No one has an answer because this first year kid who asked the question would know the answer if s/he ever did a single reading that was assigned in class. It's frankly a silly question that doesn't deserve an answer. Still, to prevent you from claiming I said this since I don't have an answer:

Journal volumes are not intended to be one coherent comprehensive monograph on a topic (discounting themed volumes of course). Rather, think of it like a magazine with annual editions, which just serves as a platform for academic discourse. Where else would academics publish with peer review? It's also possible to have online versions with rolling submissions and publications instead of volumes, which some journals do.

On how to read them - you can either read them cover to cover or read the ones that interest you. However, no one does this; they're intended for readership by those conducting specific research on the matter after they pop up in search results on databases or the net.

That said, none of the University journals in India can be called "hotshot" or even worth their weight in print barring NLSIR (I myself am from a competitor NLU to NLS).

Maybe return to first year BA LLB and learn the difference between doctrinal and empirical research, and the value of both. Law is not a social science, never mind empirical 'scholars' (like you) trying to make it into one. Law is a system of rules and principles, and doctrinal scholarship suits it perfectly.

Thank you for stating the truth. I was an econ student prior to my 3 year LLB and one shocker was the absolute volumes of pointless legal research. Most pieces published in law journals are utterly useless and mere thought pieces. There's no hard quantitative data that's being analysed to provide results. The author is just borrowing stuff from other established authors.

I don't even think it can be termed as "research". Real research involves gathering primary data/setting up experiments/lab research, etc. Lawyers want to pat themselves on the back for having opinions.

- someone who just published a legal essay.

I don't think that anyone really reads a journal cover to cover when a new issue is published. Just read what you find interesting. The raison d'etre of journals is not to provide material for leisure reading. Their main purpose is to provide a platform for new scholarship and research which can be used to produce even more new scholarship.

I fail to understand the utility of all the hotshot journals (NUJSLR, NLUDJLS, NLSIR etc.). How am I supposed to read them? Do I pick up the issue one day and read through all of it like a book? Or do I read them when i need to? (writing related stuff)? Or do I just read the chapters I find interesting? How exactly do people go about these? Who reads the stuff published in these journals? Who's the crowd they target?