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Policies

Contents

Philosophy of Legislation and Policy Brief

For more information, please see Legislation and Policy Brief Aims and Scope page.

Who Can Submit?

The Legislation and Policy Brief is looking for law articles with an in-depth legislative history and analysis focus. Anyone may submit an original article to be considered for publication in the Legislation and Policy Brief 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.

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General Submission Rules

Submitted articles 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. If you have concerns about the submission terms for Legislation and Policy Brief, please contact the editors.

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Formatting Requirements

There are rules governing the formatting of the final submission. Written pieces should be typed in 12-point, Courier New font. The main text should be double-spaced and footnotes should be single-spaced. All margins must be 1-inch. All articles must be between 30 and 50 pages when completed. All articles should include ample footnotes as authority to support the arguments made in the piece. o Generally, writers should follow a 1:1 footnote to text ratio in their article. o All citations should be made in accordance with the Bluebook (19th Edition). All articles must include a title page and table of contents

Each article must include the following sections: introduction, background/legislative history, legal analysis/argument, and conclusion. Writers may choose to include an optional policy recommendation section as part of the legal analysis/argument portion of the paper. Each of those sections should make up approximately the following percentage of a completed article: introduction (5%), background/legislative history (35%), analysis/argument (55%), and conclusion (5%). In addition to traditional legal sources, the article can rely upon personal interviews with individuals involved in the legislative process. For assistance with choosing and contacting an appropriate individual, please contact your editor or any member of the editorial board.

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Rights for Authors and Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law

As further described in our submission agreement (the Submission Agreement), in consideration for publication of the article, the authors assign to Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law all copyright in the article, subject to the expansive personal--use exceptions described below.

Attribution and Usage Policies

Reproduction, posting, transmission or other distribution or use of the article or any material therein, in any medium as permitted by a personal-use exemption or by written agreement of Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law, requires credit to Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law as copyright holder (e.g., Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law © 2022).

Personal-use Exceptions

The following uses are always permitted to the author(s) and do not require further permission from Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law provided the author does not alter the format or content of the articles, including the copyright notification:

  • Storage and back-up of the article on the author's computer(s) and digital media (e.g., diskettes, back-up servers, Zip disks, etc.), provided that the article stored on these computers and media is not readily accessible by persons other than the author(s);
  • Posting of the article on the author(s) personal website, provided that the website is non-commercial;
  • Posting of the article on the internet as part of a non-commercial open access institutional repository or other non-commercial open access publication site affiliated with the author(s)'s place of employment (e.g., a Phrenology professor at the University of Southern North Dakota can have her article appear in the University of Southern North Dakota's Department of Phrenology online publication series); and
  • Posting of the article on a non-commercial course website for a course being taught by the author at the university or college employing the author.

People seeking an exception, or who have questions about use, should contact the editors.

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General Terms and Conditions of Use

Users of the Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law website and/or software agree not to misuse the Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law service or software in any way.

The failure of Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law to exercise or enforce any right or provision in the policies or the Submission Agreement does not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any term of the Submission Agreement or these policies is found to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the court should endeavor to give effect to the parties' intentions as reflected in the provision, and the other provisions of the Submission Agreement and these policies remain in full force and effect. These policies and the Submission Agreement constitute the entire agreement between Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law and the Author(s) regarding submission of the Article.

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