KSLR (Kathmandu School of Law Review) is conducting its 2nd International Research Paper Writing Competition (IRPWC).
About KSLR
KSLR is a double-blind peer-reviewed, open-access and faculty-student edited flagship journal of Kathmandu School of Law.
About the Competition
KSLR is a double-blind peer-reviewed, open-access and faculty-student edited flagship journal of Kathmandu School of Law. It aspires to become one of the growth-stimulators for the budding legal scholarship in Nepal, by publishing quality and balanced contents of local, national, regional, international, and universal value. Although KSLR uses a wide-angle lens and acknowledges that its publications may be instrumental for everyone and every field of scientific inquiry, it primarily aims to be an enabling and accessible publication for scholars and professionals who have stakes in the field of law and legal studies.
To this end, KSLR conceived the IRPWC in 2020 specifically as a competitive and incentivized opportunity for emerging scholars and professionals. We believe that the 1st IRPWC, themed ‘International Order Post COVID-19’, was a prodigious stride towards our aim, to continue which, KSLR announces the commencement of the 2nd IRPWC, and invites submissions within the theme of: “Contemporary Issues in Migration Law”
Purpose
Governance of human migration has persisted as an important subject-matter for discourse. However, the COVID-19 pandemic introduced new complexities in the human movement, mobility, and migration phenomena and aggravated the existing ones. Judicious legal and policy interventions are required to protect the rights of the migrants, and to foster order and humanity in the management of migrations. We invite authors to research, critique, and provide actionable law and policy related recommendations to enhance the governance of human migration.
The IRPWC’s working definition of human migration
For the purpose of the 2nd IRPWC, human migration has an open-ended definition inclusive of any factor that induces human migration, and any continuing or new pattern of human movement, whether internal or transnational, regular or irregular, permanent or temporary, voluntary or involuntary, or of a nature that is currently unclassifiable but deserves discussion.
Sample Issues
Following is a sample (non-exhaustive list) of broader issues based on which specific topics for research may be formulated:
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Issues within the definition and classification of ‘migration’ and ‘migrants’;
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Issues within various international legal frameworks applicable to human migration. These include: human rights law, international labour standards, refugee law, the law against transnational organized crimes, environment law (notably the law on climate change), humanitarian law, international health regulation, and such;
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Relativism in law, policies and practices among states of origin, transit and destination, and the consequential gaps in protection of migrants;
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The role and functions of inter-governmental organizations and the national government(s) in managing human migration and protecting migrants;
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Accountability of non-state actors;
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Legal and policy amendments to address the disruptions in and emerging patterns of human migration in the wake of the COVID 19 pandemic.
Sample Topics
In order to justify research in any issue such as those listed above, a research paper should be limited to a specific research area and topic within the broader issue/area. Following are some examples of narrow and clear research areas derived from actual journal publications:
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A paper that builds up a conclusion that the principle of non-refoulement under human rights treaties has a broader and more protective interpretation than under the Refugee Convention.
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A paper that categorically investigates the absence, necessity and possibility of a global migration law.
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A paper that recommends policy interventions to reduce the insecurities among migrants caused by disruptions in migration as a result of COVID 19 Pandemic. It narrows down the research area by pinning on a specific theoretical approach and building upon the findings of a specific report, which in turn is limited to a comparative study on nature of migration and its governance system in 7 countries, including Nepal.
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A paper that “questions the conflation of transnational domestic work with trafficking”, at least an automatic one. In doing so, it “explores the experience of several young Nepali women who spent time in the Persian Gulf as transnational domestic workers, and argues that migration served to increase their sense of autonomy and agency”. For additional ideas for topic formulation, you may browse through the International Organization for Migration (IOM) catalogue of migration related journals, which also features law journals.
Eligibility
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The competition is open to students enrolled in bachelors, masters or Ph.D. level of studies, research scholars, and early career academicians with no more than 7 years of experience in their profession.
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A paper may have up to three authors.
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Only one submission is allowed per author.
Registration Procedure and Deadline
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Registration for the competition shall be free of cost.
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Submission of the research paper shall automatically register author(s) for the competition.
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The research paper should be submitted at https://forms.gle/N5cSCYNCN9JKfreJ9.
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The deadline for submission of the research paper, without any exception, is 20 December 2021, 11:59 PM NPT (GMT +5:45).
Formatting & Styling
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The research paper should be submitted as a Word file (.doc/.docx) at the link specified in section 5.3.
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The Word file should be named in the following manner: an case of a single author: fullnameoftheauthor_irpwc2021, In the case of multiple authors: lastnameofauthor1_lastnameofauthor2_lastnameofauthor3ifany_irpwc2021
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The research paper should be in English. It may be in any standard form of English.
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The word limit for the research paper is 10,000 words. This includes an abstract of 200-300 words, annex (if any) and footnotes.
Plagiarism and Referencing
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The research paper should be the original work of the author(s). Refer to section 8.1.
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The research paper should not have been published elsewhere in significant parts or as a whole. If it has been submitted elsewhere for consideration for publication, the submission must be retracted before submission at IRPWC, and the proof of retraction must be submitted.
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References must comply with the KSL Comprehensive Style to Legal Citation.
Specific Quality Indicators
Following are the quality indicators applicable to all submissions to KSLR, including the IRPWC:
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The research paper should not have a plagiarism report exceeding 15% when scanned by a reliable plagiarism detection tool. This excludes commonly used terminologies.
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Automatic paraphrasing or any other text manipulation should not be used to mask plagiarism.
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The footnotes should be uniform in format, authentic, accurate and complete, and as prescribed in section 7.3.
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The content of the research paper should be a novel contribution to the area of legal scholarship (specifically the migration law in case of IRPWC 2021).
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The title should be clear, concise, appealing, and compatible with the paper’s overall content.
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The abstract should be an apt gist of the paper. Any breakthrough or remarkable conclusion of the paper should be included in the abstract.
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The introduction should contain a clear thesis, that is the statement(s) of the problem being investigated.
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After the thesis, the introduction should contain a concise paragraph describing the arguments that will be developed in the paper.
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The arguments of the paper should be logical and well-substantiated:
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Facts and legal authorities should be presented sincerely, accurately, and referenced properly.
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Every argument should be founded upon clear reasoning.
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Supporting reasons should be backed by appropriate referencing. Generalizations and sweeping statements should be supported by numerous confirming sources. Diverse opinions should be considered before taking stances. Differing opinions should be indicated while making debatable claims.
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Personal biases should be disclosed when they may influence the readers.
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The conclusions should be based on the arguments of the paper. Unsubstantiated conclusions take away from an otherwise well-researched and credible paper, and should be avoided.
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The contents and their presentation should be engaging.
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The articulation should be clear and comprehensive. Use of purposive jargon, especially legal terminologies is encouraged. However, verbosity should be avoided.
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All expressions should conform to the established principles and rules of human rights, including those on sexual and gender orientation and identity, as well as the reasonable limitations to the freedom of opinion and expression.
Evaluation and the Scale or Marking
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The Extent and Depth of Research
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30
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Novelty and Creativity
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20
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Logic and Organization of Arguments
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30
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Grammar and Vocabulary
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10
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Formatting
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10
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Anonymity of the author(s) shall be maintained throughout the evaluation.
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There shall be two rounds of evaluation. In the first round, the papers will be evaluated for plagiarism, formatting in accordance with the KSL Comprehensive Style to Legal Citation and timeliness of the submission. Papers whose plagiarism score exceeds 15% as specified in section 8.1. will not proceed to the second round.
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The second round of evaluation shall be performed by an independent panel of evaluators.
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The cumulative marking shall be final and binding.
Penalties
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Improper formatting: 1 point shall be deducted for each instance where the formatting is inconsistent with Chapter 1 of the KSL Comprehensive Style Guide to Legal Citation.
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Improper footnote: 0.2 point shall be deducted for each instance.
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Compounded deductions: for sections 10.1 and 10.2 shall not exceed 10 marks.
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Breach of the word limit: 1 point shall be deducted for every 100 extra words.
Awards
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The best paper with the highest scores will receive a corresponding certificate and a cash prize of US $150/- (Inclusive of bank transfer charges wherever applicable).
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The second-best paper with the second-highest scores will receive a corresponding certificate and a cash prize of US $100/- (Inclusive of bank transfer charges wherever applicable).
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The third best paper with the third highest scores will receive a corresponding certificate and a cash prize of US $50/- (Inclusive of bank transfer charges wherever applicable).
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Each outstanding paper falling short of three best scores will be awarded an “Honorary Mention” and receive a corresponding certificate.
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All remaining participants who reach the second round of evaluation will receive a corresponding certificate of participation. Participants who do not reach the second round of evaluation will not receive a certificate of participation.
Publication of Papers
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The editorial board of KSLR shall hold a meeting at the earliest following the termination of the competition to shortlist papers submitted to IRPWC 2021 for publication in the closest issue of the journal. The Board should prioritize the papers mentioned in sections 11.1-11.3 for that purpose. Papers under section 11.4 may also be considered for publication. Papers not mentioned in sections 11.1-11.4 may be considered for publication under special circumstances after careful discussion among the board members.
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The shortlisting shall be based on the initial review standard of KSLR.
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All the shortlisted papers must be peer reviewed according to the double-blind peer review standard of KSLR.
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KSLR has the exclusive right to publish all the papers submitted to IRPWC 2021 from the date and time of the submission.
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The exclusive right to publish will be transferred to the respective authors under following conditions:
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If any shortlisted paper is not approved for publication, subsequently.
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In case of papers not shortlisted, from the date and time of such decision.
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In case of papers that do not reach the second round of evaluation mentioned in section 9, from the date and time of the disqualification.
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All IRPWC 2021 papers published in KSLR shall abide by its copyright policy.
Miscellaneous
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The participant, by registering in the competition, agrees to indemnify the Administrator from and against claims, suits, and damages based on any allegations of copyright infringement, plagiarism, or unauthorized use.
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The participants can retract their paper. To do so, they must inform the organizers prior to the publication of the results.
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The Administrator reserves the absolute right to cancel, defer or postpone indefinitely, the competition in an event accruing to any contingency, natural or human-made.
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In case of any dispute, the decision of the Administrator shall be final and binding. The Administrator shall not be liable to provide any clarification to the participants regarding the evaluation of their research papers
Important Dates
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Call for Research Papers: 20 October 2021
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Last Date of Submission: 20 December 2021, 11:59 pm NPT (GMT +5:45)
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Declaration of Results: January 2022
Contact
For any information relating to the competition please mail at: irpwc.kslr@gmail.com
