The Indian Arbitration Law Review (“Journal”) is an annual double-blind peer-reviewed journal of the National Law Institute University, Bhopal (NLIU).
Submissions for scholarly, original and unpublished written works from people across the legal profession — students, academicians and practitioners, are invited, to be published in Volume 8 of the Journal.
About The Journal
The Indian Arbitration Law Review is a specialised periodical, devoted exclusively to arbitration law, which offers legal professionals, academicians and students an up-to-date review of the field. The Journal is published by EBC and indexed on SCC Online as well as HeinOnline. Published pieces include long articles, short articles, case comments, and book reviews on the law and practice relating to arbitration.
About The University
Situated at Bhopal, the capital city of the State of Madhya Pradesh, NLIU was established by Act No. 41 of 1997 of the State Legislature. NLIU is a premier law school of the country. Apart from imparting quality legal education, NLIU encourages and fosters a culture of research and critique in varied areas of law. The University currently publishes four other law journals — Indian Law Review, NLIU Journal of Intellectual Property Law, NLIU Journal of Business Laws and NLIU Law Review.
Sub-Themes
The Journal welcomes submissions on any of the following sub-themes:
- India’s Draft Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2024: A Critical Analysis of Proposed Appellate Mechanisms and Judicial Modification of Arbitral Awards in Light of Gayatri Balasamy Judgement.1
- WTO’s Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration: Analysing its implications for third-party states, treaty interpretation and investor-state overlap.
- Analysing the interplay between the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 in parallel proceedings.
- Arbitration of Disputes involving the Securities and Exchange Board of India in furtherance of their Online Dispute Resolution System.
- The advent of Tax Arbitration to determine tax obligations and enforcement of clauses in treaties.
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Emerging requirement for a framework to address cross-border aviation disputes with a shift in reliance on the ICAO Council to ad hoc and private arbitration mechanisms for civil aviation dispute resolution.
Note: The above sub-themes are only illustrative, and the Journal would welcome submissions on any topic related to arbitration.
Categories For Submission
Submissions can be made under the following categories:
Long Articles (4000-8000 words*): The article must be a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of a contemporary issue in arbitration law and should include references to a range of sources and contributions in the form of alternatives and suggestions.
Short Articles (2000-4000 words*): The article must be an analysis of a contemporary issue in arbitration law and should include a reference to a range of sources and contributions in the form of alternatives and suggestions.
Case Comments (1500-4000 words*): The comment must be an analysis of a recent judgment, bringing out its relevance in light of the development of arbitration law, views expressed in the judgment and the opinion(s) of the author.
Book Reviews (1000-3000 words*): The review must be a crisp account of a recently published book on arbitration, including the issues explored and related arguments of the author.
*The word limit is exclusive of footnotes and abstract. The prescribed word limit may be relaxed up to 10%, at the discretion of the Editorial Board.
Guidelines For Submission
- Submissions are accepted only in the English language.
- All articles must be accompanied by an abstract not exceeding 300 words. Case Comments and Book Reviews do not need abstracts.
- The abstract must expressly include the novelty and usefulness of the idea that the author wishes to put forth and must categorically mention the specific contribution of the article beyond the existing available literature.
- Co-authorship (with no cap on authors) is permitted for all articles.
- The manuscript should not contain any references to the identity of the authors. However, authors are allowed to cite their previous published work.
- The body of the manuscript should be in Times New Roman, Font Size 12 and 1.5-line spacing.
- The footnotes should be in Times New Roman, Font Size 10 and single line spacing.
- The citations must conform to the style of OSCOLA (4th Edition) — Key available here.
- Manuscripts should only use footnotes as a means of citation. No other method shall be permitted.
- Substantive footnotes are permissible.
- Kindly submit your manuscript through the Google Form available here. The submissions must be sent by 11:59 pm, September 10, 2025.
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IALR accepts manuscripts on a rolling basis. Manuscripts received after the deadline shall be considered for publication in Volume 9.
Parameters For Evaluation
All manuscripts shall only proceed to content evaluation after clearing a strict and thorough plagiarism check.
Stages Of Content Review:
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Grammar/Language
The evaluation shall not only be limited to errors in grammar and punctuation but extend to the quality of language. The style of writing must be academic, and the language used must reflect it.
Furthermore, the structuring of sentences and manner of communication is crucial. The language can neither be too simplistic nor too complicated and redundant.
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Structure/Logical Coherence
Whether or not the author has employed a consistent flow throughout the entire manuscript will be evaluated. The arguments and assertions made by the author(s), must be systematically underlined and have logical and legal coherence.
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Contribution to Existing Literature
The author(s) must consider what is the contribution of the manuscript to the general discussion. Merely quoting precedents to talk about a particular topic would be inadequate. On the other hand, writing more innovatively and originally would be appreciated.
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Contemporary Relevance
IALR aims to publish manuscripts discussing topics of contemporary and recent legal scholarship or topics, which include a unique perspective. This criterion is both objective, as well as subjective. The author must highlight in the manuscript that the purpose of such a topic is of legal or socio-economic relevance in the current scenario.
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Referencing & Research
Referencing is the most objective criteria; however, the quality of authorities is of greater importance than quantity. Quality is generally indicated through preference given to academic authorities such as books, journals, treaties, case law, etc., as opposed to newspaper articles and blogs. In terms of quantity, both over-citation, as well as a thorough lack, must be avoided.
Copyright Policy
The author agrees to give the Indian Arbitration Law Review all the necessary rights to produce, distribute and publish the manuscript, including but not limited to offline or online media.
Contact Details
In case of any queries, kindly drop an email at ialr@nliu.ac.in or contact:
Akhila Hebbar, Editor-in-Chief: +91-6366164006
Divyank Dewan, Managing Editor: +91-9818813438
1. Gayatri Balasamy v. ISG Novasoft Technologies Limited (2025 INSC 605).
