BJESL Submission Requirements
The Berkeley Journal of Entertainment & Sports Law (BJESL) publishes once a year, each spring, and welcomes submissions of unpublished articles, essays, case notes, or comments concerning any aspect of the relationship between entertainment, sports and the law. BJESL requests that authors comply with the following standards:
Eligibility
Anyone, excluding a current law student at the time of submission, may submit an original article to be considered for publication provided they own 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).
General Submission Rules
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. If you have concerns about the submission terms for Berkeley Journal of Entertainment & Sports Law, please contact the editors.
Submission Requirements
- Articles should be less than 35,000 words (including footnotes, and appendices).
- BJESL considers pieces that are substantially legal in nature and will accept pieces that would traditionally be considered articles, essays, or book reviews.
- Citations should conform to the 21st edition of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation.
- Author must produce an electronic version of the article as a high-quality PDF (Adobe's Portable Document Format) file or a Microsoft Word file. Although a Microsoft Word format is preferable.
- Articles must be double-spaced, single-sided, with one-inch margins.
- Please include with your submission the following information for each author:
- Name
- Mailing Address
- Email Address
- Phone Number
- Author's CV
Submission Method
We strongly encourage authors to submit their manuscripts through Scholastica. Alternatively, we accept submissions via email at bjesl@berkeley.edu. Please note that we will not accept articles submitted via mail. Due to the high volume of submissions received, we will not be able to provide status updates on your submission.
Review Process
The Berkeley Journal of Entertainment & Sports Law carefully considers all submissions that it receives on a rolling basis until the issue is filled. Our selection process has many steps: each piece is reviewed by the Editors individually and ranked, then the Publishing Committee will discuss the notes as a group and vote on the articles to be in the upcoming Volume. We encourage authors to submit articles as soon as they are ready. Submissions are less frequently monitored from May through July, due to summer break.
Expedite Requests
Expedite requests should be made online via Scholastica. Regrettably, the Berkeley Journal of Entertainment & Sports Law is not able to confirm receipt of an expedite request, but an Editor will be in contact if there is interest in the piece.
Extending/Accepting an Offer
We give offers of publications via email. Our policy is to give authors seven (7) days to decide whether to accept an offer of publication. If an author needs more time to make a decision, they may request an extension. Whether to grant an extension is in the sole discretion of the Editors. As a matter of policy, we do not discuss the reasons for our publication decisions.
We look forward to receiving and reading your scholarship.