Back to CIPA home

Editorial Guidelines

Contributor Guidelines – CIPA Journal

Thank you for your interest in contributing to the journal. These guidelines are intended to help authors prepare submissions in a format suitable for review, editing, and publication. Following them will assist the editorial team in processing articles efficiently.

Language and Style

Articles should be written in UK English.

Where initialisms are used, please spell the term out in full at the first mention, followed by the initialism in parentheses and single quotation marks. For example: UK Intellectual Property Office (‘IPO’). The initialism may be used on subsequent references.

Authors are encouraged to write in a clear, accessible style suitable for a professional readership.

Article Length

As a guide, the journal contains approximately 750 words per printed page.

• The typical length for an article is around 1,500 words.
• Articles should generally not exceed 2,500 words without prior agreement from the editor.
• Case reports and news items are usually shorter than articles, a maximum of 800.

If you anticipate that your article will be longer than this, please discuss this with the editorial team before submitting the full text.

Abstracts

Authors should provide a short abstract summarising the key points of the article.

Where possible, the abstract should be supplied as early as possible in the editorial process, as this assists with planning, promotion, and layout.

Images and Illustrations

Where images, diagrams, or other illustrations are included, please provide the original image files separately (for example, JPEG, PNG, or TIFF).

Images should not be supplied only as embedded items within a Word document. Authors should ensure that any necessary permissions for reproduction have been obtained where applicable.

Author Information

Please provide the following with your submission:

• A photograph of each author
• A short author biography (typically one or two sentences), including current role or affiliation where relevant

This information will be used to accompany the published article.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Authors can use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to assist with the preparation of articles. However, caution must be exercised.

Where AI tools have been used in the research, drafting, editing, summarising, or translation of content, authors should disclose this to the editorial team when submitting their article.

Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of their work. Any references, citations, quotations, case details, legal authorities, or factual statements generated or assisted by AI tools must be independently checked and verified by the author before submission.

AI tools should not be cited as authors. Authors should ensure that the final content reflects their own professional judgement and expertise and that any use of AI complies with applicable confidentiality, copyright, and professional obligations.

Submissions and Queries

If you have any questions about preparing or submitting your article, or if you wish to discuss a proposed contribution in advance, please contact the editorial team [email protected].

The editorial team reserves the right to edit submissions for clarity, style, and length where necessary.

Examples

CIPA members can see examples of previous articles as PDFs or HTML pages here: https://www.cipa.org.uk/journal-archive/

Deadlines

Deadlines can be seen here.

Journal Contact [email protected] to discuss any editorial you are planning to submit.

For advertising in the Journal email [email protected]

Updated 10 June 2026.