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OSCOLA Referencing

Journal Articles

 

The following are examples of how to reference journal articles.

 

 

Journal Articles

 

Cite information in the order set out in the template below. Use square brackets for the year only if the year identifies the volume. Otherwise, use round brackets followed by the volume number.
 
Only include an issue number if the page numbers for the journal restart with each issue. If so, put the issue number in brackets immediately after the volume number e.g. for volume 56, issue 2 of such a journal: 56(2).

 

Template (Footnote):

author, | ‘title’ | [year] | journal name or abbreviation | first page of article.

OR

author, | ‘title’ | (year) | volume | journal name or abbreviation | first page of article.


Examples:

Paul Craig, ‘Theory, “Pure Theory” and Values in Public Law’ [2005] PL 440.

Alison L Young, ‘In Defence of Due Deference’ (2009) 72 MLR 554.

Case Notes

Treat case notes with titles as journal articles as above. Where there is no title, use the case name in italics and add (note) at the end of the citation.
 

Example:

Andrew Ashworth, ‘R (Singh) v Chief Constable of the West Midlands Police’ [2006] Crim LR 441 (note).

Journal Articles (online only)

When citing journal articles which have been published only online, note that they may lack some publication elements (e.g. page numbers).

If citation advice is provided by the online journal, follow it, removing full stops as necessary to comply with OSCOLA.

Follow the citation with the web address (in angled brackets) and the date you most recently accessed the article. 

 

Template (Footnote):

author, | ‘title’ | [year] OR (year) | volume/issue | journal name or abbreviation | <web address>  | date accessed.


Examples:

Graham Greenleaf, ‘The Global Development of Free Access to Legal Information’ (2010) 1(1) EJLT <http://ejlt.org/article/view/17> accessed 27 July 2010.

James Boyle, ‘A Manifesto on WIPO and the Future of Intellectual Property’ 2004 Duke L & Tech Rev 0009 <www.law.duke.edu/journals/ dltr/articles/2004dltr0009.html> accessed 18 November 2009.

Working Papers

Working papers should be cited in a similar fashion to electronic journal articles. Because the content of working papers is subject to change, the date of access is particularly important. If a working paper is subsequently published in a journal, cite that in preference to the working paper.

 

 

Example:

John M Finnis, ‘On Public Reason’ (2006) Oxford Legal Studies Research Paper 1/2007, 8 accessed 18 November 2009.

Forthcoming/In Press Articles

Cite forthcoming articles in the same way as published articles, following the citation with ‘(forthcoming)’. If volume and/or page numbers are not yet known, simply omit that information.