Author Guidelines

The Author's Guidelines are also available in the pdf version (coming soon)

A) Submission

Papers for submission will only be considered if not previously published in English or submitted simultaneously to other journals. It could range from draft studies on a single topic to papers presented at a conference. The copyright owns to the author (see the Copyright Notice on the bottom of the page).

Please, refer to the below-mentioned details for each editorial section you are going to submit to:

Articles: should not be longer than 15,000 words (including abstract, notes and references) and about 90,000 characters;

Miscellanea: should not be longer than 15,000 words (including abstract, notes and references) and about 90,000 characters;

Conference Papers: should not be longer than 15,000 words and about 90,000 characters;

Book Reviews: should not be longer than 5,000 words (including abstract, notes and references) and about 30,000 characters.

Authors must submit their manuscripts within the OJS platform, using the 5 steps submission process. When asked in a Call for Papers, they can follow the provided instructions or alternatively they can submit their abstracts by sending in an attachment (.doc/.docx/.rtf) to athena@unibo.it (please insert luigi.sammartino2@unibo.it and francesco.cavinato2@unibo.it in cc). Manuscripts submitted to Athena will be reviewed by external referees on an anonymous basis.

The manuscript file must contain the main text, without the author’s name under the title, in notes and references (it should be substituted with ***). Also, the document’s properties must not contain the author’s name or other personal details, using the anonymizing functions provided by the different software (see also Ensuring a Blind Review).

The anonymous manuscript will be uploaded at step 2 of the submission process. The manuscript must comply with the guidelines about Formatting, Footnotes and References and Puntuaction.

Submission metadata will be provided at step 3 of the submission process, and must include the following:

1. For each author of the manuscript: first name and last name, email, ORCID (if available), institutional affiliation, country, and a brief biographical note (50-100 words).
2. Title
3. Abstract (100-150 words)
4. Five keywords (at least), separated by semicolons

Manuscripts after passing the peer-review stage will be published online. Currently, Athena does not adopt a single-article publication process but it releases the whole issue with all accepted manuscripts. However, Authors may request to Editorial Office (athena@unibo.it) a preprint version (provided with inactive doi). An article published online is therefore complete and has the authors' final corrections.

B) Formatting

Submission files should be in Microsoft Word file format, or equivalent formats (OpenOffice, RTF).

The text should be double-spaced or 1,5-point spaces and use a 12-point font (Times New Roman).

Paragraph titles must be numbered using the Arabic numeral system and must be in bold. Numbering must have a maximum of two levels. The numbering of sub-levels must be pointed in decimal as the following: 1.1, 1.2, etc. (in italic). If a third level is needed, it must be indicated as the following: 1.1.1, 1.1.2, etc.

Short quotations (<40 words) should be enclosed in double quotation marks (“ ”) and run on with the main text. For a quotation within a quotation, single quotation marks should be used (‘ ’). Longer quotations (>40 words) should be separated by 10 pts of layout before and after the quoted text with a 1-cm margin on the right and on the left and should not be enclosed within quotation marks. If citing a translated quotation, please indicated in the note in which language the original text was written.

All the links and URL addresses in the text must be activated and ready to click. Please ensure the link is active and functioning.

Articles must be written in standard English language appropriate to your discipline.  Every author must cure the language and proofreading at first instance. Papers may be rejected if they are not written in good English, and no translation or language editing will be done by the Editorial Committee.

C) Notes, Footnotes, and References

As a general guideline, every reference must be cited in this way within simple brackets in the text: author’s last name, year, page. At the end of the paper, a list of cited bibliographical reference must be included.

c1) Notes. Footnotes must be kept to a minimum, while the author-date system should be used throughout the text, incorporating references as follows:

• right after the author’s name or at the end of the sentence: “Dworkin (1982, 23) argues…” or “…jurisprudence (Dworkin 1982, 23)”;
• if two publications by the same author in two different years are used as a source (at the end of the sentence): (Dworkin 1982, 1987);
• if two years by the same author with the related pages (at the end): (Dworkin 1982, 23; Dworkin 1985, 54);
• In-text citation: “The hierarchical structure of the legal order of a State is roughly as follows…” (Kelsen, 1949, 124);
• if reference is made to more than one author as a source (at the end): (Dworkin 1985, 23; MacCormick 1998, 18);
• if two or more works by the same author in the same year, they should be distinguished with a, b, c, etc.: (Dworkin 1985a, 1985b);
• If there are two or more authors:

Kelsen and Ross (1952, 12); or, at the end of the sentence, (Kelsen and Ross 1952, 12).

Kelsen, Ross, and Hart (2021, 640); or, at the end, (Kelsen, Ross, and Hart 1952, 640);

• If it refers to the same text, it is possible to use it in the text or in the note following the one where the author and year have been indicated: (Ibidem or ibidem) (in italics).
• If the translation is personal, please make it explicit with the tag "my translation":

“The various forms of civil disobedience still need to be distinguished…” (Bobbio, 1985, 250; my translation).

c2) Footnotes.

• Footnotes for books or articles should only be added if there are comments or specifications (year and page(s) should be in brackets):

“Dworkin (1985, 23) where the author argues for a renovation of western approach”;

“Dworkin (1985, 23) which analyzes the question starting from international law”.

• must always be entered when citing judgments (according to the national modes of citation):

Gompers v. United States, 233 U.S. 604 (1905).

Corte costituzionale 25 luglio 1995, n. 376.

c3) References. Only the books and articles reported in the essay must be included in final references. If the author enters other titles, these will be removed. A full stop must be placed at the end of the reference:

(I) Books:

• Author's surname, dotted name. (year of edition). Title in italics (Publisher):
  Hart H.L.A. (1961). The Concept of Law (Oxford University Press);
• In case of translations, it is not required to indicate the translator;
• If you want to indicate the 1^st edition:

Hart H.L.A. (1994). The Concept of Law (1961) (Oxford University Press);

• With two or more authors:

Deleuze G., and Guattari F. (1980). Mille Plateaux (Éditions de Minuit);

• If authors are the editors too:

MacCormick N., and Weinberger O., eds. (1986), An Institutional Theory of Law

New Approaches to Legal Positivism (Springer).

(II) Chapters in multi-authored books:

• Pages of the author's contribution in the volume should not be indicated;
• Author surname, dotted name. (year). title of article, in name(s) of editor(s) (eds.), title of volume (in italics) (publisher):

Enoch D. (2018). Non-Naturalistic Realism in Metaethics, in T. McPherson, and D. Plunkett (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Metaethics (Routledge).

(III) Chapters in books by the same author:

• Author's surname, dotted name. (year). title of article, in title of volume (in italics) (publisher):

MacCormick N. (1986). Law as Institutional Fact, in An Institutional Theory of Law - New Approaches to Legal Positivism (Springer).

(IV) Contributions in Journals:

• Pages of the author's contribution in the journal should not be indicated.
• Author's surname, dotted name. (year). article title, journal name (in italics), journal number or volume:

Leiter B. (1999). Positivism, Formalism, Realism, in Columbia Law Review, n. 99.

• If two or more articles by the same author have the same year of publication, they must be differentiated by adding an a, b, and so on after the year:

Leiter B. (1998a). Realism, Hard Positivism, and Conceptual Analysis, in Legal Theory, n. 533;

Leiter B. (1998b). Closet Dualism and Mental Causation, in Canadian Journal of Philosophy, n.161;

Leiter B. (1998c). Incommensurability: Truth or Consequences?, in University of Pennsylvania Law Review, n.146.

(V) Encyclopaedia entries:

• The pages of the author's contribution in the encyclopaedia should not be indicated;

• Author surname, dotted name. (year). title article, in Encyclopaedia title (in italics), vol., (publisher):

Alexy R. (1996). Legal Interpretation, in Encyclopaedia of social sciences, vol. XXI (Treccani).

(VI) Articles and Encyclopaedia entries from websites:

• Author surname, dotted name. (year). article title, name of the encyclopaedia or site hosting the paper (in italics), address of the article site (not underlined):

Alexy R. (1996). Legal Interpretation, in Treccani Encyclopaedia of social sciences, www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/interpretazione-giuridica_%28Enciclopedia-delle-scienze-sociali%29/o.

For other reference criteria (namely, for legal materials), Authors must refer to the Chicago Bluebook Citation Guidelines (to be found here: Introduction - Bluebook Guide - Guides at Georgetown Law Library).

D) Inverted Commas, Hyphens, and Punctuation

d1) Inverted Commas

• Only double inverted commas (“ ”) and not (« »); For a quotation within a quotation, single inverted commas (‘ ’) within double inverted commas.

d2) Hyphens (for incisions in a sentence):

• Must be: – (space before and after) and not: - .

d3)  Punctuation

• commas and periods precede closing quotation marks ((unless there is a later quote; in this case “...” (Dworkin 2011), or (Dworkin 2011). Colons and semicolons follow them.