point insert the surname, year of publication and (if applicable) the page reference. For example:
Theories of social control dominated much of the criminological debate during the early 1980s (Cohen 1984).
If two authors are involved cite both names. For example:
Recent work on juvenile justice in Australia has indicated significant variations in custody rates (Cunneen & White 1995:151-170).
If more than two authors are involved cite the first surname followed by et al. The names should be spelt out in full in the references. For example:
A major review of the treatment of juveniles revealed the need for legislative change (Alder et al 1992).
Multiple citations should be separated by semicolons. For example:
Several studies have shown increased rates of imprisonment in NSW (Brown 1992; Chan 1993; Vinson 1993).
Where there are references to multiple works published in the same year by the same author, use a letter after the date to distinguish the separate works. For example:
(Hall 1991a, 1991b).
No punctuation should occur between the author's surname and the date in any citation.
All works which are referred to in the text must be fully cited at the end of the article under the heading 'References'. Some examples follow.
Gale F & Wundersitz J 1986 'Aboriginal Visibility in the System' Australian Social Work vol 39 no 1 pp 21-26
Stenning P 1984 'Community Policing: Who's in Control?' in Morgan J (ed) Community Policing Australian Institute of Criminology Canberra
White R 1990 No Space of Their Own Cambridge University Press Cambridge
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 2006 Trafficking in Persons: Global Patterns
Authors are expected to check the accuracy of all references in the manuscript before submission.
Direct quotations
As a general rule, direct quotations of three lines or less are embedded within the text in quotation marks. The reference to the author, date and page number appears in parentheses outside the quotation mark and before the full stop. A quotation of more than three lines appears as an indented paragraph without quotation marks. The reference to the author, date and page number appears at the end, immediately before the full stop.
Cases
Cases in the text can appear in shortened form with parties names italicised. For example, R v Smith, or Mac Shannon's case.
The full citation of the case must be detailed under the heading 'List of Cases' which immediately follows the text of the article and prior to the References. Standard legal citations are required for citations in the List of Cases. Case titles should be italicised, but not written in bold. For example:
Mac Shannon v Rockware Glass Ltd [1977] 2 All ER 449.
When citing a numbered section in a case, where the number refers to either a page number, or (in electronic media) a paragraph number, the citation should appear as follows:
To do so would be, amongst other things, to betray the trust that the overwhelming majority of citizens place in the court to stand as a bulwark against prejudice and unreason (at 302).
Legislation
Legislative Acts in the text should consist of the act title and date in italics, the location in brackets, and section number if appropriate. For example: Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) s23. Note that punctuation is not required in this referencing.
Quotation marks
In using quotation marks, single quotation marks should be used as first preference. Where a second quote is referred to in a first quote, double quotation marks should indicate this. For example:
'When we say "crime" we're really saying we are afraid of lower-class black people' (Harvey 1996:293).
Further information
For further information on general style conventions please consult Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers, AGPS Press, Canberra, Australia.