Submissions
The National Security Law Journal selects articles that display a cutting-edge national security law focus, quality writing, clarity of expression, and substantive merit. We welcome submissions from all points of view written by practitioners in the legal community and those in academia. We publish articles, essays, and book reviews that represent diverse views and make a significant and original contribution to the evolving field of national security law.
Piece Submissions Now Closed for Volume 12.2 (Spring 2025)
Requirements for Submissions
Articles should be approximately 25+ pages in length, including footnotes, and be double-spaced using a 12 point font with 1″ margins. Additionally, articles should be submitted in the form of a Microsoft Word Document.
Footnotes should follow the form prescribed in The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (21st ed. 2020). Footnotes should be limited to essential citations and commentary, and adhere to the latest edition of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation.
Articles should not have been previously published, and should not be currently under contract elsewhere.
The National Security Law Journal invites articles from law school professors, judges, practicing attorneys, teachers in other disciplines, and national security professionals. We generally do not accept submissions from current students
Articles, manuscripts, and other editorial correspondence should be addressed to our Articles Selection Editor by e-mail to submissions@nslj.org.
FAQs
This can vary depending on the board’s schedule. However, it should generally at most twenty calendar days for the board to review and vote on a submission.
NSLJ’s editors work collaboratively with one another, and with you, the author, to refine, clarify, and polish your piece. The journal’s Articles Editors will review your piece for organization, tone, grammar, and word choice. They will also highlight any counterarguments you did not address, any additional background that would aid a reader in understanding your argument, and any other issues or ambiguities present in the piece. These suggestions will be collated in a working draft that is then returned to you for approval or revision. Once you approve those substantive edits, the piece will go to NSLJ’s Research Editors, who will review all footnotes for accuracy and proper formatting. If a citation does not support the proposition to which it is attached, the research team will locate an alternative source, and create an appropriate citation. After this process is completed, the journal’s Executive Editor and Editor-in-Chief will conduct final reviews for quality control, before returning the piece to you for ultimate approval.
Again, there is some variability depending on the journal’s publication schedule. However, after a piece is accepted, the editing process will generally take 60 – 90 days, including the time allocated for you to review and approve of any edits.
Generally, no. While you will retain copyright to your work, and may include it, in whole or in part, in another work of which you are the sole author, you may not publish it in another periodical without NSLJ’s prior written approval.
Yes. NSLJ will provide you with courtesy copies of the issue in which you are published.
Each issue of the National Security Law Journal is available digitally through Westlaw and Lexis, HeinOnline, Amazon, EBSCO, and submitted to the Library of Congress. Physical copies are also distributed at journal events, including our symposia, and at national security law conferences.