Submissions: Northwestern University Law Review

Northwestern University Law Review : Submissions

Submissions

Submissions

Northwestern University Law Review accepts submissions of manuscripts twice a year. Our submission period is currently open. Our spring submission season generally runs from January until April, and our fall submission period from August through September or October. Please check our website for updates. Please check our website for updates. If you have questions, you may contact Julie M. Karaba, Senior Articles Editor, for more information.

We also review short pieces (under 4,500 words) for publication on the Colloquy on a continuous basis. The time period between when a Colloquy piece is selected for publication and when it is actually published is much quicker than for pieces in the print review. Please click here for more information about the Colloquy. Submissions should be sent to Nathan Brenner, Senior Colloquy Editor.

How to Submit

Northwestern University Law Review welcomes unsolicited manuscripts—including articles, and essays—from authors. Interested authors should submit their work between January and early April or between early August and October for consideration. We cannot review submissions or expedite any reviews during the summer period (late April through July) or the winter period (mid-October through January).

Interested authors must submit articles, essays, and book reviews through the online system ExpressO.

Submissions are not accepted via email and are only accepted via postal mail in extenuating circumstances. Please submit shorter pieces (under 4,500 words) that are more suited to timely publication on the Colloquy directly to Nathan Brenner, Senior Colloquy Editor.

Manuscripts should be double-spaced and use footnotes rather than endnotes. Text and citations should conform to The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (19th ed. 2010) and Texas Law Review Manual on Usage & Style (11th ed. 2008). Authors are also requested to provide a word count, including footnotes. As a matter of policy, the Law Review encourages the use of gender-neutral language.

Expedited Reviews

Northwestern University Law Review attempts to honor all requests for expedited review if a manuscript has received an offer from another journal. When requesting expedited review, please do so via ExpressO; the system will send an automated email to our Coordinating Articles Editor. If the Law Review makes an offer on an expedited manuscript, the author will have a limited amount of time to respond to such an offer.

Submission Length

Northwestern University Law Review has no formal length requirements, and we will review all submissions, regardless of length. However, we support the statement (pdf) by the editors of several of our peer journals and endorse the position that most articles can effectively convey their arguments within the range of 40-70 journal pages. We believe that establishing word limit guidelines will enhance the quality of legal scholarship and improve the editing process. To that end, we strongly prefer articles between 15,000 and 30,000 words, including footnotes. The Law Review also encourages authors to submit essays, pieces between 8,000 and 15,000 words, including footnotes. These essays typically have a more focused purpose, advancing a narrow thesis or initiating discussion on a current, salient issue.

Replication Policy for Empirical Work

The Northwestern University Law Review strongly encourages authors submitting empirical works to make their datasets available and accessible during the selection process in order to allow for complete consideration of their work. Further, the acceptance of any empirical work will be conditioned upon the author's documentation and archival of all datasets in a manner sufficient to allow third parties to replicate the published findings. These datasets will be posted in a publicly available space, such as the Law Review's website. The Law Review will make narrow exceptions to this policy to the extent necessary to protect privacy or confidentiality.