Author Guidelines

Athena does not accept simultaneuos submissions and multiple submissions.

The Author's Guidelines are also available in the pdf version.

A) Submission Process

Athena accepts submissions of original scholarly work that has not been previously published or concurrently submitted to other journals. The Journal welcomes interdisciplinary contributions that address globalization's challenges and global concerns from multiple perspectives, including legal, philosophical, historical, political, and social approaches (see Focus and Scope). Manuscripts may present original theoretical research or revised versions of papers presented at academic conferences. All submissions must be made exclusively through the OJS platform, completing the required 5-step submission process.

Prospective authors are requested to observe the following specifications for each editorial section:

Thematica: between 9,000 and 15,000 words (including abstract, footnotes, and references), corresponding to approximately 90,000 characters.

Miscellanea: between 9,000 and 15,000 words (including abstract, footnotes, and references), corresponding to approximately 90,000 characters.

Conference Papers: between 7,000 and 15,000 words.

Book Reviews: maximum 5,000 words (including abstract, footnotes, and references), corresponding to approximately 30,000 characters.

All submissions must conform to the Journal's guidelines concerning Minimum Formatting Requirements, Footnotes and References, and Punctuation (see sections B, C, and D below).

Submission metadata must be supplied in a separate document and include the following information:

1. For each author: given name, family name, institutional email address, ORCID identifier (where available), institutional affiliation, country 
2. Manuscript title
3. Abstract (100–150 words)
4. Minimum of 5 (five) keywords, 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 postprint version (provided with inactive doi). An article published online is therefore complete and has the authors' final corrections.

B) Minimum Formatting

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

The text should be 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. not in Italic.

Introduction and Conclusion must not be numbered.

No footnote is admissible for paragraph titles.

Short quotations (<40 words or less or equal than three lines) 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 or more than three lines) should be separated by a single space 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.

Epigraph or exergue citations can only be put before the Introduction and should be no longer than 5 lines; must be formatted in Italic, aligned to the right and within double inverted commas (“ ”). No other epigraph citation will be allowed.

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 British 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. The Editorial Committee can provide only a proofreading of the paper; no translation service will be provided.

Authors are always called to make a complete language review before submitting the paper; no language review will be provided by the Editorial Committee.

C) References in the Text, 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) References in the Text

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 ibid.) (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 must be kept to a minimum, avoiding citing bibliographical references therein; they can be used for citing legal or political document or web materials.

- 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”.

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

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

Corte costituzionale, 25 luglio 1995, n. 376.

- Web materials should be cited as follows:

 Documents from an institution or entity: Name of institution or entity, ‘Title’, Publishing date, URL;

 Newspapers and Blogs: ‘Title’, Name of newspaper/blog, Publishing date, URL.

c3) References

Only the references reported in the essay must be included in final references. If the author enters other titles, these will be removed. References to works of the same author must be enlisted from the most recent to the most dated back. A full stop must be placed at the end of the reference:

• Books

- Author's surname, dotted (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 editors too: MacCormick N. and Weinberger O., eds. (1986), An Institutional Theory of Law: New Approaches to Legal Positivism (Springer).

In case of more than two authors, a "," must be put at the end of every author's name and before the following one; do not put the punctuation before the "and".

• Chapters in multi-authored books

- Indicate the first page of the author contribution in the volume;

- Author surname, dotted (year). title of article, in name(s) of editor(s) (eds.), title of volume (in italics) (publisher), first page: Enoch D. (2018). Non-Naturalistic Realism in Metaethics, in T. McPherson and D. Plunkett (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Metaethics (Routledge), X .

• Chapters in books by the same author

- Author's surname, dotted (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).

• Contributions in Journals

- Indicate the first page of the author’s contribution in journal.

- Author's surname, dotted (year). article title, journal name (in italics), journal number or volume, first page: Leiter B. (1999). Positivism, Formalism, Realism, in Columbia Law Review, n. 99, X.

- If two or more articles by the same author have the same year of publication, they must be differentiated by adding a letter (a, b, c, …) after the year: Leiter B. (1998a). Realism, Hard Positivism, and Conceptual Analysis, in Legal Theory, n. 533, X; Leiter B. (1998b). Closet Dualism and Mental Causation, in Canadian Journal of Philosophy, n. 161, X; Leiter B. (1998c). Incommensurability: Truth or Consequences?, in University of Pennsylvania Law Review, n. 146, X.

• Encyclopaedia entries

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

- Author surname, dotted (year). title article, in Encyclopaedia title (in italics), vol., (publisher): Alexy R. (1996). Legal Interpretation, in Encyclopaedia of social sciences, vol. XXI (Treccani).

• Articles and Encyclopaedia entries from website

- Author surname, dotted (year). article title, name of the encyclopaedia or site hosting the paper (in italics), address of the article site (not underlined): Alexy R. (1996). Interpretazione giuridica, in Enciclopedia Treccani delle science sociali, https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/interpretazione-giuridica_(Enciclopedia-delle-scienze-sociali)/. 

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

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

d2) Hyphens (for incisions in a sentence)

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

d3) Punctuation

When citing a quotation, commas precede the indication of author’s name-year in brackets, as follows: “Lorem ipsum…” (Dworkin, 2011)

Punctuation of a sentence must not be inserted within the quotation marks, but always follow them: “Lorem ipsum…”, or “Lorem ipsum…”.