LAW5053 - Law Review editorship 1 - 2019

Only students selected by the faculty as Student Editors of the "Monash University Law Review" enrol in this unit. The Student Editors are responsible for working closely with the Faculty Advisors and student editorial committee to produce the "Monash University Law Review". Student Editors are responsible for managing the student editorial committee; soliciting and reviewing academic articles for the journal; editing and checking the citations on accepted articles; and managing the process of publication and distribution of the journal. Student editors enrol in this unit to obtain credit for the learning achieved in the work of producing one issue of the journal. The set of activities undertaken by the Student Editors will depend on the stage at which the preparation for the next issue of the journal has reached at the time their enrolment commences and finishes, in accordance with a schedule approved by the Faculty Advisors who oversee the production of the journal.

At the successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:

• manage the process of publishing an issue of a scholarly academic journal under the peer review process in academic publishing; edit academic articles; and manage the practical aspects of timely, effective publication and distribution of the journal;
• demonstrate a developing ability to exercise professional judgment and justify their own conclusions in assessing the quality of academic writing including consideration of the contemporary developments in the law and its professional practice;
• recognise and reflect upon, and develop the ability to respond to, ethical issues that arise in the process of editing an academic journal including conflicts of interest and intellectual property issues;
• demonstrate an ability to research, evaluate and synthesise relevant factual, legal and policy issues in the context of determining the appropriateness of articles submitted for publication in the journal;
• collaborate effectively with Faculty Advisors and the student editorial committee as part of a team to manage the process of preparing an issue of "Monash University Law Review" for publication;
• communicate in ways that are effective, appropriate and persuasive with submitting authors, reviewers, Faculty Advisors and members of the student editorial committee; and
• learn and work at a high level of individual autonomy, responsibility and professionalism.

The unit will be marked on an ungraded competency basis (satisfactory/unsatisfactory)

The awarding of satisfactory for this unit will consist of the Faculty Advisors' recommendation based on:

1. A spreadsheet documenting the tasks to be completed by the Student Editors in the process of receiving submitted articles, assessing them, communicating with authors and reviewers, arranging checking by Editorial Board and managing the completion of readying articles for publication in the journal over the course of the semester of enrolment. The spreadsheet will show the agreed allocation of responsibilities for tasks at the beginning of each semester. It will highlight the tasks actually undertaken by each Student Editor and the dates of completion. At the end of the semester, the spreadsheet will be signed by all Student Editors to confirm that the tasks have been completed as allocated.
2. Preparing and leading the training of the student editorial committee in relation to use of the "Australian Guide to Legal Citation" for editing articles accepted for publication under supervision of the Faculty Advisors who may check the training material and the outcomes of the work of the editorial committee.
3. Publication or substantial progress towards publication of one issue of the "Monash University Law Review". Evidence of "substantial progress" towards publication of one issue will include tasks completed as shown on the spreadsheet, communications with authors and reviewers, and edited copy of articles.

There is an expectation that students will spend 12 hours a week for 12 weeks on this task for credit. Because the unit is a work-integrated unit, students do commonly find the need to spend additional time.