About the Journal

Focus and Scope. Established in 1953, the Sydney Law Review is a leading Australian generalist law journal. Emphasising Australian law, the Review is committed to publishing high-quality, timely articles that make an original contribution to legal scholarship. Peer-reviewed content includes articles, the 'Before the High Court' column and review essays and book reviews. The Review also publishes case notes and book reviews. The 'Before the High Court' column is a forum for Australia's leading academics to provide commentary on cases currently before the High Court of Australia. Students enrolled in the Sydney Law Review unit of study have the opportunity to publish case notes and law reform comments in the Review.

Publishing Schedule. The Review publishes four issues per year (March, June, September and December) and accepts submissions on a rolling basis (there are no submission deadlines). Most content is also published in advance access form.

Open Access Policy. The Review supports open access. All articles published in the Review appear free of charge on this website and on AustLII. In accordance with the Review's Author Agreement (pdf, 70KB) authors may reproduce and communicate their published article to the public, on condition that: (1) the author does not charge a fee or other valuable consideration; and (2) such reproduction or communication includes an acknowledgement that the article was first published in the Sydney Law Review and provides full publication citation details.

To facilitate the double-blind refereeing process, the Review requires submitters to remove any draft manuscripts from publicly accessible sources during the review process.

Archiving. Sydney Law Review content is archived on AustLII from 1953, the Review's first year of publication. 

Author Fees. There are no fees or charges for manuscript processing and/or publishing materials in the Review.

Peer Review Process. Submissions are first assessed by the Editors and, if considered suitable, will be sent for double-blind peer review by reviewers that are expert in the field.

All submissions approved to go out for peer review are subject to at least two double-blind reviews. In the event that the Review is unable to secure two double-blind peer reviews due to the nature of the field/topic or any other reason, we will ensure one double-blind peer review and at least one other anonymous peer review.

The submission and the reviews are then considered by the Editorial Board, which makes the final decision regarding publication. In some cases, this process may involve re-submission and re-review.

The review process (for submissions approved to go out for peer review) usually takes 8–12 weeks, after which the authors are notified of the Board's decision. Please be aware that there may be delays due to late reviews and/or holiday periods. The Review's policy is to keep the identity of referees and authors confidential. Referee comments are provided (anonymously) to the author(s).

Where an author has been invited to revise and resubmit their submission, the revised submission will be reviewed before the Board makes a final decision. This may mean that the revised submission will be reviewed by a new reviewer and/or the original reviewer(s).

Authorship and Acknowledgements. All submission authors must be listed. An author is an individual who: (1) has made a significant intellectual or scholarly contribution to research and its output; and (2) agrees to be listed as an author. All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship must be listed in an acknowledgement at the end of the author biography footnote(s). Where relevant, submissions must include a funding acknowledgement statement at the end of the author biography footnote(s). 

Copyright. The author retains copyright in the work and grants the Review an exclusive licence to publish the work according to the terms of the Review's Author Agreement (pdf, 70KB). All revenue, Copyright Agency payments and royalties from the published Work are retained by the Review.

Research Misconduct. The Review Editors shall take reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of manuscripts where research misconduct has occurred, including plagiarism, citation manipulation, and data falsification/fabrication. All authors of submissions to the Sydney Law Review authorise the Review to use plagiarism detection software.

In the event that the Editors and/or Editorial Board are made aware of any allegation of research misconduct relating to a submission to, or article published in, the Sydney Law Review, the Editors shall follow the Committee on Publication Ethics ('COPE') guidelines (or equivalent) in dealing with allegations.

Conflicts of Interest. The Review requires its Editorial Board members (including the Editors) to declare any conflicting interests and to exclude themselves from any discussion and decision-making concerning submissions in relation to which they do or may be considered to have a conflict. Authors must declare any conflicting interests at the end of the author biography footnote(s). Reviewers must declare any actual or possible conflicting interests as soon as apparent to them.

Ownership and Management. The Review is owned and published by The University of Sydney Law School within the University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. The Review is funded by: (1) the Sydney Law School; (2) hardcopy subscription fees; (3) payments from the Australian Copyright Agency for educational copying etc; and (4) royalty revenue from some online publishers of the Review including HeinOnline, EBSCO, Gale Cengage and Informit.

Governing Body. The Review is governed by an Editorial Board of academics from the Sydney Law School. The Constitution of the Sydney Law Review provides for the composition and roles of the Editorial Board.

The Editorial Board comprises the Editor(s) of the Review plus a minimum further six members of the academic staff of the University of Sydney Law School, plus such other members as the Editor(s) choose to appoint. A minimum of one and maximum of two members of the Editorial Board will serve as Editor(s) of the Review. The secretary to the Board and production manager of the Review is the Publishing Manager, Sydney Law School, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.

Print Subscriptions. The Review is published in print as well as online. For hardcopy subscriptions outside North America, email Sydney Law Review. For hardcopy subscriptions in North America, email Gaunt.  

ISSN 1444-9528 (online), ISSN 0082-0512 (print)