For Authors

Volume XVIII of the Southern Journal of Policy and Justice will accept author submissions from attorneys, professors, and judges.
A prospective author need not be a BLSA member, though BLSA members are strongly encouraged to submit to the Journal.

The criteria for submissions is as follows:

1.) Topics: You are free to write on any topic that feither its with this year’s theme for the journal or involves legal issues that impact members of the African American or other minority communities. Please visit www.srblsalawjournal.org to determine the current year’s theme. We ask that your article be legally and logically sound; at least 20 pages in length, including footnotes; and we also ask that you strictly comply with the standard Bluebook form of citation. Submissions should be accompanied by a title page and a brief biography of the author. Professionals may submit a CV in lieu of, or in addition to, a biography. Students submissions must be accompanied by a resume.

2.) Formatting: The article should be at least 20 pages in length (this includes footnotes). Submissions should be double-spaced with 1" margins on all sides. Please use 12-point, Times New Roman font for text and page numbers. Footnotes should 10-point, Times New Roman font. Page numbers should be centered at the bottom of each page.

3.) Footnotes: There is not a footnote to paragraph ratio, per se, but a good rule of thumb is that almost every sentence in your paper should be supported by some authoritative source, unless it’s your own conclusion. A paper 20-25 pages in length should contain around 200 footnotes.

4.) Symposium Details: If you are selected for publication, you will be required to attend and possibly present your work at the Southern Journal of Policy and Justice’s annual symposium which takes place at the Regional Convention for the Southern Region of the Black Law Students Association (SRBLSA). While SRBLSA does not pay for travel, I will write a letter to the Dean of your law school, or your employer, requesting funds to support you in this endeavor.

5.) Deadlines: The deadline to submit your completed article is December 1, 2023. We will begin accepting completed products in August. Please email your submissions to srblsa.chiefeditor@nblsa.org.

Publication decisions will be made no later than December 31, 2023.

If you would like to discuss possible topics, or have a paper already written that you are thinking of submitting, feel free to contact the Editor-in-Chief, Sikudhani Foster-McCray, at srblsa.chiefeditor@nblsa.org.

The Journal is limited in the number of articles and notes it can publish. Once we reach that limit, no exceptions can be made.

EMAIL TO: srblsa.chiefeditor@nblsa.org
Sikudhani Foster-McCray
Editor-in-Chief, Southern Journal of Policy and Justice Vol. XVIII

Once a submission is approved for publication, each author will be sent a formal packet with all pertinent documents and further instructions for the writing process. Each author must commit to meeting very rigid guidelines to ensure a successful and timely publication. If selected, professionals are committing to complete submissions by a strict deadline.

— ARTICLES, NOTES & COMMENTS —

Each work will undergo several rounds of editing. After the first round, if the Editorial Board does not believe the work does not meet expected standards, the Journal reserves the right to return the work to the author and rescind the offer to publish.

FOR STUDENTS:
Notes and Comments are written by law students and typically shorter than Article submissions. A Note is an analysis of the holding or issue in a specific court case, while a Comment focuses on either legislation or on a more general legal theory or principle.

FOR PROFESSIONALS:
Articles are written by law professors, judges and legal practitioners. They serve an important purpose in that they express the ideas of legal experts with regard to the direction the law should take in certain areas. Such writings have proven influential in the development of the law and have frequently been cited as persuasive authority by the United States Supreme Court and other courts throughout the United States.