Submissions and Author Guidelines

An overview of the focal topics of the upcoming eucrim issues is provided in this pdf document.

Note: Bear in mind that it is also a pleasure for us to receive articles/contributions outside the thematic priority areas. We gladly publish interesting contributions that provide information on unique developments in your country, debate a hotly discussed topic, comment on court decisions, report on a conference, etc.

Eucrim accepts articles in English (BE spelling), French and German.

All articles - also those written in French and German - must include an abstract in English (see for further details below "What do I need to consider in general?")

• Please use our template for eucrim articles: Microsoft WORD document template (eucrim-article-template-2023.dotx)
• Send in the text by this WORD-document by emailing to info@eucrim.eu
• Eucrim regularly publishes articles with a personal author's photo. If desired, the photo of the author(s) should be submitted in digital format as jpg. file and in high-resolution. For technical details of sending high-volume photo files, please refer to the section How to submit photo files below;
• We kindly request you to give us the full name (including titles) and affiliation of all authors.
• Note: We provide separate templates for conference reports and event/conference announcements. See below "Can I submit a conference report?" and "Can I submit an event/a conference announcement".

• The text of an article should be a maximum of around 30.000-35.000 characters including spaces; this corresponds to approximately six to seven pages in Microsoft WORD;
• Please use endnotes instead of footnotes;
• The text should be written in English (using BE spelling), French or German;
• An abstract must be provided for all articles; it is designed as a teaser for attracting readers and give a first impression of your contribution. Therefore, the abstract should summarise the subject matter of your article, the objective/purpose of your article, the main lines of arguments and the main conclusions. The abstract should be written in English (also for articles in French and German!) and have a length of maximum 2.000 characters including spaces.
• Please structure the main text as follows:

I. [Roman numeral first] - Title in Capital Letters

1. [Arabic numeral as second layer] - Title in lowercase letters

a) [lower case character as third layer] - Title in lowercase letters

• Formats: The template provides several style sheets that should be used throughout the article. The "normal" text should be written using "Standard" style sheet in WORD. The template additionally provides style sheets for the abstract, headings, listings (bullet points), quotations, emphazise, and affiliations. The style sheet "emphazise" for very important text, terms or notions should be used thriftily.
• Italics should be used for Latin terms and notions (e.g.: inter alia), names in the main text (e.g.: According to Advocate General Juliane Kokott, ...), and court case names (e.g.: The CJEU held in Dorobantu that...). Terms and notions in foreign language in English articles should also be in italics and translated if possible, e.g.: According to the German Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht),.... Acronyms of the terms/notions should not be in italics (e.g.: BVerfG).
• Authors may include disclaimers (e.g. that the views expressed in the article are not those of the body they are affiliated with) or may acknowledge individuals or organisations that provided advice, support (non-financial). Formal financial support and funding should be indicated. Disclaimers and acknowledgments should be indicated in an asterix (*) note separate from the numbered endnotes. For statements on the use of Artificial Intelligence tools in the processing of the manuscript, see accordion "How is eucrim's position towards Artificial Intelligence tools?" below.
• Authors are asked to make sure their typescript is carefully checked and finalised particularly with regard to internal cross referencing and the citation of references. If the author's first language is not English, he/she should ensure that the final draft is carefully checked by a native speaker of English, for accuracy and language style.

• Please use endnotes for your article;
• The reference number in the main text should appear after the punctuation marks in case they refer to the whole phrase and immediately after a word in case they refer to it (e.g.: According to Jescheck²,...)
• The first reference in the endnotes should conform to the following style dependent on the type of document:

• Repeating references can indicate the endnote number where the article was first cited in full length. Please cite repeating references according to the following style:
  • Independent books/Contribu­tions in edited books:
    T. Daniels and J. Maton, op. cit. (n. 5), p. 245.
  • Journal articles:
    T. Reinbacher and M. Wendel, (2016) 23 MJ, op. cit. (n. 7), 702, 708.
  • EU documents / official publications:
    COM(2000) 495 final, op. cit. (n. 8), p. 2.
    Council doc. 6643/15, op. cit. (n. 4).
  • Case law:
    ECJ, Stefano Melloni, op. cit. (n. 3), para. 54.
    BVerfG, (2013) NJW, op. cit. (n. 1), 1058, 1061.

If your article is in French, please additionally take account of the following pecularities:

Ponctuation

Concernant les points et les virgules : il n’y a pas d’espace avant mais une espace après.

Les guillemets français («_»), le point-virgule, le point d’exclamation, le point d’interrogation et les deux-points sont précédés d’un espace insécable et suivi d’une espace.

• When using abbreviations, please spell it out the first time it is used in the text with the abbreviations in parentheses;
• You can use the abbreviations as listed under: https://eucrim.eu/service/abbreviations/
• Any other abbreviations are of course possible;
• Please do not abbreviate "MS" for "Member State(s)".

All texts submitted for eucrim are subjected to a scientific and editorial review plus linguistic proofreading. Reviews are done by the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law (editors and native speakers). At a first stage, editors of eucrim make a detailed, thorough review of the text in terms of quality, comprehensibility, logic, structure, formalities etc. They also assess the impact of the contribution on the field covered. At the end of this first stage, the editors give feedback to the author on whether his/her article is accepted for publication in eucrim. In the affirmative, the text is forwarded to the MPI's editorial unit. Subsequently, at a second stage, native speakers proofread the text in terms of language (style, grammar, use of words and formulations, etc.). Both review and proofreading make suggestions to improve the text regarding content, grammar, language or style. Reviews will be made using ‘track changes’ and texts will be sent back to the author including these ‘track changes’ and comments at the side bar.

In order to ensure that we reflect the author’s opinion accurately and completely, the author will be asked to give his or her final approval before publishing the text.

The author is kindly requested to accept/refuse the track changes made and to look into the commentaries. The final version of the text should be submitted without track changes of the Max Planck Institute's staff. If the author substantially revises or adds text, he/she should indicate the amendments by track changes.

Often, email programmes automatically downsize your photo file. We recommend using the cryptshare service of the Max Planck Society. This service allows you to exchange files (including those with higher volume) easily and confidentially with staff of the MPI.

• Please visit the Internet side: https://cryptshare.mpg.de/
• Click on “Provide” (on the left top, you see a small globe by which you can choose the language between English and German).
• In the next step you must provide your contact details. This is necessary in order the system can send this data to the recipient of your message to allow them to get in touch with you.
• You will get a verification code via e-mail that you have to enter in the next step of cryptshare. Click “next”.
• Now, you must enter the recipient e-mail-address "t.wahl@csl.mpg.de" and you can upload your data file. Click “next”.
• You must further code the sending of the files by providing a password. Click “next”.
• Start the transfer.
• Provide the password to the recipient by including it in a separate email to: "t.wahl@csl.mpg.de"
• In the end, the managing editor of eucrim will get an automated email and can retrieve your file within a certain time period by using the submitted password. After retrieval or termination of the time period, the data are automatically deleted.

After the final author's consent and the submission of the final text, the article will first be published online on the eucrim website. This publication includes a citable doi number and the URL that can be shared with all interested in persons. In addition, the article will be published in the journal. The journal is published in pdf format on the eucrim website and as hard copy.

Eucrim welcomes conference reports. In order to facilitate publication of this type of documents, authors can use the template for download "Eucrim Post Conference Report Form" (Microsoft WORD).

Eucrim welcomes announcements for conferences, seminars, webinars, workshops, summer schools etc. that are within the remit of its mission. Events will exclusively be published on the eucrim website. If wished, event organisers can fill in the template for download "Eucrim PRE Conference Announcement Form" (Microsoft WORD).

Eucrim does not publish book reviews.

The use of artificial intelligence tools, such as ChatGPT or Large Language Models, can help as part of the research process. However, the use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process cannot qualify for authorship. Respective manuscripts will be screened and rejected. Such AI tools can neither be listed as author or co-author nor be cited as an author. Authors should only use these technologies to improve readability and language. Applying the technology should be done with human oversight and control, and authors should carefully review and edit the result, as AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete or biased. Authors are fully responsible for the content of their manuscript, even those parts produced by an AI tool, and are thus liable for any breach of publication ethics.

The use of AI tools in the writing of a manuscript, production of images or graphical elements of the paper, or in the collection and analysis of data, must be transparently disclosed. This disclosure must be made both in writing to the managing editor and in the acknowledgements section of manuscripts ("asterix note") or, if suitable, in the description of the methodology part of the article.

Example of a Statement: "During the preparation of this work the author(s) used [NAME TOOL / SERVICE] in order to [REASON]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the publication."

Note: This declaration does not apply to the use of basic tools for checking grammar, spelling, references etc.