Articles Submissions
Submissions for Issue 1 of Volume 27 are now open.
Subject Matter: We publish articles by academics, practitioners, and policymakers on a wide range of topics related to the intersection of law and technology, including privacy, intellectual property, artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, cybercrime, antitrust, content moderation, and algorithmic accountability. You can peruse the articles of past issues on this website for a sample of topics we have accepted.
While we welcome scholarship on issues of internationsl scope and importance, we prefer articles that focus on the law of the United States. Additionally, while we will consider short notes, we prefer full length articles. If you have a shorter piece, please consider submitting to The Record instead.
How to Submit: If you are interested in publishing with YJoLT, please submit your materials electronically through Scholastica. If you are absolutely unable to submit your article via Scholastica, please contact us at yjolt@yale.edu. You must include the phrase “YJoLT Submission” in your email subject line. We do not accept hard copy submissions.
Please submit the manuscript as a Word (preferred) or PDF file. Manuscripts must be accompanied by the author’s email, phone number, and address. The author should also include a resume/CV and a short abstract. For Articles, we strongly encourage submissions of fewer than 25,000 words, including footnotes, but there is no hard limit. Should a submission exceed the word count, however, we reserve the right to treat its length as a factor that weighs against acceptance.
Citation Format: Citations in all submitted articles should conform to the latest edition of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation. Please ensure that the submitted manuscript has been fully edited. If your submission is incomplete, that will weigh against acceptance.
Review: YJoLT publishes two issues each year, one in the Fall and another in the Spring. For each issue, we will select between three to five articles. We review articles for each issue on a rolling basis based on the following dates each year:
- Fall Issue: February 1st until full
- Spring Issue: August 1st until full
We strongly suggest that submissions be made as early as possible during these time periods. Off-peak submissions will be reviewed, as needed, to fill unexpected gaps, however there is no guarantee of review. YJoLT receives a significant volume of articles, but we guarantee that we will make a decision on every article submitted through Scholastica. Additionally, we will be sure to notify authors when an offer for publication is made.
Expedite Requests: If you have received an offer of publication from another journal, please request expedited review of your submission through Scholastica. Include the decision deadline, the name of the journal that has extended you an offer, and any other information relevant to the expedite request. As with standard submissions, we have a strong preference for expedite requests submitted via Scholastica and prefer communications through Scholastica’s system. If you are submitting via email, please include the same information at the top of the email body.
If you subsequently receive an additional publication offer, please update Scholastica or send an email (depending on your initial method of submission). When emailing, include the title of your submission, the words “Additional Expedite Request,” and the decision deadline in the subject line. In the body of the email, please provide the name of the journal that has made you an offer.
Please note that expedited review provides your piece with no competitive advantage in our process. We will not depart from our standard review process for expedited pieces.
Data: Authors submitting pieces that rely on quantitative data and analysis are expected to submit their datasets, replication code, and/or a README file with any supplemental information about how to reproduce their analysis at YJoLT’s request. Although we are agnostic about the programming language used (e.g., R, Python, Stata, MATLAB), authors must submit any materials necessary to replicate their analysis. Note that poor documentation and/or nonreproducible code may delay our consideration of the piece. YJoLT reserves the right to refuse to publish any piece with nonreproducible results.
YLS Student Authorship: We do not review Articles written by current J.D. students at Yale Law School. Current YLS students interested in submitting their scholarship are encouraged to submit to The Record instead. Our policy against student submissions does not apply to J.D. candidates at other law schools, nor does it extend to L.L.M. candidates at Yale Law School.
Acceptance: All articles accepted by YJoLT will undergo extensive editing prior to publication. To maintain YJoLT’s publication standards, acceptance of an article by YJoLT is conditioned on the author’s cooperation during the editorial process.
Thank you for your interest in submitting to YJoLT. We look forward to hearing from you! If you have any questions, please reach out to the Board at yjolt@yale.edu.
The Record Submissions
Submissions for The Record are now closed.
The Record is YJoLT’s blog for shorter or less formal pieces. You can submit to The Record using our submission survey.
Subject Matter: YJoLT Record pieces are authored by professors, practitioners, and students and are shorter, timelier, and more accessible to a general audience than other YJoLT publications. Like YJoLT, The Record publishes articles on a wide range of topics related to the intersection of law and technology. You can review previous posts for a sample of topics we have accepted.
How to Submit: Please use our submission survey to submit your piece to The Record. You should upload your submission as an anonymized Word document. To remove document metadata, in Microsoft Word, navigate to the “Info” option under the “File” menu, run “Inspect Document,” then click “Remove All” next to “Document Properties and Personal Information.” Submissions that contain identifying information will not be reviewed.
Generally, we recommend that pieces be around 3,000-5,000 words (excluding footnotes), but there is no set minimum or maximum length. However, if a piece is above 5,000, that may weigh against acceptance.
Because Record pieces undergo an accelerated editing process, we strongly favor submissions that employ clear and concise language and logically present the argument. Authors should provide evidence for each of their conclusions and acknowledge the limits of their argument.
Authors will be required to write a brief summary of their submission in the submission survey. While YJoLT does not require a Statement of Originality, we reserve the right to request one before accepting a submission if warranted.
Please ensure that you have fully edited your submission. We will not accept draft pieces.
Review: We review submissions on a rolling basis and will accept pieces based on our capacity. If a submission is accepted, YJoLT editors will work with you on light revisions to the piece before publishing.
Citation Format: Citations for submissions can be in any format as long as they provide sufficient information for us to verify their accuracy. If your submission is selected for publication, you will work with the Record Editor to ensure your piece conforms to the latest edition of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation.
Acceptance: Submissions accepted by YJoLT for The Record undergo much less extensive editing than Articles. Nonetheless, to maintain YJoLT’s publication standards, acceptance of a Record piece by YJoLT is conditioned on the author’s cooperation during the editorial process.
Plagiarism Policy: YJoLT expects authors to stand behind their submissions as original and accurate. For example, language borrowed from others should be quoted or attributed correctly. If it is discovered after acceptance that the submission is not entirely the author’s own work, the piece will not be published. Further, we will immediately remove a piece from the site if we discover plagiarism after publication.
YLS Student Authorship: Current J.D. students at Yale Law School are encouraged to submit to The Record.
Statement of Originality: YJoLT reserves the right to request that an author provide a Statement of Originality if we deem it helpful for our review. However, you are not required to include one with your initial submission. A Statement of Originality is intended to (1) identify the submission’s original contribution to the literature, (2) clearly explain the submission’s relationship to the closest existing works on the topic, and (3) discuss the literature that forms the submission’s intellectual background. If asked to submit a Statement of Originality, you must identify the literature that comes closest to your submission, accurately describe this literature, and honestly explain the relationship between this literature and your submission.
Questions: If you have any questions about the process or your submission, please contact the Record Editor, Elena Sokoloski. Please do not contact other YJoLT members regarding your submission.