Principles of inclusion

Institutions running digital libraries and repositories with collections of legal publications as well as publishers of legal scientific publications (monographs and scholarly journals) are invited to make information about resources published online freely available via the GLI search engine.

The aim of the Global Legal Information search engine is to increase the visibility and accessibility of legal publications – both scientific publications – i.e. peer-reviewed – and specialist publications – industry-specific. Collaboration with GLI for publishers represents an opportunity to reach new communities of readers, including representatives of academia and the wider socio-economic environment of science, potentially interested in using and developing the results of research presented in publications. The Global Legal Information database is highly visible on the Internet. The structured information presented in the GLI database on legal information resources and from legal doctrine is indexed by search engines.

Collaborations with Global Legal Information are royalty-free and non-exclusive, and therefore do not restrict publishers from making their content available elsewhere.

The GLI database indexes legal publications made openly available online, regardless of the licence under which the resource is published.

The main requirements to be indexed in the Global Legal Information database are listed below.

In order to apply to start indexing legal information resources, a publisher needs to have been operating in the legal publications market for at least 2 years publishing no less than 10 publications online per year without a time embargo (i.e. immediately after release). For journal publishers, editors must demonstrate a publication history of at least two years (publishing the current resource openly during this time). The GLI database does not index journals that publish articles in a hybrid model and without open access without technical restrictions. If a journal was previously published in subscription or hybrid form and has now moved to a fully open access model, the date of the change to fully open access (all content published after this date must be fully open access) and the terms of access/licensing of the archive materials (open access, free or paid) should be clearly stated on the publisher's website or repository. The GLI team will consider open access journals for inclusion once at least 10 scientific articles have been published within the fully open access editions (issues) of the journal.

The publisher must provide for monographic publications and journals their own dedicated URL and homepage (of the collection / journal) which can be accessed from anywhere. It is not required to make individual articles available at a unique URL and to publish metadata in structured form, which is often a barrier to making specialised, non-academic resources more widely available in databases that disseminate publications published under open licences such as the DOAJ.

The publisher's website/web application should be properly operated and maintained, with particular attention to security aspects that help protect users from viruses and malware. At the very least, the site should use https, not http, and all traffic should be routed via https. Those responsible for the website should apply web standards and best ethical practices to the content, presentation and application of the website. Furthermore, the website should not contain information that could mislead readers or authors. The website should not copy another publisher's website, design or logo. If text from another website have been copied, please indicate the source.

The website must be in one of the following languages: English, Spanish, French, German or Polish. If the website is available in multiple languages, the information contained therein must be the same in all languages.

The publisher's contact details, including address and email address, are required on the website. The address given in the application and on the publisher's website must be the same as the address at which the publisher is registered and operating. Contact details of the persons responsible within the organisation (director, editor, secretary, etc.) are also required.

On the website, the publisher of the publication/collection should state the purpose and scope of the legal information resources provided, the publisher's contact details and clearly indicate the rules/licence under which they operate.

Publishers must use ISBN identifiers, while indexed journals must have at least one ISSN (for electronic or paper editions) registered and validated at issn.org.

In addition, a journal submitted for indexation in the GLI database must:

For a shared resource, it is necessary to define and adhere to quality control rules for published content. It is required to place on the publisher's website or in their repository publishing policies, information on the review procedure (including the names and affiliation information of reviewers in a given calendar year) or an internal expert assessment of the quality of submitted publishing proposals. Journals that display a list of reviewers must provide their names and affiliations.

The content of the publication must be deposited in a long-term digital archiving system, and the publisher's website, repository or digital library must ensure that the content is always available.

Through the GLI search engine, we will make available information on both current, latest legal publications and older ones – insofar as they are relevant for comparative or historical legal research. Irregularly published journals and those with a publishing delay of more than six months are not included (the requirement is checked in the two calendar years preceding the request for metadata in the GLI database).

In the future, it is planned to develop the functionalities of the Global Legal Information system, inter alia by indexing the content of scholarly journals at the level of individual articles in the case of journals using publishing/repetition systems, i.e. OJS, or using DOI identifiers.

For questions about getting started, please contact the GLI team: gli@inp.pan.pl.

The time between the submission of a request and a decision on the inclusion of metadata of legal publications or their collections in the GLI database varies and depends on the response of the contact person of the journal and/or the applicant, the availability of the metadata required for indexation. Usually a decision is taken within three months.

When submitting an application, the applicant is responsible for providing accurate information. Applications containing false or incorrect information or missing answers are automatically rejected.

Once the application is submitted, the GLI team carries out an initial assessment. If the team needs additional details or clarification (for example, regarding the publisher's website or publishing practices), they will contact the publisher for further information. We recognise that publishing practices and quality assurance procedures may vary depending on the national/regional context. The publisher does not have a predetermined deadline for responding, which provides flexibility in the process. Upon receipt of additional clarifications, the GLI team will re-evaluate the application and make a final decision on whether or not to include the resource's metadata in the GLI database. The publisher will be notified of the final decision by email. This message will inform you of the approval or rejection of your application.

Global Legal Information only accepts publications from publishers who adhere to good publishing practices. If the team's assessment at the review stage of a publisher / repository or digital library manager's application shows that the publisher does not follow good practice, has provided false or misleading information or has questionable publishing practices, the GLI team will not consider further applications from that publisher for up to 5 years.

Once your application has been accepted, please send us the structured metadata for the indexed resource (in the form of a file with a defined XML structure). Collaborating publishers are responsible for updating the information made available in the GLI database and ensuring that resources whose metadata is made available in the GLI database continue to meet the inclusion criteria. We conduct periodic re-evaluation of indexed resources according to inclusion criteria, especially when: the metadata has not been updated by the publisher for more than 12 months, or reports are received about the inaccessibility of the site, the danger it may cause (e.g. lack of SSL) or a cyber-attack on the site hosting the resource, or suspicious practices of the publisher.

Journals will be removed if they no longer meet the inclusion criteria or do not follow good publishing practices.