Submission Guidelines
The Journal of International Media & Entertainment Law is a semi-annual publication of the Donald E. Biederman Entertainment and Media Law Institute of Southwestern Law School in association with the Forums on Communications Law and the Entertainment and Sports Industries of the American Bar Association. It provides a forum for practicing lawyers, academicians, and other interested participants to explore the complex and unsettled legal principles that apply to creating and distributing media and entertainment products in an international, comparative, and local law context.
Article Length: Feature articles traditionally are between 10,000 and 15,000 words, or 50-to-60 double-spaced pages. Depending on the topic and depth of focus, the Journal also accepts some shorter articles.
Style: The writing should be appropriate for a law review article. To that end, authors should
- use Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary and The Chicago Manual of Style as the basis for spelling and grammar decisions, respectively
- use gender-neutral language
- avoid long quotations
- avoid using a long word when a short one will do
- avoid using a foreign phrase, scientific words, terms of art, or jargon if you can think of a more common English equivalent
- avoid overworked figures of speech
- avoid excessive capitalization
- avoid excessive use of commas
Footnotes: All references must be completely and accurately cited as footnotes rather than embedded in the text, using the citation style of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (21st Edition).
Author Biography: Please include a one-sentence description of your current professional affiliation. Do not include your academic credentials, although you may include a brief statement about your professional interest in the topic.
Author Disclosure: If you have been involved in any of the cases that you discuss or cite, as either counsel or as a litigant, that information must be disclosed in a footnote (e.g., The author served as counsel for the defense in Smith v. Jones).
Manuscript Preparation: Use footnotes, double-spaced, number pages, italicize rather than underline, use Microsoft Word or a Windows-compatible program, and submit your contribution as an email attachment. Do not submit hard copy manuscripts.
Prior Publication: Simultaneous submission of manuscripts to other publications is discouraged and must be brought to the attention of the editor of the Journal. Unless otherwise clearly noted, all manuscripts are expected to be original.
Copyright: Authors are asked to sign a copyright agreement granting Southwestern Law School a license granting the exclusive right of first publication and the non-exclusive right to reprint or use the work in other media—including electronic, print, and other—for all material published in the Journal.
Manuscripts and inquiries may be emailed to Michael M. Epstein, Supervising Editor, at jimel@swlaw.edu.
Manuscripts are submitted at the sender’s risk, and no responsibility is assumed for the return of the material. No compensation is paid for articles published.