Policies
Who Can Submit?
Anyone may submit an original work to be considered for publication in American Indian Law Journal provided he or she owns the copyright to the work being submitted or is authorized by the copyright owner or owners to submit the article. Authors are the initial owners of the copyrights to their works (an exception in the non-academic world to this might exist if the authors have, as a condition of employment, agreed to transfer copyright to their employer).
General Content Requirements
Submitted works cannot have been previously published, nor be forthcoming in an archival journal or book (print or electronic). Please note: "publication" in a working-paper series does not constitute prior publication. In addition, by submitting material to American Indian Law Journal, the author is stipulating that he or she will maintain appropriate communications if the work is also under review at another journal (electronic or print).
Works Sought
Legal Analysis Article or Case Note
Topic and thesis must focus on American Indian Law, must be relevant to Indian law today, and must not be preempted. Submitted works should follow the "IRAC" (Issue-Rule-Analysis-Conclusion) form of legal writing with an optimum page range of 20-60 pages.
Authorities for Legal Writing and Citation
(1) The 21st Edition of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation
(2) The Handbook of Federal Indian Law by Felix Cohen, is the authority for Indian law matters (available on Lexis Nexis)
(3) If not addressed in The Bluebook, then The Chicago Manual of Style (as updated by the online version) for punctuation and style matters
(4) If not addressed in The Bluebook, then Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language (as updated by the online version) for spelling
Submission Deadlines
Volume 12, Issue 2 || no longer accepting submissions
Volume 13, Issue 1 || Coming late Summer 2024/Early fall 2024
Formatting Requirements
The AILJ has no rules about the formatting of works upon initial submission. There are, however, rules governing the format for publication. Thus, works that follow the format guidelines below are appreciated.
Format
Times New Roman font with normal margins and 1.15 line spacing (with one exception: footnotes).
Title: size sixteen (16) font, aligned centered, and in small caps
Author's Name: size fourteen (14) font, aligned centered, in italics, and include an introductory footnote
Body: size twelve (12) font and aligned justified
Footnotes: size ten (10) font, aligned left, and single spaced
Page Numbers: size twelve (12) font and aligned centered
Headings: Use the numbers function and appropriate styles
First: roman numerals (I.), aligned centered, and in small caps
Second: capitalized alphabet (A.), aligned left, no indent, and in italics
Third: numbers (1.), aligned left, one indent, and in plain text
Fourth: lower-case alphabet (a.), aligned left, two indents, and underlined
Fifth: lower case roman numerals (i.), aligned left, three indents, in italics, and underlined