Academic Legal Writing - Eugene Volokh [137]
On the other hand, there probably is a real difference in reputation between #30 and #15. (For advice on where to draw the line, talk to your faculty advisor.) Moreover, if #30 gives you a short deadline, you might want to call #29 and better (or even #31–35), hoping to get an offer which can give you more time for higher-ranked journals to consider your piece.
c. Don't feel embarrassed about trying to shop an offer from a #75 journal to a #1. True, it would be more impressive to #1 if you were calling to shop up an offer from #10—but any offer is a signal that some readers think well of the article, and in any event there's no real harm to you if the #1 people aren't impressed by your call.
d. Which is higher-ranked: A primary journal at a school that's ranked #50, or a specialty journal at a school that's ranked #15? (Assume that neither journal is faculty-edited.) It's hard to answer this recurring question in the abstract, partly because evaluating reputation is hard, and partly because the answer varies from discipline to discipline. Specialty international law journals, for instance, seem to be especially well-regarded among international law scholars.
The best advice I can give is to ask a professor who specializes in the field, and to check the Washington & Lee law library's citation counts (linked to at http://volokh.com/writing/submitting; check the “Comb.” box and then click on “Submit”).
16. Abiding by the deal: Do not renege once you've accepted an offer: It's unethical and bad for your reputation, and with the Internet, word can get around quickly. “Bust a deal,” Auntie Entity tells us, “face the wheel”—all the contract law you need to know.*
Also, once you've accepted an offer, call, write, or e-mail the other journals to withdraw your piece from them; that's the kind thing to do, because it saves them the substantial effort of considering your article further. There's an incomplete but still helpful list of journal e-mail addresses linked to by http://volokh.com/writing/submitting; other journals' e-mail addresses should be available from their Web sites; and the list of phone numbers and postal addresses is also linked to by http://volokh.com/writing/submitting.
17. Editing some more: If you get no offer, give your article a few more good editing passes; you'll be amazed how many improvements you can make after a month or two away from the piece. Send the revised version to the next twenty or thirty lower-ranked journals.
If you're resubmitting in the next editorial board year (editorial board years usually run March to March), also send the revised version to the same journals to which you sent the earlier version—a new editorial board may be willing to publish an article that the old board rejected. Repeat until you have an offer. There are over 400 law journals in the U.S. If your article is at all worthwhile, you'll get it published somewhere.
18. Checking for updates: All this is the best advice I have as of the time this book is being published; but check http://volokh.com/writing/submitting for updates—if there are important changes in the articles market, I will post new recommendations there.
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Finally, a word about an inevitable part of this process—rejection. Even experienced law professors at top schools generally get rejected by over 90% of the journals to which they submit. I've written nearly 50 law review articles, half of which were published in top 20 journals, but my submissions still get rejected by the great majority of the places to which I send them.
Rejection is part of the process, and the only way to deal with it is to try to ignore it. Remember that all you need is one acceptance. Remember also that rejections happen for many reasons, and might have nothing to do with the merit of your piece—for instance, the articles editors might prefer other topics, or might be prejudiced against work written by