Syracuse Journal of International Law and Commerce

For Authors

Submit Manuscript

Thank you for considering submitting your article to the Syracuse Journal of International Law and Commerce. Please read this page carefully, as it contains important information regarding the submissions process.

I. Selection

The Journal seeks to publish articles making a significant, original contribution to the international law and commerce field. We seek to publish scholarly works that focus on growing issues in the international community. Anyone may submit an original article to be considered for publication in Syracuse Journal of International Law and Commerce provided he or she owns the copyright to the work being submitted or is authorized by the copyright owner or owners to submit the article. Authors are the initial owners of the copyrights to their works (an exception in the non-academic world to this might exist if the authors have, as a condition of employment, agreed to transfer copyright to their employer).

Because our editorial policy affords substantial deference to authors, articles must be both well written and completely argued at the time of submission. Limited resources generally prevent us from filling in the gaps of an otherwise significant article or substantially correcting its style.

We review articles year-round. Although the timing varies with time of year and the number of submissions received, we generally seek to review articles within a few weeks of receipt of the piece. If we are unable to make an offer for publication for the submitted article, we contact the author(s). If the article is approved, then we extend an offer for publication immediately following that decision.

Submitted articles cannot have been previously published, nor be forthcoming in an archival journal or book (print or electronic). Please note:“publication” in a working-paper series does not constitute prior publication. In addition, by submitting material to Syracuse Journal of International Law and Commerce, the author is stipulating that the material is not currently under review at another journal (electronic or print) and that he or she will not submit the material to another journal (electronic or print) until the completion of the editorial decision process at Syracuse Journal of International Law and Commerce. If you have concerns about the submission terms for Syracuse Journal of International Law and Commerce, please contact the editors.

II. Editing

Both the argument of an article and its “voice” should be the creations of the author. Our edits are intended to hone the author’s vision, rather than replace it with our own.

To this end, after completing our substantial round of editing, we send the author a “redlined” copy of the manuscript that shows all changes we have made. Substantial changes are accompanied by substantive comments or questions. Our changes are meant as reasoned suggestions, not editorial edicts, and we will respect the author’s judgment regarding whether the changes should, in the end, be made.

Syracuse Journal of International Law and Commerce has no general rules about the formatting of articles upon initial submission. There are, however, rules governing the formatting of the final submission. See Final Manuscript Preparation Guidelines for details. Although bepress can provide limited technical support, it is ultimately the responsibility of the author to produce an electronic version of the article as a high-quality PDF (Adobe’s Portable Document Format) file, or a Microsoft Word, WordPerfect or RTF file that can be converted to a PDF file.

It is understood that the current state of technology of Adobe’s Portable Document Format (PDF) is such that there are no, and can be no, guarantees that documents in PDF will work perfectly with all possible hardware and software configurations that readers may have.

III. Submission

The Journal accepts and prefers electronic submissions through this submission system (Scholastica).

IV. Withdrawal

If you wish to withdraw your piece from consideration, please do so via Scholastica or contact us at SJILC@law.syr.edu. Please put “Withdraw” as the subject of your email, and include in the text the author name and title of your manuscript.

Thank you again for considering submitting your piece to the Syracuse Journal of International Law and Commerce. All additional inquiries concerning articles and article submissions should be directed to the Lead Articles Editors at SJILC@law.syr.edu.

V. Special JILC Requirements

  1. 15-page minimum or approximately 6,500 words;

  2. Citations in BlueBook format;

  3. The author’s curriculum vitae (CV);

  4. A brief statement of why the article is a “contribution to literature”.