SUBMIT
Journal Submissions
The Ottawa Law Review publishes one volume a year, consisting of at least two issues, and accepts submissions twice a year, typically in early Spring and late Summer. Both French and English submissions are accepted.
If you have questions about our submission process, please contact our submissions managers at la****************@*****wa.ca.
Both French and English submissions are accepted.
Article
Articles must have compelling legal analysis sufficient to make an original contribution to the existing literature on a specific legal topic.
Case Comment
Case comments are a creative and critical discussion of the impact of a noteworthy case’ impact.
Book Review
Book reviews are formal evaluations of notable books recently published. Book reviews must go above and beyond summarizing the contents of the work.
Blog Post
Blog posts are short commentaries on contemporary legal issues that are published in the OLR blog.
FORMAT
Microsoft Word document (.doc)
12 point Times New Roman font
Double-spaced text
1 inch margins
Arabic numeral page numbers on bottom right corners
The full title and a table of contents shall immediately precede the work
CITATION FORMAT
Footnotes must be used (not endnotes), and they must conform to the most recent edition of the Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation (Toronto: Thomson Reuters Canada), known as the “McGill Guide”. Please do not include a bibliography.
Upon acceptance, authors will be required to submit the following:
- A 200 word (maximum) abstract which will be translated into the other official language,
- Any acknowledgements that the author wishes to make and the author’s credentials, including any institutional affiliation (maximum 100 words).
The Ottawa Law Review provides disclaimers, upon request, stating that all opinions expressed are solely the author’s and not the institution’s.
Originality and Exclusivity
The Ottawa Law Review publishes only original material, meaning that a substantially similar version of the work has not been previously published. Authors must inform the Ottawa Law Review if their submissions relate to any prior work.
Additionally, the Ottawa Law Review only considers exclusively submitted material that is not simultaneously under consideration by any other publication.
Plagiarism
It is the author’s responsibility to comply with the University of Ottawa’s policy on academic fraud. The Ottawa Law Review strictly adheres to this policy.
Anonymity
The Ottawa Law Review considers submissions anonymously, without regard to the author’s identity, institutional affiliation, prior publications, credentials, or previous submissions.
To facilitate an anonymous peer-review process, no identifying information may appear in the submission, including credentials, biographical information, acknowledgements, or references/citations to the author’s previous works, that may identify him or her as the author of the submission.
The Editors-in-Chief (Articles) and Submissions Manager are the only members of the Editorial Board who has knowledge of the identity of the author. Neither the assessors nor the other Editorial Board members have knowledge of the author’s identity during the evaluation process.
For our entire policy, please consult General Conditions for Authors.
Authors who are or have recently been students (within the past 10 months) must include a letter or email from a law professor supporting the publication of the paper in a law journal.
Submission & Selection
After being anonymized by the Submissions Managers, each submission undergoes a rigorous selection process. The Senior Board first reads the piece and decides whether to select it for the evaluation process.
Evaluation & Acceptance
When a submission is selected for evaluation, the Ottawa Law Review obtains a minimum of two independent assessments from peer reviewers with expertise on the legal topic at issue.
In addition to style, organization, persuasiveness, coherence, conciseness, clarity, etc., both the Senior Board and the peer reviewers evaluate the substance of the submission based on the following criteria:
- Does the article contain a clear idea or argument as its thesis?
- Does the article seriously consider opposing arguments?
- Does the article make a significant contribution to existing literature in the field?
- Is the idea or argument discussed in a novel manner?
- Are the supporting citations current, thorough, and accurate?
- Does the article lay a foundation for further debate?
- Is the subject of the article relevant to the legal community?
Aided by the peer reviewers’ evaluations, a majority vote of the Senior Board determines the outcome, with each Board member able to vote to accept the submission for publication, accept it with conditions, or reject it altogether. Articles are rarely accepted without the need for further changes; conditions are usually added.
Editing & Publication
As the Ottawa Law Review relies on its team of dedicated student editors, its editing cycles align with the academic year, from September to April. Submissions received in the early Spring are edited during the Fall semester, while those submitted in the late Summer are edited during the Winter semester. Pieces are published shortly after each semester, with the entire process, from submission to publication, generally taking around 10 months.