Submissions Information

Please see information respectively below.

  • Editing Policy: The Virginia Journal of International Law currently practices a light-editing policy. That being said, all our pieces must be rigorously substantiated in accordance with the best publication practices. Authors agree to make any changes required for their pieces to meet the Journal's publication standards, including making changes to and adding explanatory text and footnotes.

    AI Policy: VJIL recognizes that artificial intelligence (AI) is an increasingly useful tool in the legal field and in legal research and writing, in particular. Nonetheless, VJIL expects that all submitted scholarship is the original and sole work of the author. Authors submitting their work for publication with the Journal must attest that they have not used any generative AI or equivalent programs to draft or generate substantive text in their work. Should the Journal discover after acceptance that the piece is not the sole work of the author or has been misrepresented, the Journal reserves the right to rescind the offer to publish.

    Foreign Language Sources: VJIL frequently publishes pieces relying on foreign languages sources and materials. Authors agree to comply with all requests for sources, particularly such foreign language sources, and to provide English translations upon request and in a timely manner. 

  • Thank you for your interest in the Virginia Journal of International Law. We will begin reviewing for our next issues on August 1, 2025. In the meantime, please see our general submissions criteria below.

    We encourage submissions from scholars, practitioners, and individual SJDs. Article submissions must be between 15,000–28,000 words, and Essay submissions must be between 10,000–15,000 words, including footnotes.

    Claims must be supported by citations in Bluebook format, and authors should refer to the 21st edition of the Bluebook for citation form. For the ease of the production process, non-English-language sources cited are expected to be submitted along with the manuscript upon author’s acceptance of offer for publication.

    While authors are strongly encouraged to submit via Scholastica, we consider submissions by email to submissions@vjil.org. Your email submission should include (1) a Word document that contains your piece, including title, abstract, and table of contents but no identifying information and (2) a CV.

    Due to the volume of submissions we receive, we cannot provide feedback on pieces that we do not accept.

    We look forward to reading your work!

  • The Virginia Journal of International Law is not accepting submissions for student notes at this time. We will update this page once we are accepting submissions again. In the meantime, please see our general notes criteria below.

    We encourage submissions from all law students and recent graduates who have written on topics in international law.  

    The recommended length for a Note is 10,000–15,000 words including footnotes (approximately 35–40 pages in double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font). Notes longer than 15,000 words are strongly discouraged. Notes longer than 15,500 words will not be considered without prior approval of the Notes Development Editor. 

    Submissions must be emailed to notes@vjil.org in .docx format by 5:00 p.m. on Monday, January 20. Your email submission should consist of two documents: (1) a word document that contains your piece as well as the cover letter (guidelines specified below), but with no identifying information; and (2) a word document with the your name, law school, graduation year, email, phone number, and the title of the piece.   

    The attached cover page should include the following information: 

    • The title of your submission. 

    • An abstract of approximately 250 words or fewer, single-spaced, which briefly summarizes the argument of your submission. 

    • A table of contents. 

    • A list of the five (5) secondary sources cited that are most related to your work. Please do not list cases or statutes. 

    • The word count for your submission, both with and without footnotes.

    Finally, please use double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font for the body of your submission. Please use single-spaced footnotes rather than endnotes for citations and references. Please use Bluebook style for your footnotes, rather than any other style guide. 

    We look forward to reading your work. Please don't hesitate to contact Nimrita Singh, Notes Development Editor, at vrc6zt@virginia.edu with any questions. 

  • VJIL Online accepts submissions on a rolling basis during two submissions windows: January 1 - March 31 and May 31 - October 1. Submissions must be original, scholarly, and about international law. Claims must be supported by citations in Bluebook format. Authors should refer to the 21st edition of the Bluebook for citation form. Pieces should be between 3,000 and 10,000 words.

    Submissions should be sent with a CV to vjilonline@vjil.org.