Submissions

The Buffalo Environmental Law Journal (BELJ) welcomes submissions of articles, essays, notes, comments, and book reviews on a wide range of environmental law topics including, but not limited to, climate change, biodiversity and natural resources conservation, land use, pollution, invasive species, sustainability, energy development, environmental justice, environmental rights, federal statutes, and influential litigation.

General Information

BELJ publishes works by academics, legal practitioners, policymakers, and occasionally students. Submissions must be previously unpublished, original works, and should demonstrate quality writing, sound legal analysis and proper Bluebook citations in footnotes.

BELJ typically publishes once or twice per year. BELJ accepts manuscripts and makes offers for publication on a rolling basis. Submissions are closed when an issue is filled and reopened when it is time to start reviewing articles for the next issue. Below is an approximate timeline:

Submissions accepted in July and August for the Fall/Winter issue.
Submissions accepted in January and February for the Spring/Summer issue.

BELJ will publish two times in the academic year 2022-2023 for Volume 30. We will publish a Fall/Winter issue and a symposium issue in Spring/Summer. BELJ was founded at the University at Buffalo School of Law in the Spring of 1993, and our symposium issue will be part of our 30th anniversary commemoration activities. BELJ is accepting proposals now through September 30^th for the symposium issue. See our Symposium page for details.

Submitting a Manuscript

BELJ accepts manuscripts electronically through Scholastica (preferred method) or by email at law-belj@buffalo.edu.

CV and cover letter. Submissions should be accompanied by a CV and cover letter including the author’s name, address, and phone number.
Abstract. Please include a brief abstract of your submission with the text. The abstract will not be counted toward the word limit.
Length. Our guidelines are as follows:
- Articles & Essays: we strongly encourage submissions of fewer than 25,000 words, including footnotes (roughly 50 Journal pages), and prefer 20,000 words or fewer.
- Notes & Comments: we encourage submissions of fewer than 15,000 words, including footnotes (roughly 30 Journal pages), and prefer 10,000 words or fewer.
- Book Reviews: we encourage submissions of fewer than 10,000 words, including footnotes (roughly 20 Journal pages), and prefer 7,000 words or fewer.
Style & formatting. Manuscripts should be in Microsoft Word format with footnotes, and citations should conform to the current edition of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation.

Expedite Requests

If you have received another offer of publication and would like to request expedited review of your submission, please send an email to law-belj@buffalo.edu with the words “Expedite Request” in the subject line. In the text, include your name and phone number, the title of your manuscript, and the deadline for a decision from BELJ. We do our best to complete our review process before an expedite deadline expires, however, given the volume of submissions we receive, this is not possible in all instances.