Preparing your materials

Consider whether Law & Society Review is an appropriate outlet for your research

Law & Society Review publishes work that is engaged with and motivated by theory and uses any of the methods from the social sciences broadly construed. Our readers are interdisciplinary scholars, most of whom combine an interest in legal phenomena with social science theories and empirical research.

Scholars interested in submitting a manuscript should feel free to contact the Editors at lsr@lawandsociety.org prior to submission to inquire about the appropriateness of their work for publication in the Review. If the Editors believe, based on a brief description, that the manuscript is likely to be appropriate, authors will be encouraged to submit the manuscript to the journal for review.

Browse recent issues of the journal

Prospective authors who have not previously published in Law & Society Review are encouraged to examine recent issues of the journal in preparation for submitting their own papers.

Though there are many ways to write a good article for Law & Society Review, all manuscripts should include the information below. A look at recent issues of the journal will reveal that one conventional recipe is to present the information in the order described below. This conventional order is not essential, but all of the content described should be included in the manuscript and easily identifiable as such by readers.

Articles appearing in Law & Society Review are framed in conversation with the field of sociolegal studies. Papers in the journal typically have a literature review section that situates the research question within the broader sociolegal literature and shows clearly how the paper fills an important knowledge gap in that literature.
Though Law & Society Review sometimes publishes articles making principally theoretical contributions, most papers appearing in the review report on the analysis of some kind of data. The literature review is typically followed by a data and methods section that details the data used to answer the question of the paper, why those data are appropriate, how specific cases or items were selected, and how the data were systematically analyzed. The level of information provided about the data and methods is rich enough so that any reader knows precisely what the author/s did and why.
The data and methods section is followed by a results section that discusses all findings presented to the reader. Some authors describe results in a “findings” section and then explicate them in a “discussion” section; others combine the presentation of results and the discussion of their relationship to the research question/s of the paper.
A conclusion reviews the contributions and limitations of the research reported in the paper, and discusses unanswered questions, implications, and directions for future research.

Length

Law & Society Review will consider submissions between 7,000 and 12,500 words in length, exclusive of references, appendices and tables. The editor reserves the right to reject without review manuscripts that are longer than 12,500 words or shorter than 7,000 words.

Format

All text, including notes and references, should be double spaced with 1-inch margins; 12 pt Times New Roman is the preferred font for text, notes and references. References, tables, and figures should be placed at the end.

Style

The Law & Society Review conforms to the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition, and the in-text, author-date citation system. The Review uses American punctuation and spelling and relies on Webster’s Tenth Collegiate Dictionary for spelling, hyphenation, and word division.

General guidelines

The journal uses American punctuation and spelling.

Please use en-dashes rather than hyphens to separate page and date ranges.

Use italics (not underlines) for titles and subtitles of published books, pamphlets, proceedings and collections, periodicals, and newspapers and sections of newspapers published separately (New York Times Book Review).

For names of authors, use full first name rather than initials, unless the author customarily uses only initials.

Citations should be in author-date style with a full bibliographic reference list to follow which includes only those works cited within the paper. If necessary, additional footnotes may be added, but all citations are in-text. Please see Chicago Manual of Style’s citation guide.

Text citations

Please use author-date style for citations. In the text, include the last name of the author(s), year of publication, and page number if necessary. It is not necessary to include further information, such as ed. or trans. in the in-text note.

For example:

One source:

Manby (2015b: 10) argues that it could be useful “for the citizenship debates to extend to Africa, and scholarship on autochthony and indigeneity in Africa to pay more attention to legal definitions of nationality and the process by which it is acquired, as well as the more nebulous question of how a sense of belonging and community is created.”

Ross and Foley (1987: 324) point out that new laws imposing harsh sanctions are often evaded.

New laws imposing harsh sanction are often evaded (Ross and Foley 1987: 324).

Multiple sources:

The process of bringing legal claims frequently empowers lawyers over affected parties or divides social movements (Albiston 2011; McCann and Silverstein 1998; Scheingold 2004).

If you refer to more than one source by the same author published in the same year, differentiate as follows:

New laws imposing harsh sanction are often evaded (Ross and Foley 1987a; 1987b).

If the author’s name has already been mentioned in the text, insert reference in parentheses after the name. For example:

Peters (1986: 445) describes some divorces as “no-fault.”

For three or more authors, cite as follows:

As Schwartz et al. (1975: 239) have written . . .

The theory is widely accepted . . . (see Schwartz et al. 1975).

Newspaper articles:

If you are referring to a news story with a byline, list the item in the References and refer to in text as you would any authored item. If you are citing a story without a byline, refer to as follows:

. . . from the Niagara River (Buffalo Evening News, March 1, 1974, p. 2)

. . . according to the Manchester (N.H.) Union Leader (May 15, 1974, p. 14)

Web pages:

If no person is given as author, the owner of the site may stand in for author:

A recent study of resolution comparison (Federation of American Scientists) . . .

Government reports and documents:

If no person is given as author, refer to by agency or department.

Government data (U.S. Census Bureau 1999: 237) . . .

Cases:

Cases should be cited in the text as follows:

. . . in Hammer v. Dagenhart (1918) . . .

… in the Commerce Clause (Hammer v. Dagenhart 1918) …

Statutes:

All statutes should be cited in the text as follows:

Under the Labor Management Relations Act (1947) …

There is renewed interest in the Commerce Clause (U.S. Const. art. I, sec. 8).

Reference list

For items with two authors, separate the authors with the word “and” rather than an ampersand; the second author should be listed by first name, then middle initial (if used), followed by last name. Noun forms such as editor, translator, volume, and edition are abbreviated, but verb forms such as edited by and translated by are spelled out. Please note that each entry in the reference list must correspond to a work cited in the text.

Journal or magazine articles:

Last Name, First Name. Year. "Title of Article." Journal Name volume number (issue): page range. (Give month or issue number if each is separately paginated.)

Mor, Sagit and Rina B. Pikkel. 2019. “Disability, Rights, and the Construction of Sexuality in Tort Claims.” Law & Society Rev. 53 (4): 413–50.

Galanter, Marc. 2004. “The Vanishing Trial: An Examination of Trials and Related Matters in Federal and State Courts.” J. of Empirical Legal Studies 1(3): 459–570.

Brill, Steven and James Lyons. 1986. “The Not-So-Simple Crisis.” American Lawyer (May): 12–15.

Note: In journal titles, the words “Review” and “Journal” are normally abbreviated as “Rev.” and “J.” respectively.

Books:

Last Name, First Name. Year. Title of Book. City: Publisher.

Lerner, Melvin J. 1980. Belief in a Just World. New York: Plenum.

Keck, Margaret E. and Kathryn Sikkink. 1998. Activists beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Klugg, Heinz and Sally Merry. 2016. The New Legal Realism: Volume 2: Studying Law Globally. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Chapter in edited volume:

Author Last Name, First Name. Year. "Chapter title. In Volume Title, edited by editor’s first and last name, ed., page range. City, State: Publisher.

Allen, Danielle. 2010. “Anonymous: On Silence and the Public Sphere.” In Speech and Silence in American Law, edited by Austin Sarat, 106–33. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Nielsen, Laura Beth. 2010. “The Need for Multi-Method Approaches in Empirical Legal Research.” In The Oxford Handbook of Empirical Legal Research, edited by Peter Cane and Herbert Kritzer, 951–75. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Newspaper articles:

List only those newspaper articles with a byline cited in the text by the author’s name, otherwise list by name of newspaper:

Choe, Sang-Hun. 2017. “Deal with Japan on Former Sex Slaves Failed Victims, South Korean Panel Says.” The New York Times, December 27.

New York Times. 2002. “In Texas, Ad Heats Up Race for Governor.” July 30.

Web pages:

For online sources other than periodicals, include as much of the following as can be determined: author of the content by Author last name, first name. Year. Title of the page. Title or owner of the site, Web address [URL], date accessed.

Jones, Marion. 2000. “What to Expect in Law School.” Nearby University Law School, http://www.nearbylaw.edu/prospective (accessed December 21, 2000).

Smith, John. N.d. “Rules for Submitting your Application.” Nearby University Law School, http://www.nearbylaw.edu/admissions (accessed May 30, 2003).

Evanston Public Library Board of Trustees (2000) “Evanston Public Library Strategic Plan, 2000-2010: A Decade of Outreach, “Evanston Public Library, http://www.epl.org/library/strategic-plan-00.html (accessed July 18, 2002).

If no person or group is given as author, the owner of the site may stand in for author:

Federation of American Scientists. 2001. Resolution comparison: Reading License Plates and Headlines, http://www.fas.org/irp/imint/resolve5.htm (accessed June 12, 2003).

Government reports & documents:

If no person is given as author, refer to by agency or department.

Institute/Department/Agency/Author [higher institution first if needed for identification]. Year. Title of Work. Place of Publication: publication office.

National Institute of Mental Health. 1982. Television and Behavior: Ten Years of Scientific Progress. DHHS Publication No. ADM 82-1195. Washington, DC: GPO.

Donnelly, Warren H. and Barbara Rather. 1976. International Proliferation of Nuclear Technology. Report prepared for the Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment of the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. 94th Cong., 2d sess. Committee Print 15.

U.S. Bureau of the Census. 1975. Median Gross Rent by Counties of the United States, 1970. Prepared by the Geography Division in cooperation with the Housing Division, Bureau of the Census. Washington, DC.

U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Foreign Affairs. 1964. Background Material on Mutual Defense and Development Programs: Fiscal Year 1965. 88th Cong., 2d sess. Committee Print.

U.S. Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations. 1956. The Mutual Security Act of 1956. 84th Cong., 2d sess. S. Rept. 2273.

Conference or meeting papers:

Last Name, First Name. Year. “Title of Paper.” Presented at Event, Place, date if available.

Burstein, Paul. 1987. “Race, Religion, Sex and National Origin: Barriers to Mobility.” Presented at Conference on Longitudinal Research on Trial Courts, State University of New York at Buffalo, Aug. 9.

Unpublished papers:

Last Name, First Name. Year. “Title of Paper.” Unpublished paper, Author’s Institution, Location, Place, date if available.

Richardson, David. 1987. “Lawyers and Doctors.” Unpublished paper, Institute for Research on Legal Phenomena, New York, 7 Oct.

Working papers:

Last Name, First Name. Year. “Title of Paper.” Organization and Working Paper Series (including number if applicable), location of organization, date.

Sarat, Austin and William L. F. Felstiner. 1986. “Legal Realism in Lawyer-Client Communications.” American Bar Foundation Working Paper Series Paper # 8723, Chicago.

Dissertations:

Last Name, First Name. Year. “Title of Dissertation.” Degree level, Department or Field, University.

Smith, James. 1983. “The Legal Profession in Ghana.” Ph.D. diss., Department of Sociology, Nearby University.

Cases:

All cases cited in text should be listed separately under “Cases Cited” following the References. When the citation is not in parentheses, give the name in full; when in parentheses, abbreviate according to the style set forth in The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation. Some examples are:

U.S. Supreme Court:

United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683 (1974).

Federal Court of Appeals:

Environmental Defense Fund v. EPA, 465 F.2d 528 (D.C. Cir. 1972).

State Courts:

Roybal v. Martinez, 92 N.M. 630, 593 P.2d 71 (Ct. App. 1979).

Schiffman v. Corsi, 182 Misc. 498, 50 N.Y.S.2d 897 (Sup. Ct. 1944).

Statutes:

All statutes cited in text should be listed separately under “Statutes Cited” following the References and Cases Cited. When not cited in parentheses, give the name in full; when in parentheses, abbreviate according to the style set forth in A Uniform System of Citation. Some examples are:

National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, 102 U.S.C. 4332 (1970).

Parking Authority Law, Pa. Stat. Ann. tit. 53, 342 (Purdon 1974 and Supp. 1985).

Please send any style questions to Danielle McClellan, Managing Editor, Law & Society Review: lsr@lawandsociety.org

Submitting your paper

When you are ready to submit your paper, see instructions on how to submit here.

Book reviews

Law & Society Review does not accept unsolicited book reviews. Book reviews are by invite only and should only be submitted after instructed to by the editorial team.