Editorial Policy of the Columbia Law Review

As of September 28, 2011, both the Articles and Essay and Review Committees of the Columbia Law Review have concluded their review of all submissions for the Review's Spring 2012 issues. We will not make any further offers of publication for articles or essays until we begin considering pieces for the Fall 2012 issues. We will begin accepting article and essay submissions for the Fall issues on February 1, 2012.  We continue to accept Sidebar submissions on an ongoing basis.  We appreciate your interest in publishing with us and look forward to your submissions.

The Columbia Law Review believes that a vast majority of law review articles can convey their arguments effectively with between 20,000 and 37,000 words (inclusive of footnotes).  We will accept submissions exceeding 32,000 words in the event that the length is merited.  We will, however, give strong preference to pieces that are fewer than 32,000 words in length. This policy reflects our commitment to what a number of law reviews around the United States have recognized:  We can do our part to make legal scholarship more focused and effective. 

Please do not submit student-written Articles or Essays.  They will not be considered.  We do, however, accept student-written Sidebar submissions.

Regular Submission Review
The Columbia Law Review is published eight times a year, in every month but February, July, August, and September. The Review strongly encourages authors to submit pieces electronically.

Article submissions can also be mailed to the Articles Committee; Essays and Reviews to the Essays & Reviews Committee; Sidebar submissions to the Sidebar Committee. Our address for both mail and courier delivery is:

Columbia Law Review
435 West 116th Street
New York, NY 10027

We regret that manuscripts cannot be returned. Please allow 4-6 weeks for processing of all electronic submissions, and 8-10 weeks for all mailed submissions.
Submission requirements:

• Submit only one, double spaced copy of your manuscript. We greatly prefer if submissions appear in Microsoft Word format. Regular submissions are only accepted electronically via our website-based submissions system. Please note that we do not accept regular submissions by e-mail, disk, or facsimile.
• Text and citations should conform to A Uniform System of Citation (19th ed. 2010) ("The Bluebook"). Footnotes are strongly preferred over endnotes.
• If you submit your piece via mail, enclose a cover letter that references the name of your manuscript, and provides your address, telephone number, and e-mail address.
• The Review encourages the use of gender-neutral language.

Expedited Review
If you have received an offer from another journal for your Article, Essay, or Book Review and would like to request an expedited review, please send an e-mail to the Executive Articles Editor (for Articles) or the Executive Essay & Review Editor (for Essays and Book Reviews). In the body of the e-mail, please include:

• your name
• the title of your manuscript
• the name of the journal that has extended an offer to you
• the date the offer expires
• the phone number or e-mail address of a contact person at that journal

The editors of the Review attempt to honor all requests for expedited review for which the above information is provided. To increase the chances of timely review, please attach to the e-mail an electronic version of your manuscript, in Word (.doc) format. While we strongly discourage it, if you are unable to send e-mail, you may request expedited review by calling the Executive Articles Editor at (212) 854-6185; expedited review requests sent by facsimile are also strongly discouraged.
Please be aware of the Review's policy concerning expedited reviews: If the Review makes an offer of publication for an Article, Essay, or Review following an expedited review, the author has only one hour from the time of actual notification in which to accept the offer.

Articles and Essays

The Review has received many inquiries about the differences between essays and articles.  As a threshold matter it is important to emphasize that page length is in no way dispositive as to which category fits which pieces.  Essays can certainly be long, and articles short.

Articles tend to be research pieces analyzing a problem and suggesting a solution.  Such analysis usually articulates some background information to inform the reader, before turning to a novel argument.  Along these lines, published articles regularly follow a traditional roadmap of introduction, background, analysis/argument, and conclusion, and provide a comprehensive treatment of a particular area of law.  Articles tend to be formal in both the author's tone and in the obligation to ground information and analysis in comprehensive substantive support via consistent citation.  

The primary purpose of essays is not to conduct new legal research but to advance an idea, summarize a development, or initiate or engage in discussion.  The topics, approaches, and insights are more diverse, and the author is freer to inject personality or voice into the piece.  The Review also accept book reviews.

The Columbia Law Review reads and carefully considers every piece submitted for publication.  If you are unsure whether your article is better suited to the Articles or Essays section, please feel free to submit it under either category and the Review can decide with you which committee, or whether both committees, should review it.