The Society for Computers and Law (‘SCL’) accepts articles and other written material and images (‘Material’) for publication on its web site at www.scl.org and any other site maintained by it in all media whether now known or hereafter devised (‘SCL Site’) and in its magazine (including any electronic rendition of it in all media whether now known or hereafter devised) (‘Computers & Law’) on the following terms (‘the Publication Policy’).
We welcome articles and ideas for consideration. Please send your completed article or e-mail a proposal for an article to David Chaplin at david.chaplin@scl.org. It is not necessary to have prior approval of an article but where a draft or idea is forwarded the Editor will try to offer constructive suggestions.
Authors will be notified as soon as possible of the editor’s decision on the acceptability of any article.
Articles are normally published online in the first instance under this Publication Policy. The content for Computers & Law normally consists of a balanced selection of articles published online.
Our readership, especially online, is much wider than the SCL membership. It includes solicitors, barristers, in-house lawyers, senior executives in large corporations, government lawyers, the judiciary, academics and students. You should assume basic legal knowledge and, for more tightly focused pieces especially, you may assume a readership with a good grounding in IT law and some understanding of basic technology concepts. However, SCL is proud of the wide range of articles it publishes – opinion pieces, case reports, practical guides, gadget reviews and more. The tone of an article can be professional, academic, dry, ranting and (at a push) funny – but preferably pick one or two of those.
Articles should be:
- genuinely interesting and useful to a substantial proportion of professionals working in areas of IT law;
- original (and ‘edgy’ is even better) BUT while covering topics on the leading edge is part of our remit sometimes a new spin on a well-established issue is very valuable;
- authoritative, accurate and well-founded;
- written in as clear and accessible a style as the subject-matter allows.
Avoid complicated word processing styles – please do not try to make it look like a magazine piece as such styling is just stripped away and wastes everyone’s time. Try to keep the same margins throughout. Leave one line space between paragraphs and do not indent the beginning of paragraphs.
Authors are asked to supply their photograph in colour for publication in the magazine- an electronic version (TIF or JPEG at 300 dpi) is required. Please supply a photograph in as high a resolution as possible – print requires higher resolution than online. Where only black and white photographs are available because your firm has signed with a PR agency that thinks they are cool, they will be accepted with a sigh. You do not have to supply a photograph as a condition of being published.
The maximum word length is 3,500 words (four pages in Computers & Law). The minimum word length is 600 words. As a guide (but not a restriction), more popular articles appear to be approximately 1,500 words (2 pages) but the author should write what feels right to him or her and not aim for a target.
Wherever possible the article should be topical and relevant to our membership — and should be practitioner-orientated.
Law should be set in context; the article should usually contain analysis and comment. However, straight case reports with little or no comment are often accepted for publication.
Articles are not to be used overtly as ‘show cases’ for products, firms or chambers.
1. The author should supply a short, punchy title if possible. The Editor is likely to replace overly long titles. The strapline is usually written by SCL (although any suggestions from the author are welcome).
2. Sub-headings should be used at reasonable intervals to break up the text. Try to avoid adding too many and, above all, do not introduce headings that do not actually cover the topic(s) beneath them. Try to stick to two levels of heading. It is permissible to use up to three levels of heading and subheading (for example, 1. caps; 2. bold; 3. bold, italics) but you need a good reason.
3. A closing ‘end shot’ or brief biog should consist of the name of the author and firm/chambers/university and his or her post. It is taken as read that the author is a specialist in the area s/he is writing on and lengthy claims to expertise will be cut. E-mail addresses/websites can be mentioned.
4. Please try not to use footnotes – many can be incorporated into the text and many are simply unnecessary. Where they are unavoidable, they will appear as endnotes and may well be deleted from the magazine version of the article. Case references should be in the text and are not appropriate footnotes.
5. Use neutral case references. References to statutes should be in this style: Human Rights Act 1998, s 4. But sometimes the flow of text doesn’t allow that. Refer to Acts first by their full name with any unusual abbreviation in brackets. Refer to regulations/rules first by their full name and SI number, with abbreviation in brackets.
6. Avoid initial capitals (eg, in defendant and judge), and full stops in abbreviations, citations and statutory references (eg, write Arnold J, EWCA Crim, s 88, reg 93, etc). Use single quotation marks (') – double quotes for quotes within quotes only.
7. Abbreviations – if the reader is not likely to know what the usual abbreviation is then set it out in brackets (without quotes around it). So it is permissible to spell out, say, European Network Information Security Agency and follow it with (ENISA), provided there are subsequent refs to ENISA. But it is not, for example, necessary to explain EU; readers who don’t know what EU stands for must have mistaken us for the Beano!
8. United States – the Editor is weary of grumbling ‘of what’. There is no such country as ‘the United States’. But USA is fine - even Beano readers know where that is – and ‘US’ is permissible as an adjective (in context).
Articles from pupil barristers/ students/trainee solicitors will not normally be accepted unless co-written with someone suitably qualified, ie legally trained or an academic in the legal field. Doctoral students do not count as students for this purpose. And there are exceptions where a trainee etc has a special insight to share (or offers a book review etc).
We will sometimes draw your attention to comments made on your article but you are encouraged to monitor these, and respond where appropriate. The comments feature may also be used to advantage by the author to add in later developments or thoughts.
Please promote your articles by linking to them on your website or blog and by sharing links via Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn.
You’re also welcome to republish and reuse your articles after initial publication in Computers & Law, but please do give due attribution and link to the SCL web site.
Thanks for your contribution.
Please send questions, comments and suggestions about your contributions or any other aspect of the SCL web site or Computers & Law to david.chaplin@scl.org
