BDLD Journal (Bangladesh Law Digest) Author Guidelines
A peer-reviewed, open-access legal journal committed to rigorous scholarly discourse on domestic, comparative, and international law.
Aim and Scope
Aim
The Bangladesh Law Digest (BDLD) is a peer-reviewed, open-access scholarly journal dedicated to advancing legal scholarship, with a primary focus on Bangladesh and its legal, institutional, and socio-political context. It seeks to situate Bangladesh's legal developments within broader South Asian, Global South, and international perspectives. The Journal serves legal scholars, academic researchers, postgraduate students, judges, legal practitioners, and policymakers. It promotes critical engagement with legal doctrine, jurisprudence, institutions, and practice, fostering comparative and interdisciplinary perspectives that deepen understanding of law and justice and contribute to legal development and policy debates.
Scope
The Journal welcomes original, unpublished manuscripts across a broad range of legal disciplines, including Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Criminal Law, Human Rights Law, International Law, Refugee and Migration Law, Environmental and Climate Law, Corporate and Commercial Law, Labour Law, Technology and Cyber Law, Legal Theory and Jurisprudence, Comparative Law, and Law Reform and Public Policy.
BDLD particularly welcomes research examining Bangladesh's legal framework and practice, comparative analyses connecting Bangladesh with South Asian, Global South, or other jurisdictions, and studies addressing legal issues of regional or international significance. The Journal also considers standalone research on international law, foreign legal systems, and global legal developments where the manuscript makes a clear contribution to legal scholarship. Submissions are especially encouraged to offer critical, comparative, interdisciplinary, or policy-oriented analysis.
Accepted manuscript types
| Category | Word count |
|---|---|
| Research Articles | 6,000 – 10,000 words (excluding footnotes/references) |
| Case Notes / Comments | 2,000 – 4,000 words |
| Legislative Reviews | 2,000 – 4,000 words |
| Short Articles | 3,000 – 6,000 words |
| Book Reviews | 1,000 – 2,500 words |
Strict Word Limit Enforcement: Manuscripts crossing the prescribed word limits will be desk-rejected during preliminary editorial screening.
Peer review
| Stage | Duration |
|---|---|
| Desk review | 1 week |
| Peer review | 6 weeks |
| Decision | 1 week |
| Revisions (if requested) | 2 weeks |
The Editorial Board may reject a submission at preliminary screening, before it reaches reviewers. Full process: Peer Review Policy.
- The manuscript crosses the prescribed word limits; or
- The abstract exceeds 200 words; or
- Citations and references are inaccurate, incomplete, or not properly formatted in strict compliance with the OSCOLA (5th Edition) guidelines.
Formatting checklist
- Body textTimes New Roman, Size 12, 1.5 spacing, justified.
- FootnotesTimes New Roman, Size 10, 1.0 spacing, justified. Numbered consecutively, one full stop at the end of each footnote.
- Style guideFollow British English. You can follow the Oxford University Style Guide.
- CitationsStrictly follow OSCOLA 5th Edition (Hart 2026) as outlined in Clause 05 below. Citations that are not accurate or well-formatted per OSCOLA 5th guidelines will be desk-rejected. Zero ibid.; short-form cross-references only. Use the auto-citation generator.
- File formatMicrosoft Word documents (.doc or .docx).
OSCOLA citation & referencing guide
BDLD Journal applies the Oxford Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA 5th Edition, Hart Publishing 2026). To facilitate indexing on Crossref and Google Scholar, all submissions must comply with the rules below.
Latin shortcuts retired: never use ibid., supra, or op. cit.
The 5th edition eliminates Latin shortcuts. If you cite a source again, use a concise short title and point back to the first footnote number:
Cases (Bangladesh & UK)
Case names are always italicised (in both main text and footnotes). The rest of the citation stays upright (plain roman). Courts in brackets for pre-neutral decisions (e.g. AD, HCD).
- BD Case: Anwar Hossain Chowdhury v Bangladesh (1989) 41 DLR (AD) 165.
- BD Pinpoint: Secretary, Ministry of Finance v Masdar Hossain (2000) 52 DLR (AD) 82, 90.
- UK Neutral + Report: Corr v IBC Vehicles Ltd [2008] UKHL 13, [2008] 1 AC 884 [21].
- India Case: Noor Aga v State of Punjab (2008) 16 SCC 417 [58]–[60].
Constitution & Legislation
Statute names stay upright (never italics). No periods in abbreviations (s not s., art not art.).
- Constitution: Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, art 70.
- Statute + Section: Code of Civil Procedure 1908, s 115(1).
- UK Statute: Human Rights Act 1998, s 3(1)(a).
- Subsequent mentions: Repeat short title + section only:
Code of Civil Procedure 1908, s 115.(Do not use n X for statutes).
Books & Journal Articles (DOIs mandatory)
Forename Surname in footnotes; book titles in italics; journal titles in ‘single quotes’. Include full volume, issue, first page, and active https://doi.org/... for Crossref.
- Book: Mahmudul Islam, Constitutional Law of Bangladesh (3rd edn, Mullick Brothers 2012) 145.
- Journal Article: Md Arif Rayhan, ‘Ensuring Comprehensive Justice for Rape Victims in Bangladesh: A Socio-Legal Study’ (2022) 20(1) BJL 141, 145 https://doi.org/10.5281/xxxxxx.xxxxxx.
- Subsequent: Rayhan (n 7) 148.
Digital Sources & Treaties
Digital sources use day month year (no commas). Treaty titles stay upright (never italics), followed by adoption/in-force dates and UNTS series.
- Website / Blog: Abu Hasnat Thuhin, ‘Article 70 of the Bangladesh Constitution: Anti-Defection Law & Democratic Reform’ (Bangladesh Law Digest, 5 July 2026) <https://bdlawdigest.org/article-70-reform> accessed 17 July 2026.
- Treaty: International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (adopted 16 December 1966, entered into force 23 March 1976) 999 UNTS 171 (‘ICCPR’) art 6.
Cardinal punctuation rules
| Rule | Correct (✓) | Incorrect (✗) |
|---|---|---|
| Every footnote ends with a full stop | Anwar Hossain (n 4) 178. | Anwar Hossain (n 4) 178 |
| No dots inside abbreviations | art 70 · s 115 · DLR (AD) · v | art. 70 · s. 115 · D.L.R. (A.D.) · v. |
| No full stop in the bibliography | Islam M, Constitutional Law of Bangladesh (3rd edn, Mullick Brothers 2012) | ...Mullick Brothers 2012). |
Mandatory end-matter structure (3 distinct tables)
Do not merge cases, statutes, and secondary sources into a single unorganised list. Every manuscript must conclude with three separate, clearly titled sections:
Table of Cases
- Anwar Hossain Chowdhury v Bangladesh (1989) 41 DLR (AD) 165
- Corr v IBC Vehicles Ltd [2008] UKHL 13, [2008] 1 AC 884
- Secretary, Ministry of Finance v Masdar Hossain (2000) 52 DLR (AD) 82
Table of Legislation and Treaties
- Code of Civil Procedure 1908
- Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (adopted 16 December 1966, entered into force 23 March 1976) 999 UNTS 171
- Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 2012 (Bangladesh), Act No 4 of 2012
Bibliography (Secondary Literature Only)
- Hoque R, Judicial Activism in Bangladesh: A Golden Mean Approach (Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2011)
- Islam M, Constitutional Law of Bangladesh (3rd edn, Mullick Brothers 2012)
- Rayhan MA, ‘Ensuring Comprehensive Justice for Rape Victims in Bangladesh: A Socio-Legal Study’ (2022) 20(1) BJL 141 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.xxxxxx
Automated Research Linking: On bdlawdigest.org, references with valid DOIs automatically generate a clickable CrossRef button, and all citations generate a Google Scholar direct source button. Providing active DOIs in your bibliography is mandatory.
Title page & anonymisation
Title page (separate file)
Title, author's full name, institutional affiliation, designation, ORCID (if available), email, and a short biography (50–100 words).
Manuscript file
No author name, affiliation, acknowledgements, or self-citations that would identify you. Use Author (n.d.) for self-citations and strip identifying file metadata.
Abstract & keywords
An abstract of 150–200 words stating the research question, methodology, key findings, and contribution, plus 4–6 keywords. Note: Abstracts exceeding 200 words will be desk-rejected.
Policies & fees
Originality
Submissions must be original, unpublished, and not under consideration elsewhere. Plagiarism, including self-plagiarism, means immediate rejection. Full policy: Publication Ethics.
Research Ethics & IRB Clearance
Manuscripts involving empirical socio-legal fieldwork, interviews, or human participants must declare ethical compliance. Authors can obtain independent review and ethics clearance via the Council for Legal Ethics and Academic Review (CLEAR).
AI use
Permitted for language editing and research assistance; authors remain fully responsible for accuracy. AI tools cannot be listed as authors. Disclose substantial use. Full policy: AI Use Policy.
Copyright
Authors retain copyright and grant BDLD Journal (Bangladesh Law Digest) a non-exclusive licence to publish and archive electronically. Full policy: Copyright Policy.
Fees
No charge at any stage: submission, review, or publication.
Submit your manuscript
Prepare the following as separate files:
- Anonymised manuscript
- Title page (with author details)
- Declaration of originality
- Conflict of interest statement (if applicable)
- Ethical clearance certificate / protocol notice from CLEAR (if involving empirical human participant fieldwork)
BDLD accepts manuscript submissions exclusively through its online submission system. Manuscripts submitted by email will not be considered for review.
All accepted manuscripts are assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) upon publication.
Submit manuscript