AJIL invites submissions on issues relating international law and on the closely cognate subjects of global governance, transnational law, and foreign relations law. The Journal generally does not publish manuscripts focused entirely on private or commercial law, comparative law, or the law of any one jurisdiction. AJIL Unbound publishes symposia of short, original essays on select topics. AJIL will not consider submissions whose contents have been or will be published elsewhere.

To Submit Work to AJIL:

1. Decide what type of manuscript you would like to submit. AJIL regularly publishes manuscripts that fall into each of the following categories:

• Articles: up to 30,000 words (including footnotes). Articles involve in-depth research and analysis and make significant contributions to the field.
• Essays: up to 11,000 words (including footnotes). Essays tend to be more exploratory in tone or structure, sometimes with less extensive footnotes. They are often designed to intervene in an ongoing conversation or to initiate a new one.
• Current Developments: up to 11,000 words. Current Developments analyze and explain the significance of recent events in the field.
• Editorial Comments: up to 11,000 words. Editorial Comments are written by members of the AJIL Board of Editors.
• Book Review and Review Essays: up to 5,000 and 8,000 words, respectively. Book Reviews and Review Essays are solicited by the section editor, Jeffrey Dunoff.
• International Decisions and Decision Essays: up to 3,500 and 8,000 words, respectively. International Decision and Decision Essays are case notes on final decisions—that is, decisions not subject to further appeal—of international or national courts or tribunals relating to international law. Proposals to write an International Decision or Decision Essay, which covers multiple decisions, may be submitted to the section editor, Olabisi D. Akinkugbe by email: Olabisi.Akinkugbe@dal.ca. More information about International Decisions and Decision Essays can be found here.
• Contemporary Practice of the United States: This content is generated by the section editor, Jacob Katz Cogan, and is not open to outside submissions. 

2. Consider the following general guidance: every submission, no matter the type, should clearly articulate the issue that it addresses; explain why this issue is significant for the AJIL readership; situate the issue in legal and factual context; defend its research methods and positions taken, especially in light of any contrary approaches that might be advanced; cite all source material in a consistent style that reasonably conforms to AJIL’s standard practices; and be edited carefully for clarity and style. Please be especially careful to avoid plagiarism of any kind—including of your own earlier work. Also identify work that is generated, whether in whole or in part, by large-language models or other AI tools.

3. Submit your manuscript via AJIL’s online sybmission system on ScholarOne or via Scholastica, unless otherwise noted above.

4. All authors should read AJIL's Instructions for Authors and Style Guide prior to submitting their manuscripts to ensure their manuscript adheres to AJIL's requirements. Download the instructions and style guide here.

For Submissions to AJIL Unbound:

AJIL Unbound supplements AJIL’s print edition by publishing symposia on a wide range of topics in public and private international law with particular attention given to topics that are likely to have lasting relevance. Symposium essays are short, original works of scholarship that are timely, readable, and broadly accessible. 

We welcome symposium proposals setting out: (1) a brief summary of the symposium topic; (2) a brief description of the potential essays to be included in the symposium; (3) and suggestions of potential authors for each essay. AJIL Unbound symposia ordinarily range from 5 - 7 essays. We encourage those submitting symposium proposals to reflect the diversity of the international law community in the selection of proposed authors. Symposium proposals should be sent to the AJIL Managing Editor, at ajil@asil.org.

Symposia are ordinarily overseen by a member of the AJIL Editorial Board, who guides the editorial process and drafts an introductory essay for the symposium. In exceptional cases, those proposing an Unbound symposium may be involved in the editorial process and drafting the introduction; however, this is not the norm.

Article types (AJIL)

AJIL accepts the following types of article:

• Article*
• Agora*
• Book Review
• Contemporary Practice of the United States Relating to International Law*
• Current Developments*
• Editorial Comment*
• Essay*
• International Decisions*
• Letter to the Editor
• Notes and Comments*
• Review Essay*

*  For the purposes of Gold Open Access funding, this journal considers these article types to be research articles. If publishing Gold OA, all or part of the publication costs for these article types may be covered by one of the agreements Cambridge University Press has made to support open access.

Article types (AJIL Unbound)

Unbound accepts the following types of article:

• Essay:  3,000 words, inclusive of footnotes.

All article types in AJIL Unbound are published Gold Open Access, with no charge to the author.

Submission and Peer Review Process (AJIL)

Author Testimonials