Submissions

Editorial policy: We publish authors’ ideas in their own words.  We do not rewrite or fix mistakes. Authors are expected to submit a polished, professional, final or near-final manuscript.  After review and upon acceptance, we format the article, and add citation and license information beneath your name.  We generate a PDF and publish it online.

Abstract: Please include an abstract or summary of your paper so that we can use this for the blog post announcing that your article has been published, and for the benefit of referees and reviewers.  You may include this at the beginning of your article or send it separately.

Submissions: We welcome anything that is scholarly, interesting, libertarian-related, and well-written.  Send us articles, lectures, essays, book reviews, review essays, on any suitable topic of libertarian theory, including philosophy, economics, legal theory, political science, history, and social/cultural analysis.

Foreign Languages & Translations. We are interested in previously-unpublished English translations of foreign-language book chapters or journal articles of significant libertarian scholarship; and we are also also in principle open to original foreign-language submissions, provided an assistant foreign-language editor arranges for appropriate peer reviewing, editing and formatting, and preparation of an English title and abstract. Interested parties should contact the Editor before beginning work to ensure the proposal will be acceptable.

Previously Published: We will not usually publish previously-published papers (for translations, see above); but previous posting on a blog, self-publishing on a personal website, or posting as a Working Paper are fine. On occasion we may re-publish important works that were previously published but that are were published in now-obscure fora or that are otherwise inaccessible (such as two forthcoming articles by Bruno Leoni).

Please send submissions via email to the Editor (contact).  Electronic copy only; preferably in Word or Word-readable format (preferably formatted as specified in Templates and Samples below).  No fax or hard copies permitted.  For files too large to email, please contact the Editor to obtain electronic dropbox information.

Length: We have no fixed, arbitrary length limits (we’re online, after all).

Deadlines: There are none; we publish individual articles throughout the year soon after the submitted article is accepted, without waiting for other articles or arbitrary “issue” dates or groupings.

Decorum: Nothing obscene or defamatory, please.  Strive for civility.

Copyright: Articles will be published under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License, where possible.  You may republish or post the article as you see fit—as may others.  By submitting a manuscript to us, you grant a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License to the public, unless agreed otherwise in writing.  We will also ask authors to sign a (simple and straightforward) Publication Agreement agreeing to publication on these terms.

American or British English: Either style is fine.  Whatever you prefer.

Format: As noted above, articles should be submitted in final or near-final, ready-to-publish form–with good grammar and spelling, etc.  Your article should start at page 1, with the title and author name followed by the body of the article.

Citations: Footnotes are preferred to endnotes, but are not required.  Authors may use any form of citation they like, so long as they are accurate, and do not look like goulash. As noted in our inaugural welcome message, “we don’t care what citation style you use, as long as it is consistent, professional, and enables the reader to find the work referenced. Neither our time nor the author’s need be wasted converting from one citation style to another, or wondering whether ’2nd. ed.’ goes here or there, or whether it should be ’2d. ed.’ instead. In a digital age, old forms must give way to new forms.”

Templates and Samples: You may wish to consult this template (or the most recent articles) to conform to general preferred style. This is not required, but already-formatted submissions will generally be processed faster.