Drake Law School encourages students to publish electronically and in law reviews to make articles accessible to web searches and to a larger audience.

Publishing Checklist

✓ Copyright

Notify the law review or other publication that you are maintaining copyright ownership for yourself & intend to publish electronically as well as in the journal. Most law reviews will not have a problem with this as long as you also post the journal citation.

✓ Write an Abstract

Abstracts are typically one to two paragraphs in length.

✓ Submit to BePress

The BePress Legal Respository is an archive of working papers and articles posted in the pre-publication stage. While it is similar in purpose to SSRN, the BePress Legal Respository reaches a different academic audience, so post to both services to ensure the broadest possible exposure. To upload scholarship to the Legal Repository establish a free individual account. The site accepts papers in Word and will convert them into PDF.

✓ Submit to SSRN's Legal Scholarship Network (LSN)

SSRN is a repository of scholarly working papers and forthcoming papers that can be downloaded in full text. Author contact information accompanies the articles in an effort to encourage communication about research findings and interests. Anyone may post papers after establishing a free, individual account but all papers must be posted in a PDF format. SSRN also includes an e-submission service that allows you to electronically deliver manuscripts to your choice of 250 journals. Click here for instructions on how to submit your article to the SSRN.

If you encounter any trouble with submission directions, please contact Dean Edwards for assistance.