Submissions
Last revised: August 2022
The Harvard National Security Journal (NSJ) publishes original scholarly and practical works on contemporary national security issues. NSJ articles cover a wide spectrum of issues, and we welcome works that link national security topics with other salient fields. We accept submissions from scholars, practitioners, and law students (Online Journal only).
Please see our submissions policies below and contact us if you have any questions about these policies. Thank you for your interest in NSJ.
The Main Edition
In the Main Edition, NSJ publishes longer articles designed to advance national security scholarship. These articles are published online in semiannual issues. The articles also appear on HeinOnline, Westlaw, and, LexisNexis. The Main Edition does not publish articles sole-authored by current law students.
We request that authors comply with the following standards:
Electronic Submissions: We strongly encourage authors to submit their manuscripts electronically via Scholastica. If you are unable to submit via Scholastica, submissions may be emailed as an attachment to [email protected] with the word “Submissions” and the author’s last name in the subject line, e.g., “Submissions – Doe.”
Submissions Deadlines: Articles may be submitted at any time and are reviewed on a rolling basis. Whether an article is published in Issue 1 or Issue 2 will be determined on a case-by-case basis.
Length Guidelines: Articles should be longer than 11,000 words, although we strongly prefer submissions that are 15,000 words or longer. Shorter or longer works are considered on a case-by-case basis.
Citation Format: Please use footnotes rather than endnotes and conform footnotes to The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (21st ed. 2020).
Review Process: We read all articles that meet these guidelines. Each work receives a thorough review before a Submissions Editor responds with a decision. Decisions on articles are released on a rolling basis. Decisions should be made within six weeks of submission, but please allow for additional time during school breaks and end-of-semester exam periods. For more information on the Harvard Law School’s academic calendar, please visit this link.
Editing Process: Each accepted work will be assigned to a team of NSJ editors. This team will work with the author to revise and prepare the work for publication.
The Online Journal
NSJ also publishes shorter articles on its website. NSJ Online strongly encourages submissions from current students or recent graduates of any law school.
We request that authors comply with the following standards:
Electronic Submissions: All manuscripts must be submitted electronically in Microsoft Word format. Submissions should be emailed as an attachment to [email protected] with the words “NSJ Online” and the author’s last name in the subject line, e.g., “NSJ Online – Doe.” Student submissions should be identified as such, e.g., “NSJ Online – Student Submission – Doe.”
Submissions Deadlines: Online submissions may be submitted at any time and are reviewed on a rolling basis.
Length Guidelines: Online submissions should be no longer than 10,000 words (excluding abstract, table of contents, and footnotes), although we strongly prefer submissions of 5,000–7,500 words.
Citation Format: Please use footnotes rather than endnotes and conform footnotes to The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (21st ed. 2020). Embedded hyperlinks rather than footnotes may be used when appropriate.
Review Process: We read all Online submissions that meet these guidelines. Each work receives a thorough review before the Executive Editor for Online responds with a decision. Decisions on Online submissions are released on a rolling basis. Decisions should be made within six weeks of submission, but please allow for additional time during school breaks and end-of-semester exam periods. For more information on the Harvard Law School’s academic calendar, please visit this link.
Editing Process: Every accepted Online submission will be assigned to a team of NSJ editors led by the Executive Editor for Online. This team will work with the author to edit and prepare the work for publication.