More peer reviewers needed

JIPLP has recently received for possible publication an article on interim injunctive relief for trade mark infringement in Tanzania. This sort of submission reflects several aspects of IP publishing and the role of JIPLP itself:
* The majority of countries in the world have too few IP practitioners, owners and administrators to support the commercial publication of a law journal devoted to developments within those countries. This means that writers on those developments must rely on international journals such as JIPLP as vehicles for the dissemination of peer-reviewed IP literature;

* JIPLP -- which, in keeping with its publisher's charitable objectives, has been made available to educational institutions in many developing countries -- receives a sizeable number of articles submitted from such jurisdictions;

* While the journal's current panel of peer reviewers works hard to assess the legal content of articles submitted for review, they sometimes lack a sufficient degree of appreciation of the relevant legal and commercial culture which would enable them with confidence to recommend publication, amendment or rejection of submissions.
JIPLP is always willing to enlarge its panel of peer reviewers. While the task of review is unpaid and sometimes onerous, it can be rewarding too, when a referee's helpful guidance and suggestions shapes an unpublishable manuscript into a publishable form or turns a good article into an excellent one.

A short word on personal privacy is appropriate here. The identity of peer reviewers is never disclosed to authors, but the identity of authors is made known to the reviewers, so that they can where necessary compare the submitted work with earlier works of the same author when considering issues such as originality and the extent to which the submitted work adds to the current debate.

If you'd like to volunteer for service as a peer reviewer, please email me here and give me some idea of your experience within intellectual property law and practice.

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