Submissions
The Journal of American Constitutional History invites submission of articles from the disciplines of law, history, or political science that focus on historical questions touching on the American Constitution or constitutional development, or that contain a substantial element of historical analysis in addressing contemporary issues of U.S. constitutional law.
While there is no absolute word limit, articles in excess of 37,000 words (including footnotes) are disfavored and must be accompanied by a short memorandum explaining why the length is necessary to the article.
There is no presumptive length minimum, as the Journal will accept shorter essays and thought-pieces in addition to traditional articles. Shorter pieces may be designated as “Essays” or “Commentaries.” We will also consider reviews of books old and new, and responses to articles published in our pages or elsewhere. Authors will be able to conform to the norms and citation styles of their respective fields.
**Submissions to the Journal of American Constitutional History must be exclusive. This is an essential requirement for peer review.**
Submission Process
**Submissions to the Journal of American Constitutional History must be exclusive.**
Manuscripts should meet the following format requirements:
- Word documents only—no pdfs please.
- Singled-spaced.
- 1 to 1.5 inch margins top-bottom, left-right.
- Numbered pages.
- 12-point, proportionally-spaced font.
- First-line indentation for paragraphs.
- Spacing of at least 6-points and at most 12-points (a full line space) between paragraphs, and between headings and body text.
Please include an abstract of 400 words or less. For articles over 6,000 words, a table of contents is appreciated.
For articles over 37,000 words (including footnotes) please submit a short memorandum explaining why the length is necessary to the article. This should be typed or cut-and-pasted into the “notes” box in the submission form.
Authors should submit two copies of each manuscript, one being anonymized. The anonymized copy should be stripped of all identifying information from the draft, including:
- Name on title page, running headers, etc.
- institution affiliation,
- acknowledgements
- identifying information in self-citations
The filename of the anonymized draft should include the word “anonymized” at the end.
Submissions to the Journal of American Constitutional History must be exclusive. This is an essential requirement for peer review.
The Journal’s expectation is that submission of an article represents the author’s commitment to publish the article with the Journal if the article is accepted. This is in contrast to the non-exclusive submission system of student-edited law reviews that extend “offers” to publish. By accepting a manuscript, the Journal accepts the author’s offer to publish. We regret that we therefore cannot give authors time “to consider” a publication offer or to seek competing publication offers, as is the case with the simultaneous submission system of student-edited law reviews.
JACH will communicate promptly with authors upon receipt of the article. Authors will be advised within one week of submission whether their article has been sent for second-level peer review. Authors will receive brief feedback of articles declined for second-level peer review.
Publication decisions on articles of 25,000 words or fewer that are sent for second-level peer review will be made within an additional three-to-four weeks, or a total of five weeks from initial submission. Publication decisions on articles over 25,000 words may take longer. All authors will receive written feedback, whether the article is accepted or not.
In some cases, an author may be given a “revise and resubmit” decision. This is not an offer to publish, but an opportunity for the author to resubmit the article after making revisions recommended by the peer reviewers. In exceptional cases, the Journal may make a publication offer conditional upon certain revisions being made by the author.
The Journal will offer broad-brush editorial suggestions and very limited line editing, but will defer to the author’s judgment on substantive editorial questions.
Authors are responsible for their own footnoting and cite-checking. The Journal will provide proofreading of both the text and footnotes of articles to ensure that they are in a presentable and professional appearance. However, insuring conformity to the details of the applicable citation styles will be the responsibility of the authors.
We do not insist on conformity with any particular style regime (e.g., the “Bluebook” for law review articles), but ask only that the citations supply the appropriate information and be internally consistent.
Please click on the “Submission Form” button below, complete the submission form, and upload the two copies–one anonymized–of your manuscript.
If you encounter technical difficulties with the submission form, you may instead submit your manuscripts via email to jach@law.wisc.edu.