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Dalhousie Law Journal

Information for Contributors

Information for Contributors

Submit

Send articles, book reviews, notes and comments to:

editor.dlj@dal.ca
The Editor
Dalhousie Law Journal
Schulich School of Law
6061 University Avenue
Halifax, Nova Scotia
B3H 4R2
CANADA

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Philosophy of Dalhousie Law Journal

For more information, please see the About the Dalhousie Law Journal page.

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Submission Standards

  • Quality of scholarship: quality and depth of research, originality of the author’s contribution, analytical richness, clarity of the author’s claims, and persuasiveness of the author’s argument;
  • Literary style: writing style, organization/logical coherence;
  • Use of citations: over/under references, accuracy of sources, relationship and relevance to the text, conformity to the McGill style guide;
  • Relevance: relevance to Canadian readership, timeliness, currency.
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    Content

    The Dalhousie Law Journal accepts submissions form anywhere in the world, in either English or French, from academics, practitioners, judges, and students. Where possible the DLJ prioritizes promising papers by emerging scholars. Submissions on any law-related topics are considered, but the DLJ generally does not publish articles devoted exclusively to the law of foreign countries.

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    Format

    The Dalhousie Law Journal does not accept articles in excess of 15,000 words (including footnotes). Please include a ~150-300 word abstract and ~5 keywords with your submission. All citations should follow the most recent edition Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation. Please send submissions via email in MS Word format only.

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    Copyright for all published manuscripts remains with the author. We have an author agreement that is consistent with open access principles and based on Creative Commons BY 4.0 licensing. Articles published on this site are under the same CC BY 4.0 license. There is no fee to publish in the DLJ. Authors can deposit pre-print versions of their work in an institutional repository or other repository of their choice (e.g. SSRN) prior to the publication of the version of record. The DLJ does not accept papers under consideration by other journals.

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    Editorial Process

    The DLJ reviewal process begins with a preliminary decision by the Editor (or French Language Editor, when applicable) to accept or reject the work based on the submission standards above. If subject matter expertise is required, the board and other faculty of Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie may be consulted.

    Upon acceptance, the work will be put through an external anonymous peer review. Reviewers are asked to respond with their feedback within eight weeks. The Editors then review the feedback and decide whether the article should be accepted (with revisions or not), or rejected. If the article is to be accepted with revisions, the author is given time to incorporate these. In rare circumstances (primarily when the DLJ wishes to support a junior scholar) a rating of “reject but encourage resubmission” is applied. In these cases, the Editors intend to work closely with the author should they choose to continue to work on their article with a view to publication in the DLJ. Once an article is accepted, it is moved through the editorial process.

    An editorial board including student editors conduct a substantive edit providing feedback for review by the author and ensuring that any feedback given by peer reviewers is acknowledged. All texts published in the DLJ conform with the most current Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation (“McGill Guide”) for formatting and citations. Where gaps exist, an internal style guide (available upon request) is used by the journal. Any substantive or content changes from the internal or external reviewers may be accepted or rejected at the discretion of the author.

    DLJ student editors rigorously review all citations to sources, ensuring the accuracy and quality of claims. The DLJ may request any obscure or difficult-to-find sources from authors. Appropriate opportunities are given to authors to read, accept, or correct editorial and footnote proofs before final publication.

    Overall the review process can take from 6-16 weeks, allowing for the schedule and availability of peer reviewers, proximity to publication deadlines, and the academic calendar.

    Please note: DLJ Special Volumes, especially those based on workshops in substantive areas with limited academic experts, may require that one peer reviewer know the identity of the author. The identity of the peer reviewers remains anonymous. The JSD Tory Writing Award [link to page] is selected with different criteria and follows a separate process.

    Any concerns or questions should be addressed to the editor at editor.dlj@dal.ca.

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    Early Publication

    The conversation of ideas happens at an increasingly rapid pace. The DLJ publishes articles online as soon as we have completed our review and editorial process. Your work gets out in the world sooner.

    If you have concerns about the submission terms for Dalhousie Law Journal, please contact the editors.

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    Publication Ethics

    Learn more about our Publication Ethics here.

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