Online Submissions

We review and publish online submissions on a rolling basis throughout the year. Guidelines for submitting to the Print Journal are located here.

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 ONLINE SUBMISSIONS:

The Harvard Human Rights Journal reviews and publishes Online Journal submissions on a rolling basis. The Online Journal publishes a variety of different types of content. Guidelines for submissions to the Print Journal are located here. Please email Submissions.HHRJ@mail.law.harvard.edu with any questions. 

Submission Guidelines

Please review previous Online Journal postings to better understand the quality and type of submissions we generally accept. While Online Journal pieces are shorter in length than most Print Journal pieces, HHRJ expects a similar level of quality in terms of structure/organization, logic, claim substantiation, and originality.

• Subject Matter: All submissions should address contemporary human rights issues.  
  • Comments should give commentary on recent U.S. or International court cases or legislative developments.
    • Comments should provide any necessary background, an in-depth summary of the case or legislative development, and a discussion section which advances an original argument.
    • For examples of previous comments, please see:
      • Case Comment: Atamanchuk v. Russia (Application No. 4493/11)
      • Rule by Executive Decree: Constitutional Concerns in India
      • The National Anthem Law in China: Human Rights Concerns and Justifications
      • Decriminalising Homosexuality: Reshaping the Landscape in Botswana and a Missed Opportunity in Kenya
  • Blog Posts should discuss or evaluate an issue.
    • Although they may still make reference to cases or legislative developments, Blog Posts provide a more flexible format and may take the form of discussions on current events, academic evaluations of human rights issues, or comparative analyses, for example.
    • Blog Posts should advance an original argument and avoid simply summarizing human rights issues.
    • For examples of previous Blog Posts, please see:
      • Intersex Intervention: A Health and Human Rights Perspective
      • The Sword is Mightier than the Pen: The Precedence of Facts on the Ground over the Written Ceasefire Agreement in Nagorno-Karabakh
      • From Flores to Title 42: Unaccompanied Children in Detention
  • Interviews should consist of an interview with a prominent figure in the field of human rights, including activists and community leaders.
    • Interviews should ideally center around a substantive discussion of human rights issues, although discussions of the figure’s personal life or career are permitted if they relate to human rights.
    • For examples of previous Interviews, please see:
      • Jeffrey Barrows Interview
      • Salil Shetty Interview
  • Book Reviews should discuss a recently released book.
    • Book reviews should ensure they are grounded in critical discussion of the book at hand and are not simply using the book as a launching pad for a separate discussion.
    • For examples of previous Book Reviews, please see:
      • Book Review: Conscientious Objection to Military Service in International Human Rights Law, by Özgür Çinar
      • Book review: “Images and Human Rights: Local and Global Perspectives,” Nancy Lipkin Stein and Alison Dundes Renteln (eds.)
      • Student Book Review: Democratic Uprisings in the New Middle East: Youth, Technology, Human Rights, and US Foreign Policy, by Mahmood Monshipouri
• Eligibility: Authors may be scholars, legal practitioners, or law students.
• Length Limitations: We strongly prefer submissions within the following length limitations, including text, footnotes, and appendices. 
  • Comments: 1,000–3,000 words.
  • Blog Posts: 700–2,000 words.
  • Interviews: 1,000–4,000 words. If edited for length, interview submissions should separately include the raw transcript of the interview, either in written or audio format.
  • Book Reviews: 700–1,500 words.
• Language: Although we recognize that human rights is an international field, we only publish pieces in English.
• Citation Format: All assertions should be cited. We strongly prefer submissions that use footnotes rather than endnotes and that comply with The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (21st ed. 2020). 

Instructions: We ask that all Online Journal submissions be submitted via email and in Microsoft Word format. Submissions should be emailed as attachments to Submissions.HHRJ@mail.law.harvard.edu, with “Online Submission – [Last Name]” in the subject line, along with a CV or resume.

Review Process: Submissions are reviewed and accepted year-round on a rolling basis. Due to the volume of submissions we receive, we are unable to accommodate requests to confirm receipt or respond to inquiries about the status of a submission. We kindly ask that authors not send emails inquiring into the status of their submissions. If a submission is selected for publication, we will contact the author directly.