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Submitting to the Journal

The Philippine Law Journal welcomes submissions for its volumes published in print, as well as their online companion, the PLJ Forum. We are looking for works that are of interest to legal scholars, and we welcome multidisciplinary approaches to legal scholarship.

Submissions may be legal articles, student notes, essays, book reviews, or comments on recent jurisprudence or legislation. Authors must indicate whether their submission is intended for print publication or for the Forum, although the Editorial Board may recommend publication in the Forum for a piece submitted for print and vice versa.

The Journal posts its call for papers, which include submission deadlines and other relevant information, on its website and social media accounts.


Designation of Submissions

A submitted work may be designated as an Article, Note, Essay, Comment, Book Review, or Feature, depending on its form and substance. Authors may be guided by the following descriptions:

  1. Articles comprehensively engage with and advance the literature on topics relevant to law or its adjacent fields and use the tone and conventions of academic writing.  We encourage authors to limit articles to 20,000 words, excluding footnotes.
  2. Notes are works written by J.D. students at the University of the Philippines College of Law, regardless of form and substance. This does not include works by students enrolled in other law schools or in the College of Law’s graduate program.
  3. Essays are opinion submissions that are not necessarily limited by the form of academic writing. Although commonly shorter in length than articles, essays present clear arguments and address matters of interest to legal scholars. We encourage authors to limit essays to 15,000 words, excluding footnotes.
  4. Comments are works primarily intended to critically engage with a certain development in law, such as a recent case or piece of legislation, in addition to summarizing the salient points of the material. Comments are usually shorter in length and less comprehensive than articles but offer a clear argument for or against the subject. When the work critiques a forthcoming or a published book, it is designated as a Book Review. We encourage authors to limit comments and book reviews to 10,000 words, excluding footnotes.
  5. Features are works commissioned by the Journal from specific persons for a specific undertaking or purpose.
  6. Forum pieces are works submitted for online publication on the PLJ Forum are limited to 7,500 words, excluding footnotes. Unlike works published in the print edition, Forum pieces are not limited to the tone and convention of academic writing. Authors may submit works addressing issues of general scholarly interest that are timely and novel.

Form of Submission

Submissions should be made in .doc or .docx format and emailed to plj@up.edu.ph. Authors are asked to remove any identifying information in the file containing their submitted work. They are likewise encouraged to include a brief preemption memorandum on the significance and originality of their submission.

Submissions should be in English. There is no minimum word count, but we ask authors to observe the word count limits designated above.

We encourage authors to refer to the Philippine Law Journal Manual of Style and Citation when formatting their work. Use of The Bluebook (21st ed. 2020) as an alternative is also acceptable.

Authors may enclose in their submission emails a separate file containing their curriculum vitae. This will purely be for reference during the editing process and will not be shared with or considered by the Editorial Board during deliberations.


Publication in the Journal

Acceptance for publication is discretionary upon the Editorial Board, which enjoys editorial independence from the College of Law. The Board commonly evaluates submissions based on relevance of the topic, substance of arguments, quality of research, and originality of thought, although the Board is not precluded from going beyond these criteria.

The Editorial Board reviews and deliberates on all submissions blindly, such that the identity of authors is not known prior to voting. Submissions may either be: (1) accepted for publication, (2) rejected, or (2) conditionally accepted subject to specified revisions and re-deliberation by the Board. Authors of accepted submissions are extended an offer of publication, which they must accept within a specified period.

At any stage in the editorial process, the Board may also refer any submission to a blind review by a faculty of the College of Law, other units of the University, or its former members in legal practice or academia. The Board will give high regard to these views, but it will make the decision to publish and edit independently.

All works accepted for publication are subjected to further editing. Authors may be consulted at any time by the Board for any issues, concerns, or proposed edits regarding their accepted works. The Board reserves the right to refuse publication to any article found to have been plagiarized in any stage of the editing and publication process.

The Journal does not allow resubmissions of rejected papers within the same Volume.


On Research Integrity

The Journal adheres to the research integrity standards prescribed by the University such as the UP Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research.

By submitting their works to the Journal, authors warrant that their works are original and have not been published in any other academic journal, law review, or any other publication, whether print or online, and whether in the Philippines or in any foreign jurisdiction.

Authors should also understand that any finding of plagiarism of any form and to any extent shall merit non-publication and blacklisting, without prejudice to further action that may be taken under law and the academic policies enforced by the University and the College of Law.

The Journal, as a matter of policy, does not publish works generated by artificial intelligence (AI) or through AI tools.


Policy on Use of AI and AI Tools

In recognition of the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) technology and its potential implications on legal scholarship, the Philippine Law Journal adopts this policy on the use of AI and AI tools, covering all works submitted to and solicited for publication effective March 1, 2025:

A. Non-Acceptance of AI-Generated Works

The Philippine Law Journal publishes only originally drafted works and will not accept any work that includes content generated by artificial intelligence (AI) or through any AI tool.

B. Permitted Uses of AI

The Journal recognizes only the following as permitted uses of AI and AI tools:

  1. Use of AI ancillary to the research methodology employed in the work, such as through software for automation, data collection, transcription, data processing, or data analysis;
  2. Use of AI and AI tools to enhance academic writing techniques, for tasks such as summarizing, footnoting, plagiarism detection, or proofreading;
  3. Use of AI and AI tools for demonstrating their technology, in furtherance of the thesis or substance of the work; and
  4. Other uses of AI and AI tools analogous to these, provided they are reasonable in extent and do not impair the originality of the work.

C. Warranty of Non-Use of AI-Generated Works

By submitting to the Journal, authors warrant the originality of their work, their non-use of AI-generated works, and their adherence to this Policy. They may declare any permitted use of AI and the scope and extent of such use in the cover letter or email of their submission or in the accompanying preemption memorandum, if any.

Likewise, authors understand that a finding of AI use that violates this Policy shall merit non-publication, without prejudice to further action that may be taken under law and the academic policies enforced by the University and the College of Law.