How to Make Argument in Law Review Article Based on Trend

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Are yous set up for the 2022 law review submission bicycle?

Whether it's your commencement year trying to place an commodity or fifteenth, you're likely wondering what steps you can take to boost the chances of getting published in 1 of your elevation-selection law reviews.

Of course, in that location's no definitive formula for a successful submission. Endless factors affect the almanac legal scholarship cycle, from new policies introduced by incoming e-boards to external influences similar the COVID-19 pandemic. But keeping a pulse on the latest law review updates and looking at past trends can assistance authors get a sense of what to look during upcoming article option periods and how to be as competitive as possible.

At Scholastica, we've garnered many submission season insights over the years, and we desire to aid demystify things for authors. In this blog mail, we're rounding upward tips to help you meliorate your publication prospects based on our latest data and learnings. Permit's get to it!

Have a articulate submissions strategy

Before getting into the nitty-gritty of preparing and submitting your new police review article, it'southward imperative that y'all first offset with having a articulate submission strategy. While law review submissions may experience like a numbers game at times, in truth, it really is about quality over quantity, so authors should be selective when making a listing of publications to transport their papers to and home in on constabulary reviews that are likely to be the all-time fit for their particular piece.

Start by creating a shortlist of iii-5 law reviews that would be the pinnacle choices for your side by side commodity based on the theme and core objectives of your paper, as well as your career goals. For example, your primary focus may be getting placed in a summit-ranked general police review, a prestigious specialty law review related to your article, or a law review with a robust online presence. These types of goals may or may not be mutually sectional. Some starting points to estimate the prestige and visibility of police force reviews include reviewing the Washington & Lee Constabulary Journal Rankings and following police reviews agile on social media to stay abreast of their latest updates and awareness initiatives.

Next, exercise your homework to go to know each police force review's commodity preferences and contempo publication history and so y'all can ship more than tailored submissions. For example, if yous're submitting to a constabulary review that favors regional pieces, yous may be able to find means to connect your newspaper to the geographic area(s) on which it'southward focused. Yous may likewise identify opportunities to send personalized embrace letters or emails expressing why your submission is particularly suited to your top choice law reviews.

Anecdotally, contributions from due east-boards for Scholastica's "Communication from outgoing police force review editors" blog series propose police force reviews may be paying closer attending to encompass letters and personal messages than authors think. For example, quondam editor of the Academy of Illinois Law Review Jared Hamernick said, "It doesn't guarantee a full board read, just I was much more inclined to read a full article when the author showed 18-carat, personalized interest. Similarly, when an abstruse was copied and pasted from a cover letter (or vice versa), it felt like my fourth dimension was wasted." Hamernick added, "If you're not yet a widely published writer, in that location'south no reason to hide that. Utilise your encompass alphabetic character to aid us understand why we should publish you. […] If you're writing on a topic on which nosotros're likely to become dozens (or hundreds) of similar submissions, it's particularly important that you help us understand why yours stands out."

As you research your top choice law reviews, you may also notice that some offer exclusive submission tracks where you can pre-commit to accepting a publication offer with that law review if your paper is accepted. To exercise this, as the name "exclusive rails" suggests, you'll have to concord to but submit to that 1 law review for a designated exclusive timeframe (unremarkably i-three weeks). Exclusively submitting to a law review is a definitive way to communicate that it'southward your first pick and movement your article toward the top of the pile.

One time you have a meridian-option law reviews shortlist, yous can start looking for some alternate options. At Scholastica, we have features in identify to quickly sort constabulary reviews by category (east.g., general law, ceremonious rights, constitutional) to help narrow downwardly choices. We also recently revamped our manuscript piece of work expanse to help authors more easily keep track of their latest submissions and make more informed decisions about if and when to target additional constabulary reviews, including adding new functionality to:

• Search for manuscripts by title to check on specific submissions
• Filter submissions by accepted, rejected, and pending pub offers
• More speedily scan manuscript details for offer status data

Go on track of the latest law review opening timelines

Once y'all have a submission strategy in place, it'south time to think about timing. Of course, if you lot're planning to pursue an exclusive submission rail option, you'll already have target dates in mind based on the law review'southward guidelines.

If yous're non submitting to an exclusive track to start, there is no hard scientific discipline for when to submit to police force reviews. However, by Scholastica submission season data does signal to two peak periods:

1. February through April
2. Baronial through October

These months have historically seen the most law review openings, submissions, and decisions. As a result, submitting within i of these peak timeframes could assist your chances of publication considering a high percentage of police reviews will likely be open and reviewing articles.

With that said, things do modify from year to twelvemonth. For instance, some law reviews adjusted their 2021 article pick timeframes to give authors more than fourth dimension to prepare papers in light of COVID-19. Updates included law reviews committing to reviewing articles on a rolling basis and pushing back their usual spring opening dates to mid-February. Our latest "Annual Scholastica Police force Review Submissions Insights" information pull is reflective of this, with noticeable spikes in law review openings later in the season on February 8th and 15th, 2021. Last year too saw later elevation expedite asking times suggesting authors were somewhat slower to expedite versus previous years and/or some constabulary reviews sent decisions after, resulting in afterward expedite requests.

Be sure to bank check Scholastica's latest submission flavor data insights report to meet if and how practices are irresolute. We release graphs and commentary on the previous twelvemonth'southward data each Jan.

Information technology is besides of import to annotation that merely effectually 35% of law reviews using Scholastica actively open/close submissions across the year – the other ~65% remain open year-round. And so if you have an article ready and it's not a summit submission time, you still take a chance of getting an offer! Police reviews open up and close throughout the year depending on their editorial wheel, and many solicit manufactures for symposia and special issues on an advert hoc basis.

We have some easy ways to help yous stay abreast of law review openings without going down search rabbit holes, including:

1. Sign upward for daily police force review opening emails hither
2. Track updates on Twitter using the hashtag #LRSubmissions
3. Reference the automatically updating table of open up and airtight constabulary reviews on the Law Review Author Submissions Center website
4. Check for law review updates in The Conversation — many editors post when they have remaining slots to fill in their volumes or are soliciting articles on particular topics

If you're submitting to law reviews off-season, nosotros likewise recommend checking their websites for any updates on if/when they'll be actively reviewing new manufactures. Over the years, we accept establish that some lower-ranked and specialty journals will sometimes remain open up when not actively reviewing submissions to accept more than to consider when they are ready to fill their books. If you're unable to tell if a police review is actively reviewing manufactures from its website, don't hesitate to reach out to the editors to ask!

Focus on article framing

Our next tip for a successful submission is to focus on the framing of your article. The more than you can show why your paper is particularly suited to a law review and/or peculiarly timely, the more likely it will be to stand out in the crowd. For example, allow editors know how your article relates to current events or if it's about one of the most discussed only least published topics in police force. Include those details in the introduction of the article and/or any cover letters you send.

Looking at 25 of the nigh used keywords in accepted articles from the 2021 submission season, information technology'south clear that submissions on timely topics tend to perform well. Amongst popular keywords in 2021 were the COVID-19 pandemic, climatic change, policing, clearing, and artificial intelligence.

Another way to improve your commodity framing, building off your submission strategy research, is to communicate if and how your article relates to works previously published by your target law reviews. In an anonymous contribution to Scholastica's 2021 "Advice from outgoing police review editors" blog series, one editor noted, "my best advice is to learn more most the journals you lot are sending your manuscripts/expedite requests to earlier actually sending. You may find out our journal has published similar subject area affair in recent years, and you may notice our journal has held symposia on a topic tangentially related to your work. It certainly assists our editorial board to employ a previous manuscript to relate to one nosotros make an offer on."

Too, consider how you lot can convey how your article relates to your personal experiences and, if possible, why you are uniquely qualified to write on the topic. In the 2021 "Communication from outgoing constabulary review editors" blog serial, onetime editor of the Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality Jen Davison said, "i thing that is actually of import is to bear witness your link to the topic you are writing on. It would seem inauthentic for me - a law student - to write an article about what it's like to train tigers for 40 years. I haven't done it! If I want to write that article, I should explain how I'yard situated in relation to the content." Davison added, "this is particularly important equally we collectively recognize the power of various voices in scholarship and the disservice nosotros may do to the earth of readers when homogenous voices write scholarship on behalf of diverse voices."

One time you've nailed down your article framing, try to look at your submission from the perspective of someone unfamiliar with the topic. Specifically, focus on the title, abstruse, and introduction of your article. These are the first things editors will look at, so you want to be sure they're attention-grabbing and that they quickly and succinctly communicate the punchline of your paper.

A former Minnesota Law Review editor advised to "make it easy for 2Ls to expect at the introduction and say, 'this is interesting work that should be published.' Without a solid introduction, an article isn't going to get in to the articles committee to exist considered for publication."

Stick to police force reviews' submission guidelines

Next, make sure you lot've followed the submission guidelines and preferences of your target law reviews closely before sending articles forth. This includes adhering to each law review'southward aims and scope, article formatting requirements, and preferred submission method. Y'all don't desire a police review to automatically reject your submission because information technology doesn't run across a technical specification.

Of course, you'll desire to first ensure your article is clean without any typos, grammatical errors, or formatting issues. Next, look out for the following mutual submission specifications:

1. Article length requirements: Many police reviews have hard article-length requirements. For case, Stanford Police force Review states that the editors have a "30,000-give-and-take ceiling" for articles and a "preference for xx,000 words or fewer." Also, keep in mind that many constabulary reviews subscribe to the aphorism "less is more." As former Vanderbilt Constabulary Review editor Nathan Campbell noted in the 2021 "Communication from approachable law review editors" blog series, "rarely does a piece that approaches or exceeds 30,000+ words demand all of those words to convey the argument. Moreover, we expect authors to add to the word count, rather than decrease, as nosotros arroyo publication, which requires us to be mindful of the editing burden on the forepart end."
2. Fashion guidelines: Check for whatever article style guidelines on each law reviews' "For Authors" page. The principal thing to keep in mind here is citation style. Most law reviews await citations to conform to The Bluebook.
3. File anonymization requirements: Another submission requirement to look out for is file anonymization specifications. In that location is a trend of police reviews beginning to implement fully or semi-anonymized article selection processes to forestall implicit biases in determination making like Washington Law Review. If you're not certain how to fully anonymize your article files, our guide hither can help!
4. Encompass letter: Finally, cheque to see if whatever of the law reviews y'all're submitting to require cover letters and be sure to submit one if asked — following instructions counts!

If you're submitting via Scholastica, remember to apply the "Guidelines" links below law reviews listed in the submission pool to rapidly cheque their author guidelines without having to navigate abroad from the page/open up extra tabs. You can now also more easily make anonymous submissions equally needed. The submission pool now specifies constabulary reviews that require anonymous articles, and the submission course includes upload fields for anonymized files. Learn more than here.

Bank check your article citations — then check them again

Ane submission prep step we can't stress enough is checking your article citations — and so checking them once more! Law review editors are hyper-vigilant of referencing and volition flag areas of your commodity that could use additional references or whatsoever that appear incomplete. Then make sure all of your legal assertions take complete and correct citations.

As former West Virginia Constabulary Review editor Jordan McMinn explained, "having adept citations is so of import! Information technology'south important because it's often the first thing editors review and because it gives editors a skillful idea of how much try information technology will take to bring the article to publication. We made many decisions where we were on the contend about offer publication, and it went one way or the other based on the abstract and citations."

Know when to expedite and how

Another cardinal submission expanse is expedite requests. It's of import to know when it's worth submitting an expedite request and when to hold back. Outset, for a quick overview, expedite requests are when y'all notify ane or more of your preferred constabulary reviews that your article has received an offer from another journal and ask them to send you an article decision before your response to that offer is due.

Expedite requests can assistance push your article higher up the submissions pile at some law reviews, but you lot must use them strategically. If you're going for a elevation law review, make certain you wait to submit an expedite to that journal until you lot have an offering from a similarly ranked publication. Also, when making expedite requests, exist certain that you actually take an offer on the tabular array. Don't make any assumptions based on your article going to full board review. While a strong indicator that your commodity may be accepted, full board review is not a guarantee of acceptance so most law reviews will non grant expedites in this situation and may be put off past such requests.

Follow communication best practices and take reward of group submission tools

Throughout the submission process, you may have questions for law review editors, or you may want to ship them an updated file, which is normal and something editors will wait. In this case, only be sure that you are using each law review's preferred communication method. For law reviews using Scholastica, that's easy — employ the Discussions characteristic. Your Discussion message will get straight to the law review'south editors and exist stored next to your submission. Editors receive notifications for all new Scholastica Discussion messages, so they'll be less likely to fall through the cracks than emails.

When working with police force reviews that apply Scholastica, be sure to too transport decisions and expedite requests via the system. The benefits of this are twofold: kickoff, your communication will be more likely to exist seen, and second, yous'll exist making editors' lives easier past helping them keep all of their police force review piece of work in one identify.

Remember, y'all tin also save time by communicating with police force reviews in bulk via Scholastica. You have the selection to send Word messages, decision responses, and expedite requests to multiple journals at one time, every bit explained in the "Communicating" section of the Law Writer Guide.

Another quick tip: endeavour to go on your emails cursory. Make sure your subject area line is clear and state the aim of your outreach in the first sentence. Editors go inundated with emails during submission season, and it's piece of cake to overlook questions buried in text.

Use the resources available to you

Finally, don't forget to accept advantage of the submission resources at your disposal! Scholastica has developed many complimentary guides and tools for law authors.

Exist sure to check out The Scholastica Police force Review Submissions Center. Here you'll have access to:

• Submission pro tips
• Law review submission data insights
• An automatically updating tabular array of open and closed law reviews

As well, remember to follow #LRSubmissions on Twitter for law review opening alerts and submissions updates and tips.

If y'all take any Scholastica-specific submission questions, y'all'll find answers to them in our handy Law Author Guide. And, if there'southward anything yous're unsure of, yous tin can accomplish out to our team at support@scholasticahq.com. We're here to help!

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Source: https://blog.scholasticahq.com/post/law-review-article-submission-tips-for-authors/

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