International Journal of Maritime Crime & Security

Statement of Editorial Policies

A fundamental principle underlying the Journal’s rationale is that it must have a clear ‘translation to the workplace’. All contributions must have some operational value and be able to translate theory into practice.

Editorial Objectives

IJMCS will publish research papers that contain sufficient scholarly content to support the IJMCS’s inter /multi-disciplinary objectives. Papers will be expected to be accessible to a broad audience. Specialist sections may be included, for example, to provide detail, supporting data, proofs, and so on (to ensure a sufficient level of empirical underpinning to the articles) but the papers must be comprehensible without them.

A house style will be developed that reflects the interdisciplinary philosophy of the journal. In particular, this style will be developed in such a way as to enable the use of language to facilitate rather than inhibit understanding across the academic disciplines. All contributors can expect to be challenged regarding the use of jargon and technical terminology specific to their discipline.

Types of Manuscripts

In order to attain maximum flexibility, IJMCS will include four main categories of entries:

1. ‘Policy Recommendations and Reflections’. Shorter ‘Editorial’-style articles including opinion and summaries of current debates (1500 words). Wherever possible, these may draw on the scholarly ‘contribution to knowledge’ articles in the same or previous editions. These shorter papers may also include ‘operational commentaries’ from practitioners working within the relevant disciplines.
2. Longer academic articles (6,500 – 8,000 words) (slightly longer articles will be considered), fully referenced to academic journal standard. These must be genuine contributions to knowledge with succinct references to the preceding literature, if there is any, but focussing primary and empirical sources and original research.
3. Book, TV, radio, website and digital media and film reviews
4. Letters to the Editors

It is envisaged that three of the major articles may be included in each quarterly issue, or twelve per year.

Scope of the Journal

The seas and oceans cover 70 percent of the earth’s surface, and 90 percent of world trade by volume travels by sea. Maritime crime is a growth area, both in terms of its profitability in a world where the volume of maritime trade is increasing year-by-year, but also a subject for professional and academic study. However, of all disciplines, the study of crime, criminology, has neither actively presented itself as relevant for, nor has it been paid attention to by maritime (security) studies, whereas their intersection makes total sense. The Journal addresses this new academic discipline.

The initial focus of the proposed International Journal of Maritime Crime and Security will be on the following, broadly constructed and interpreted, aspects of maritime security:

• Social, geographical and political dimensions of maritime crime and security, to include Ocean governance and the law of the sea
• Conventional defense and security, including the seas as a platform for the deployment of Weapons of Mass Destruction and a conduit for weapons proliferation
• Marine insurance and maritime law
• Maritime crime and the organised criminal business model, including piracy and armed robbery at sea, smuggling of all kinds, people trafficking and illegal migration and stowaways
• illegal, Unregulated and Unreported fishing
• Illegal dumping, pollution, and environmental damage
• Offshore energy exploitation, whether fossil fuels or renewable, and mineral exploitation
• Environmental security
• Resilience and Disaster Management
• Human security, human factors, and psychology
• IT and Cyber-Security
• Utilisation of Private Maritime Security Companies
• Security Risk assessment and management
• Port Facility Security Management

We would expect influences from, and interactions with, aspects of a wide range of disciplines, including; anthropology, biology, computer science, crime, communications, economics ergonomics/human factors, education, environmental science, geology, geo-politics, history, intelligence studies, law, literature, language, linguistics and semiotics (the study of signs and symbols), law, management, mathematics, naval architecture philosophy, political science, psychology, sociology, and war, peace, security and strategic studies.

Subject Coverage

The Journal seek to cover the following disciplines as they relate to maritime security: economics, environmental studies, global governance studies, anthropological and cultural studies, human factors and psychology, security, criminology and crime science, cyber security, international and national law (Maritime Law, Law of the Sea and National Jurisdictions), political and policy perspectives, strategic security and war studies, naval and maritime history as they relate to current issues, maritime crime, including cyber-crime, fraud, piracy and armed robbery at sea, Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) Fishing, smuggling, people trafficking, illegal immigration, stowaways and pollution, disaster management and resilience at sea and in littoral areas. ‘Maritime Security’ includes port facility, offshore platform and undersea resource extraction security – not just ships.

Formal condition of papers acceptance

1. Papers will only be published in English.
2. Each manuscript must be accompanied by a statement that it has not been submitted for publication elsewhere in English.
3. Previous presentation at a conference, or publication in another language, should be disclosed.
4. All papers are refereed, and the Chief Editor reserves the right to refuse any manuscript, whether on invitation or otherwise, and to make suggestions and/or modifications before publication.
5. IJMCS only accepts and publishes articles for which authors have agreed to release under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CCAL) version “CC-BY 3.0”. Please note that authors retain ownership of the copyright for their article, but authors allow anyone to download, reuse, and reprint modify, distribute, and/or copy articles in IJMCS, so long as the original authors are source are cited. No permission is required from the authors or the publishers.
6. IJMCS shall furnish authors of accepted papers with proof for the correction of printing errors. The proof shall be returned within 14 days of receiving the suggested corrections.
7. IJMCS shall not be held responsible for errors which are the result of authors' oversights IJMCS is committed to publish all full-text articles online for immediate open access to readers and there is no charge to download articles and editorial comments for their own scholarly use.

Peer review process

IJMCS places great emphasis on the quality of the articles it publishes; and therefore, a full double-blind reviewing process is used in which:

• Subject to the condition that the paper submitted is in line with the guidelines provided for authors the editor will review its suitability given the aims and objectives of the journal.
• If the outcome is positive the paper will be sent for blind reviews to two reviewers.
• Decision will be taken as to the acceptability of the paper on the basis of the recommendation of the reviewers.
• Should further revision be found necessary it will be communicated to the author accordingly.
• Based on the outcome of above the date of publication will be decided and an acceptance letter to be issued to the author(s).
• For papers which require changes, the same reviewers will be used to ensure that the quality of the revised article is acceptable.