Diversity Policy | National Law School Of India Review

National Law School of India Review

India's oldest Student-run Law Journal

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION STATEMENT

The National Law School of India Review (“Journal”) is a student-run, peer-reviewed, academic journal. The journal’s editorial board is cognizant of the lack of diversity and representation of scholars from marginalised and vulnerable communities in the legal academia. It also acknowledges that unconscious bias compromises the integrity of the editorial process. The editorial team is committed to ensure that its editorial processes and outcomes do not deny academic/professional advancement opportunities to anyone on account of their structural disadvantages. This ‘Diversity and Inclusion Statement’ (“Statement”) describes our efforts to actively mitigate the exercise of unconscious bias. This is intended to educate our editors, authors and reviewers about how unconscious bias can be identified and how it can be overcome. All persons associated with the Journal, in the capacity of author, reviewer, and editor, are expected to acquaint themselves and adhere to the terms of this Statement.

1. Composition of Editorial Board

The journal strives for greater transparency and diversity with regards to editors and board members. Consequently, the selection process for trainee editors provides for compensatory points on the basis of a multi-dimensional deprivation index. The deprivation index accounts for their socio-economic, caste and gender identity. The year-round training and mentorship is aimed at providing these trainees from diverse backgrounds a level playing field in the competitive selection process for the editorial positions.

2. Editorial Review Process

All editors and members of the journal’s team are required to take the Indian version of Implicit Association Test so as to identify and rectify various manifestations of unconscious bias. Primarily, the editorial team focusses on mitigating unconscious bias on the basis of caste, race, gender and age. The journal follows a rigorous double blind peer review process where complete anonymity about the identity of the author is maintained. The editorial team regularly conducts internal briefings to raise awareness about unconscious bias. The team also periodically review the individual and team efforts to eliminate unconscious bias.

3. Workshop/ Symposia Opportunities

The journal organizes a number of academic workshops and research symposiums every year. The editorial board endeavours to discuss diverse themes and issues with a special emphasis on issues that are marginalised in the mainstream legal discourse. Considering the exclusionary socio-economic and gender barriers preventing the participation of scholars from marginalised backgrounds, the editorial board covers the full cost of air travel, logistics and accommodation for the academicians participating in its programmes. Moreover, the editorial board is committed to take positive steps to reach out to presenters and speakers from marginalised backgrounds in order to prevent unconscious bias and enrich the academic engagements . Towards that end, it maintains a list of academics and professionals from marginalised backgrounds, while accounting for intersectionality.

4. Citational Practices

In view of the emerging evidence of under-representation of female and minority scholars in academic scholarship, the NLSIR is committed to ensure just and fair intellectual acknowledgement through citations, regardless of race, gender, class, professional standing, or other categorical attributes. To that end, our submission guidelines specifically mention the need for inclusive citational practices on part of the authors. We also require our editors and peer reviewers to be cognizant of the representativeness of citational practices manifested in the submissions.

5. Peer Reviewers

The NLSIR Peer Review Policy provides for the positive duty of the editorial board to invite a representative cohort of peer reviewers or referees with due regard to gender and social diversity.

6. Further Information

The Journal has its own official website on https://nlsir.com with information about the aims and scope, members of the editorial board and advisory board, the publishing process, editorial policy, peer review policy, diversity policy, subscriptions, and contact information.

Any queries or complaints regarding the information provided above or otherwise may be addressed to the Editor-in-Chief at kopalmital@nls.ac.in.

7. References

Unconscious bias < https://www.elsevier.com/open-science/science-and-society/unconscious-bias > accessed 11 July 2020.
Cambridge Global Constitutionalism Manuscript Submissions < https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/global-constitutionalism/call-for-papers> accessed 12 July 2020.
Harvard Implicit Association Test – India < https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/india/takeatest.html > accessed 31 August 2020.
Gender Bias in Peer Review < https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2017/11/01/gender-bias-peer-review-interview-brooks-hanson-jory lerback/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ScholarlyKitchen+%28The+Scholarly+Kitchen%29> accessed 13 July 2020.