« Kid Power! | Main | Whither class, whither the poor in legal scholarship? »
Wednesday, August 05, 2015
Submission angsting: Fall 2015
Well, given that the Christmas and Chanukah decorations and the Winter Starbucks flavors now kick in just after Halloween, I suppose it's no surprise that early August is already a bit late for the traditional Prawfs Fall submissions angsting thread.
Keep your eyes open for the Great Bird and . . . let the wild rumpus start! Or, in the more helpful words of our own Howard Wasserman and Danny Markel:
So let the angsting commence.
If you are an author or law review editor and want to share information about your submission experience to the law reviews, this is the place to do it. If you have questions about the process, this is the place to do it. Feel free to use the comments to share your information (and gripes or praise) about which journals you have heard from, which you have not, etc. Have at it. And do it reasonably nicely, pretty please.
Posted by Rick Garnett on August 5, 2015 at 09:19 AM in Rick Garnett | Permalink
Comments
Having submitted yesterday, I am yearning for a new angsting thread and droves of others offering up anecdotes. I am sad to say that it is the one thing that can distract my mind during the course of submission season.
Posted by: anon | Feb 2, 2016 7:49:13 AM
dings from Wisconsin and Florida
Posted by: guest | Feb 1, 2016 10:02:59 AM
Ok, I know some of the hyper people have started submitting - any updates??
Posted by: anon | Jan 30, 2016 12:10:29 PM
Time for a Spring angsting thread? Many thanks!
Posted by: guest | Jan 21, 2016 4:43:47 PM
Re Yale Law Journal Forum, it's almost 3 months now and still the status is "under consideration". This has got to be the longest wait anyone has ever had with YLJ Forum! They must have missed it. I think I have truly earned my right to angst now.
Posted by: Dream | Jan 11, 2016 4:17:13 AM
Yale Law Journal Forum. Wow, it's still "under consideration". Either something is wrong or they're really taking a LONG time! I'm seriously thinking about asking them...
Posted by: Dream | Dec 2, 2015 11:44:53 PM
Re Yale Law Journal Forum, anony, Thanks for letting me know! It's just past 4 weeks now for me and I'm still waiting. I've submitted to them in the past and it took them about 2 weeks to decline. But this time it's been 4 weeks already, so I was starting to wonder if there was a problem. Thanks again!
Posted by: Dream | Nov 17, 2015 2:58:40 AM
Re Yale Law Journal Forum, I got an acceptance from them, about 4 weeks for a decision.
Posted by: anony | Nov 16, 2015 2:57:48 PM
The editors of the University of New Hampshire Law Review have asked me to post the following notice:
The University of New Hampshire Law Review is opening an exclusive submission window for articles until November 20, 2015. All papers submitted during this window will be reviewed for publication in our Spring 2016 journal. Authors will be provided a response by December 1, 2015. By submitting your article during this window, you agree to accept a publication offer if one is extended. Articles on all topics are welcome.
Please forward submissions and a C.V. via email to [email protected], using as the subject line: Exclusive Submission Window: [Article Title].
Posted by: John Greabe | Nov 2, 2015 12:00:11 AM
Just wondering, does anyone know how long it usually takes Yale Law Journal Forum (YLJ's online part) to make decisions? Has anyone ever gotten an accept from them? Thanks~
Posted by: Dream | Oct 28, 2015 8:23:55 PM
Quite a nerve-wrecking submission season! I had started submitting on Aug. 5 starting with T50 flagship law reviews and top specialty journals in business law and law and technology and then expanding the range. An offer (and the only offer of any kind) from one of the better-known T14 specialty journals on October 5, which I accepted a day later. Overall, (i) Scholastica: 25 rejections out of 40 submissions and (ii) Expresso: six rejections and one offer out of 62 submissions. This makes sense because Scholastica has more elite flagship law reviews, and many of my Expresso submissions to lower-ranking journals were later in the game. Best of luck to everyone!
Posted by: G-Ice | Oct 7, 2015 3:40:15 PM
Has anyone heard anything from Southern California? Seems like radio silence.
Posted by: anonymous | Oct 1, 2015 9:28:10 AM
NYU is full
Posted by: guest | Sep 30, 2015 4:22:20 PM
I am new to the law review process and have received emails from journals saying that my piece is under editorial board review. Do journals send those to everyone? Or does it mean something?
Posted by: Anon | Sep 30, 2015 2:02:23 PM
It looks like Stanford L Rev is full - their website is no longer accepting submissions or expedites.
Posted by: anonymous | Sep 30, 2015 2:29:54 AM
Yale J Reg is full
Posted by: A | Sep 29, 2015 1:04:46 PM
NYU is full.
Posted by: NYUintel | Sep 29, 2015 12:35:24 PM
Thanks Advice, I appreciate your input.
Posted by: oldarticleman | Sep 29, 2015 10:08:31 AM
Oldarticleman: I think it really depends on the expectations at your institution. Other than that, I (personally) don't see a huge difference in terms of prestige between the specific journals you mentioned, considering the specific specialty field involved (the big name doesn't do a lot of work here). If it was an IL or technology specialty I would probably say go for the specialty, but not sure whether this reasoning applies also to public policy specialties.
Posted by: Advice | Sep 29, 2015 3:51:13 AM
Any thoughts on whether it is better to go with a big name specialty journal, Notre Dame journal of law, ethics and public policy, or a flagship like St. John's Law Review? ND is ranked 25 out of 62 on the specialty list of W&L, or in the top 40% of that list. While St. John's on the flagship list is 105 out of roughly 214 journals or in the top 49% of that list. Any thoughts on how to compare these apples and oranges would be appreciated. Thanks.
Posted by: oldarticleman | Sep 28, 2015 8:56:13 PM
ucla is full
Posted by: anon | Sep 28, 2015 7:49:50 PM
Fordham is full
Posted by: A | Sep 28, 2015 8:36:22 AM
GW is full
Posted by: Guest | Sep 27, 2015 11:16:43 PM
Fordham is full.
Posted by: Anon | Sep 27, 2015 6:18:56 PM
Any further info on whether any of the follow journals are full?
Stanford
UCLA
U Chicago
Columbia
NYU
Fordham
BC
S. Cal.
Yale J Reg
Posted by: anon | Sep 26, 2015 12:53:17 PM
Oldarticleman, in my opinion you cannot ethically reject an offer that you've accepted and take an offer later from a "higher" journal. That would be an awful thing to do in my opinion. Once you've accepted and the journal has acknowledged your acceptance without somehow changing the deal (like tossing in a publication agreement with unacceptable terms), you should withdraw your article from consideration by other journals. For those interested, my expedite expired yesterday and I heard nothing from most journals including the following who had been sitting on it since 8/16: Cardozo, Hastings, Iowa, Southern California, and UCLA. I'm glad to be finished with all this for a season.
Posted by: SwimmingAgainstTheTide | Sep 26, 2015 10:35:26 AM
I think the explanation for the behavior of journals is that they simply do what is in their direct interests. There is no repeat play here with these individuals so there's no reason to do anything that does not serve their direct interests. I believe that they simply focus on the articles they want until they can no longer get them and then they move onto the next one they want. Sending rejections is essentially a waste of time from the journals perspective. Of course the other side of this, is that authors may accept an offer, to be sure that their article has a home, and then if something better comes through reject the offer that they have already accepted and go with the higher ranked journal. This of course would send the first journal scrambling to replace an article that already secured. Does anyone have any experience with this?
Posted by: oldarticleman | Sep 26, 2015 10:11:29 AM
Expedite expired for Cardozo, Hastings, and Columbia with nary a word.
Posted by: YesterdayIKilledaMammoth | Sep 24, 2015 6:22:55 PM
Ding from HLR in response to an expedite from a top 5 specialty. Submitted 9/1.
Posted by: A | Sep 24, 2015 1:29:47 PM
What journals are still accepting submissions at this point?
Posted by: So Very Late | Sep 24, 2015 10:20:41 AM
UCLA has not sent me out a confirmation email. Just silence on a Friday expedite deadline. I'm also a bit disappointed in the Silence from So. Cal. They have given me polite acknowledgements in the past.
Posted by: SwimmingAgainstTheTide | Sep 23, 2015 10:43:36 PM
Is UCLA still sending out its traditional expedite confirmation e-mails this cycle?
Posted by: Anonymouse | Sep 23, 2015 10:00:44 PM
At least Chicago has the courtesy to respond. Iowa? No. UCLA? No. And plenty of others. The faculty advisers of these journals should be embarrassed.
Posted by: anonanon | Sep 22, 2015 10:36:12 PM
Got the Chicago ding today off the expedite.
Posted by: SwimmingAgainstTheTide | Sep 22, 2015 7:21:30 PM
Nearly 8 weeks after submitting, got a T50 offer this afternoon. Keep hope alive, folks.
Posted by: AngstMode | Sep 22, 2015 3:29:42 PM
I've got an expedite expiring at Columbia, Hastings, and Cardozo this week. Haven't heard from any. Not looking good.
Posted by: YesterdayIKilledaMammoth | Sep 22, 2015 1:47:14 AM
No offer.
Posted by: anonanon | Sep 21, 2015 9:36:04 PM
Anonanon, did Chicago make you an offer? They've had mine since early August and have not yet responded on an expedite for this Friday. It's nice to hear that they do respond.
Posted by: SwimmingAgainstTheTide | Sep 21, 2015 7:06:04 PM
So frustrating. I just accepted the one offer I had, which I am happy with. However, of the 10 journals that I expedited to, just one - Chicago - got back to me in the week that I gave them. I really wonder if there is a way to get better response rates. I mean we pay for the privilege of submitting. It is ridiculous and utterly discourteous to just ignore submissions. Thanks to this thread for letting me vent. Next time I think I will boycott Scholastica and ExpressO. Ugh.
Posted by: anonanon | Sep 21, 2015 5:21:20 PM
P.S. If my hypothesis is right, would it ever really make sense to give an expedite period of more than just a few days even if you have much longer? If a journal is serious and needs more time, that would force them to let you know that right a way. I'm also curious if anyone has any thoughts on this as well. If we knew what is really going on, maybe we could come up with some best practices that could take some of the wasted time and frustration out of this for everybody including the journals.
Posted by: SwimmingAgainstTheTide | Sep 20, 2015 11:38:56 PM
All that puzzles me, too, Anonanon. In trying to come up with a rational explanation (other than simple inertia which is probably the most likely reason), the best I can come up with is this. If they haven't rejected your paper after a lengthy period, they haven't ruled out publishing it if other pieces they prefer don't work out. If they get an expedite while sitting on your piece, they might see the rational response as doing one of two things. One, wait until the last minute and give an offer with a very short fuse. That might reduce the possibility of letting the new offer be used for another round of expedites. Two, just do nothing and see if the piece remains available. That, too, might also lower the chances of a further expedite, especially as you get further into the season. That still leaves your piece in play and them uncommitted if you don't take your current offer and withdraw. I don't know if this second scenario does or should occur but it seems a logical possibility. In either case, that means authors will generally have to wait until the end of any expedite period regardless of length. What do you think? Of course, one problem with this for journals (in my current situation at least) is that I did a very selective expedite and would likely take the first expedited acceptance.
Posted by: SwimmingAgainstTheTide | Sep 20, 2015 11:32:12 PM
I expedited last Monday to 10 journals. Offer expires tomorrow afternoon and I just got my first rejection today. I doubt I will hear from more than 2-3 more journals tomorrow, which is ridiculous, given that they have all had my paper since the beginning of August. I mean just reject already if you don't want it.
Posted by: anonanon | Sep 20, 2015 9:54:42 PM
Thanks Anonymouse. I have had complete silence for over a month now from most journals including some very good ones. I don't understand why they don't just hit the "ding" button. I've mostly only heard from journals once they have been filled.
Posted by: SwimmingAgainstTheTide | Sep 20, 2015 7:22:03 PM
On Day 10 of my expedite. Heard from 1 journal (ding) within a few hours, otherwise still complete radio silence. I didn't expect to hear back from most journals, or necessarily receive another offer, but the near utter lack of rejections on an expedite is highly unusual. Weird season.
Posted by: Anonymouse | Sep 20, 2015 2:42:12 PM
I expedited a few days ago and have heard nothing. Not a peep. I have some more days to go until the deadline but wondered if such complete silence is the norm. I thought at the very least there would be some quick rejections. Maybe none of this is supposed to make sense.
Posted by: SwimmingAgainstTheTide | Sep 20, 2015 1:56:41 PM
Yesterday: Nope. I expedited to them last week with a deadline of tomorrow.
Posted by: anonanon | Sep 20, 2015 1:02:20 PM
Anybody heard from Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy?
Posted by: YesterdayIKilledaMammoth | Sep 19, 2015 10:02:59 PM
dings from Cal and ELQ
Posted by: anon | Sep 18, 2015 12:43:38 PM
Adding to this page:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KuUwCtpf58CYx1TWai1abjYfVklNt0PrXIfPQjSYNm4/edit#gid=0
Posted by: anonanon | Sep 18, 2015 12:21:55 PM
I just wanted to pass on what should have been obvious to me a long time ago. I've been baffled in the past to watch my articles get blogged and cited from SSRN while journals ignored them for weeks after my submission to them. Yesterday I sent links to blogs and a cite of my latest article to journals which have had my article for a month. In less than 24 hours the silence was broken with an offer today. I hope I am the only one who hasn't been clever enough to do this in the past but I pass on my example just in case. This is also the second year in a row where I've been able to place in the fall cycle and am now of the view that it's a no brainer to try. One can always resubmit in the spring.
Posted by: Stating The Obvious | Sep 17, 2015 10:48:29 PM
Awesome. Thanks for the suggestions and the data! Seems like spring is the way to go since nothing is time sensitive.
Posted by: First Time | Sep 17, 2015 10:06:14 PM
First time- By my rough calculation, 10 of the top 25, 8-10 of 25-50, and 8-10 of 51-75 are full now.
Posted by: anon | Sep 17, 2015 2:50:00 PM
My experience was also similar to Original Anonymouse's above. Submitted rather narrowly in the beginning of August, 3 weeks crickets, then offer from a top 10 specialty; a week later, 2-3 hours before the expedite deadline, I received an offer from a T50 USNews/T40 W&L flagship. Second expedite yielded several dings, but nothing but silence from many journals. One especially frustrating journal asked for more time, but I never heard from it although I got the extension.
The thing is that I'm not even sure that my second offer had anything to do with the first expedite request. We tend to assume that post-expedite offers somehow relate to the expedite requests, but in fact unless the journal explicitly says so we can't know for sure whether this is the case.
Posted by: Advice | Sep 17, 2015 3:49:49 AM
Anonymouse all of my offers off of expedite this season came within hours of my expedite deadline with many journals never responding.
Posted by: Original Anonymouse | Sep 16, 2015 11:10:56 PM
First Time - Yes. Wait - you will have far more options.
Posted by: anonanon | Sep 16, 2015 10:53:23 PM
Are most of the top 25-50 journals full by now? If I have an article that will be done and ready to send out within the week, then would it be better to wait until the spring?
Posted by: First Time | Sep 16, 2015 10:37:22 PM
Nearly one week into an expedite, and I've only heard from 1 of the ~40 journals I expected to. That ratio seems absurdly low even for this season...
Posted by: Anonymouse | Sep 16, 2015 7:38:33 PM
A - Yes; they were off expedites for offers that expire in the next couple days. It's often tough to get a read at a top journal without an expedite to put some pressure on... You might want to invest by submitting more widely; it'll likely pay off in the long run.... Good luck!
Posted by: anon prof | Sep 16, 2015 4:02:05 PM
Were the Columbia and Davis dings off of expedites? That is my challenge-- I submitted rather narrowly so I'm not in the expedite world, and I'm just not sure anyone is actually reading the paper.
Posted by: A | Sep 16, 2015 3:35:07 PM
A(9:53) and Lurker: Recent dings from Columbia (and Davis) so some of the top are still reviewing.
Posted by: anon | Sep 16, 2015 2:15:33 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.