Widener Commonwealth Law Review
Editorial Review and Editing Process
Editorial Review
The business/external managing editor initially reviews all articles submitted for possible publication. This initial review involves not only a careful analysis of the article but also an examination of the author's background. The editor makes recommendations to the Law Review's executive committee and the committee conducts a meticulous, independent review of the article and typically determines, within three business days, whether the Law Review will extend an offer of publication.
Upon a favorable decision by the committee, the editor personally contacts the author and thereafter sends the author a written Offer of Publication along with an Author's License Agreement. Following the Law Review's receipt of the fully executed License Agreement and an electronic copy of the article on diskette or by email submission, the editing process begins.
There is no specific time frame to submit. Articles are accepted for consideration on a rolling basis. We encourage authors to submit as soon as their articles are ready for consideration.
Editing Process
The goal of the editing process is to perfect the author's vision and not to replace it with our own. The voice of the author is her or his creation and not the Law Review's. Another important goal is to ensure that the text and footnotes of the article conform to the most recent edition of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation. Pursuant to this goal, the article undergoes the Law Review's rigorous, multi-step editing process.
The article is preliminarily reviewed by the internal managing editor who assigns it to an internal editor. The internal editor oversees much of the editing process, beginning with a source collection. In the event that any sources used by the author are not available through Widener University's Law Library, the author will be asked to provide copies of these sources.
Next, the article undergoes a substantive edit, a citation edit, a quote check, and a grammar edit. Throughout each phase of this process, the article is first examined by a staff member and then reexamined by an internal editor. Once this stage is satisfactorily completed, the article undergoes an intensive edit by an assigned administrative board member, followed by a similar edit by the executive committee. The editor-in-chief conducts a final summary review, after which the article is forwarded to the author for his or her final approval.
Following the incorporation of the author's final suggestions, if any, the article is sent to the Law Review's publisher.
The editor-in-chief, with assistance from the managing editors, reviews the proof edition of the Law Review, and cosmetic corrections are made if and where necessary. Thereafter, the issue of the Law Review is printed, bound, and distributed to all subscribers.
