Withdrawal of Manuscript

Withdrawal of Manuscript Policy — Selaparang: Journal of Law Studies (SEJALS)

Selaparang: Journal of Law Studies (SEJALS) is dedicated to maintaining an efficient and respectful editorial workflow for authors, peer reviewers, and editors. Because the review process consumes significant academic resources and time from volunteer reviewers and editorial board members, the withdrawal of a submitted manuscript is governed by the following guidelines:

1. Author-Initiated Withdrawal Before Peer Review

  • Pre-Review Stage: Authors may request to withdraw their manuscript without penalty at any time during the initial screening process (before the manuscript is formally assigned to external reviewers).
  • Notification Requirement: The corresponding author must send a formal written request via email or through the OJS system to the Managing Editor stating clear and valid reasons for the withdrawal.

2. Withdrawal During the Peer Review Process

  • Active Review Stage: Withdrawing a manuscript after it has entered the Double-Blind Peer Review stage is strongly discouraged, as it disregards the time and effort invested by external reviewers and editors.
  • Justification: Requests during this stage will only be considered under exceptional and justifiable circumstances (e.g., discovery of fatal flaws in data/analysis, ethical issues, or severe personal emergencies).
  • Formal Approval: A manuscript is not officially withdrawn until the author receives a formal confirmation of withdrawal approval from the Managing Editor. Authors may not submit the manuscript to another journal until this written confirmation is granted.

3. Unjustified or Unilateral Withdrawal

  • Unilateral withdrawal after an article has been accepted or while it is in the final editing/typesetting stage without a compelling reason is considered a breach of academic publishing ethics.
  • In cases of unjustified or improper withdrawal, the Editorial Board reserves the right to decline future submissions from the authors for a specified period.

4. Editor-Initiated Withdrawal

The Managing Editor reserves the right to withdraw a manuscript from the editorial process if:

  • The author fails to respond to editorial queries, review comments, or revision requests within the specified deadline without prior notice or extension approval.
  • Significant ethical violations, plagiarism, or duplicate submissions are detected during any stage of the review process.