Focus and Scope

„Comparative Law Review” (ISSN 0866-9449) („CLR”) is an open access, peer-reviewed and refereed international journal published by the Faculty of Law and Administration at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń (Poland) since 1989 (with some intervals). The scope of „CLR” includes both private and public law, with particular focus on comparative studies. The Editors encourage authors to submit articles and shorter notes that are interdisciplinary in nature and/or analyse a legal problem from a comparative perspective. We particularly welcome proposals elaborating on how the comparative method is applied in domestic and international law-making and jurisprudence. Consequently, we invite original contributions on public international law and EU law. By the same token, we welcome papers dealing with all fields of domestic law, legal theory and philosophy, as well as history of law.

The journal is published in both print and online versions. It is a diamond open access journal, thus the articles published in CLR are easily searchable on the Internet (via Google Scholar, BASE, etc.). The journal does not have any article processing charges (APCs), article submission charges (ASCs) and no charges for open-access policy for the authors or their institutions.  

The journal is indexed with and included in Index Copernicus Journals Master List, ERIH PLUS, CEEOL, DOAJ and SCOPUS (starting from vol. 25).

"CLR" allows the Authors to hold the copyright without any restrictions or limitations. The journal allows the Authors to retain publishing rights without any restrictions or limitations. Specific terms and conditions of a license granted by the Authors to the journal are specified in the agreement available within the online submissions.

„CLR” publishes scientific articles, case notes, commentaries, case studies and book reviews. We welcome contributions in English only.

Between 2013 and 2016 the CLR has been published bi-annually (vols. 15-22). Since 2017 CLR is a yearbook with one volume published by the end of the year. 

Peer Review Process

Comparative Law Review is a peer-reviewed journal.

The journal content is indexed in CrossCheck, the CrossRef initiative to prevent scholarly and professional plagiarism.

The aim of peer review process is to ensure that high quality and original scientific studies are published.  

All articles submitted to CLR are peer reviewed and follow the procedure outlined below:

1. initial evaluation in conducted by the Editorial Board. Manuscripts which fall outside the aim and scope of the journal or do not meet the requirements of a scientific study are rejected 

2. after initial evaluation, manuscripts are reviewed by two independent referees. Reviewers in conlcusion suggest one of the thre actions: (1) to reject the mauscript, (2) to accept for publication without changes, (3) to accept for publication subject to suggested changes and improvements

3. if a manuscript receives one negative review (with a conclusion to reject submission) it will not be proceeded further for publication

4. CLR employs double blind reviewing, where both the referee and author remain anonymous throughout the process

5. review has a written form

6. criteria according to which manuscripts are evaluated are outlined in the review form

7. a list of reviewers is published on the CLR webpage.

Anti – ghostwriting and guest authorship policy

As "ghostwriting" are qualified cases in which someone has made a substantial contribution to publication, without revealing his participation as one of the authors, or without being mentioned in the acknowledgments enclosed to the publication. "Guest authorship" ("honorary authorship") are considered situations in which the authors contribution is insignificant, despite of declaration.

In order to prevent cases of scientific misconduct the "Comparative Law Review" Editorial Board introduced a procedure protecting against cases of "ghostwriting" and "guest authorship".

Authors (contributors) are required to submit their publications with a declaration specifying contribution of individual authors to publications (with their affiliations and specific contributions).

All detected cases of "ghostwriting" and "guest authorship" will be exposed, including notifying the appropriate bodies and entities (institutions employing the authors, science societies and associations, etc.).

All detected cases of scientific misconduct, especially of unethical behavior, are documented by the Editorial Board.

Authors (contributors) are obliged to familiarize themselves with the above mentioned rules and to follow them unexceptionally.

Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

The journal is committed to upholding the ethical standards of scientific publications and takes all possible measures against any publication malpractices.

All the articles submitted for publication are peer-reviewed for authenticity, ethical issues and usefulness.

Duties of the Editorial Board:

1) Publication decisions: It is the editor who is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published. The decisions might be determined by the journal's editorial board policy or legal contraints.

2) Fair play: At any time the editor may evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to any dicriminatory factors such as race, sexual orientation, political views.

3) Confidentiality: The editor and any editorial members must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, such as scientific board and the publisher or the authorities, where appropriate.

4) Disclosure: Any Unpublished material disclosed in a submitted manuscript will not be used in an editor's own research without the express written consent of the Author.

Duties of Reviewers:

1) Contribution to Editorial Decisions,

2) Promptness: If any of the reviewers feels unqualified to assess the manuscript, they shall promptly inform the editor about that.

3) Confidentiality.

Duties of Authors:

1) Acknowledgement of Sources: Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.

2) Compliance with the laws: Authors are obliged to refrain from any third party's rights infringement.

3) Fundamental errors in published works: When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

Open Access Policy

The journal offers access to the contents in the open access system on the principles of non-exclusive license Creative Commons (CC BY-ND 4.0).

Academic Board

Associate Professor Roberto Andorno, University of Zurich

Professor Tatyana Antsupova, International Humanitarian University, Odessa

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c.mult. Jürgen Basedow, LL.M. (Harvard. Univ.)

Adjunct Professor Kathleen Lang, University of Notre Dame

Prof. dr hab. Ewa Bagińska, University of Gdańsk

Prof. dr hab. Piotr Hofmański, Jagiellonian University, International Criminal Court

Prof. dr hab. Piotr Kardas, Jagiellonian University

Prof. dr hab. Roman Kwiecień, Jagiellonian University

Professor Gabriella Mangione, University of Insubria

Professor Jim Murdoch, University of Glasgow

Associate Professor Agusitn Parise, Maastricht University

Professor Fabian Salvioli, National University of LaPlata (Argentina)

Professor Judit Sandor, Central European University

Prof. UKSW, dr hab. Marek Świerczyński, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University

Professor Brigit Toebes, University of Groningen

Prof. dr hab. Anna Wyrozumska, University of Łódź

List of Reviewers

Lists of reviewers are available in the online, as well as print version of each volume. 

Indexing and referencing

The journal is indexed with and included in Index Copernicus Journals Master List, ERIH PLUS, CEEOL, DOAJ and SCOPUS (starting from vol. 25).

The journal is published in both print and online versions. It is a fully open access journal, thus the articles published in CLR are easily searchable on the Internet (via Google Scholar, BASE, etc.). The journal does not have any article processing charges (APCs), article submission charges (ASCs) and no charges for open-access policy for the authors or their institutions.  

Journal's past Editorial Teams 

Editorial Board (2012-2016): 

Prof. dr hab. Kazimierz Lubiński - Editor-in-chief

Prof. dr hab. Tomasz Justyński

Prof dr hab. Arkadiusz Lach

Dr Kinga Bączyk-Rozwadowska

Dr Julia Kapelańska-Pręgowska

Dr Daria Gęsicka

Mgr Ewa Kabza - Editorial Assistant 

Editorial Team (2016-2020)

Prof. UMK dr hab. Michał Balcerzak - Editor-in-chief

dr Julia Kapelańska-Pręgowska 

dr Daria Gęsicka