Posted by Orin Kerr:
Progress on the Length of Law Review Articles?:
[1]I have blogged before about the length of law review articles, and
my belief that law journals should try to accept and publish shorter
works. I am therefore delighted to find out that some of the top law
reviews in the country have agreed to a statement of principles
discouraging particularly lengthy submissions. The agreement appears
to be a response to the Harvard Law Review online survey in December
that I blogged about [2]here. Specifically, the [3]ACS Blog reports
that the main law reviews at Columbia, Cornell, Duke, Georgetown,
Harvard, Michigan, Stanford, Texas, U. Penn., Virginia, and Yale have
agreed to "rethink" the length of articles they agree to publish:
The vast majority of law review articles can effectively convey
their arguments within the range of 40-70 law review pages, and any
impression that law reviews only publish or strongly prefer
lengthier articles should be dispelled. Ultimately, individual law
reviews will have to decide for themselves how best to resolve
these concerns. Please know, however, that editors across the
country are cognizant of the troubling trend toward longer articles
and are actively exploring how to address it.
It's terrific that several of the top law reviews are being
responsive to this problem. I hope other journals are paying attention
and join in. Of course, it means that law professors who have spent
the winter padding their articles with needless asides and unrelated
background points to bulk them up to 100 pages or so are now going to
have to edit their pieces down to a more readable length. But in the
end this will result in better, more concise scholarship that is much
easier to read and easier to understand.
(Hat tip: [4]Paul Caron)
References
1. http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2004_10_21.shtml#1098747010
2. http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2005_01_00.shtml#1105041460
3.
http://www.acsblog.org/news-and-announcements-882-citechecking-just-got-a-little-easier.html
4. http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2005/02/top_law_reviews.html
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