Submission

Last Updated: July 24, 2025

Submission Eligibility

JOLT currently publishes five types of writing pieces:

  • Articles: JOLT publishes two issues per year with generally 4–6 articles per issue. Articles are generally 20,000–30,000 words in length, including footnotes. The rest of this page will discuss the submissions process for articles.
  • Responses: Responses are published by invitation only, and JOLT does not accept solicitations for response articles.
  • Symposia: Symposia proposals should be submitted per the process found in the call for Symposia.
  • Digest: Shorter pieces of a few thousand words should be submitted to our online companion, JOLT Digest.
  • Student Notes: Student notes may be submitted per the process found in the call for Student Notes.

Topics of Interest

JOLT has published and is interested in publishing articles in:

  • The law and policy of information technologies, including artificial intelligence, social media, the internet, telecommunications, and big data
  • The law and policy of biotechnology and healthcare
  • Cybercrime and cybersecurity policy
  • Energy law and policy, including green energy and cleantech
  • Space law and policy
  • Privacy law and policy
  • Industrial policy and national security policy
  • The impact of emerging technologies on legal doctrine, practice, and ethics
  • Intellectual property law, including patent, copyright, trademark, and trade secret
  • Empirical legal work (quantitative or qualitative) addressing questions of interest in law and technology

The above list is illustrative but not exhaustive, and we define law and technology broadly. We publish across legal fields, including but not limited to intellectual property law, regulation and administrative law, criminal law, tort law, contracts, Constitutional law, employment law, and procedure. We also publish articles adopting a variety of methods, including but not limited to doctrinal analysis, qualitative interviews, and quantitative empirical work.

We primarily publish articles that focus on the law of the United States, though we also welcome scholarship on issues of international scope and importance.

Author Eligibility

JOLT publishes writings by academics, practitioners, and policymakers.

Authors in the process of completing a law degree are welcome to submit full articles for consideration, which will be assessed according to the same criteria below.

Use of AI Policy

Authors may use generative AI tools at any stage in the writing process, so long as all such usage is disclosed. Authors must document any use of AI tools in the title page footnote, e.g., “ChatGPT was used for copy-editing.” Please disclose both the tool(s) used (e.g., ChatGPT) as well as all functions for which those tools were used (e.g., copy-editing, drafting, figure generation, citation formatting, research, idea generation, etc.). Failure to disclose the use of such tools may be considered against a submission.

All authors are ultimately responsible for the content of their submissions, and all submissions are subject to our evaluation criteria as described below. Thus, submissions that cite non-existent sources, that are missing citations or sources, that insufficiently engage with the current literature, that are not stylistically effective, that plagiarize from other sources, etc., will be evaluated accordingly.

Prior Publication Policy

Articles submitted to JOLT must not have been published in any other journal or archival venue. Prior to submission, authors should not have committed to publishing their submitted articles with any other journal or archival venue.

Articles that have been released as drafts or preprints on SSRN (including those disseminated via SSRN’s “e-Journals”), arXiv, OSF, or similar platforms remain eligible for publication. Articles that have been presented at conferences, workshops, or other non-archival venues remain eligible for publication.

Data Retention Policy

This section applies only to articles using original empirical data.

JOLT supports efforts to improve scientific transparency and to enable independent scientific verification and replication of empirical results. Upon publication of all articles, we strongly encourage authors to make their data publicly and readily available on JOLT’s Dataverse for the purposes of replication by any researcher. Authors should upload any files necessary to replicate the analyses in their manuscripts, including but not limited to: (1) statistical data (anonymized if necessary), (2) well-documented replication code or scripts, and (3) a README file with instructions on how to reproduce their analyses. We also encourage authors to use open-source software to conduct their analyses.

This policy has been adapted from the Yale Law Journal’s Data Retention Policy.

How to Submit an Article

JOLT accepts all submissions electronically via Scholastica. Please go to harvard-jolt.scholasticahq.com to submit articles for consideration. We do not accept hard copy submissions. Please carefully note the citation and formatting requirements below before submitting.

Submit to Harvard Journal of Law and Technology

We understand that submissions via Scholastica may present a financial burden to some authors. If you are unable to submit your article via Scholastica, please check your eligibility for Scholastica’s fee waiver program and/or contact us at jolt.submissions@gmail.com.

Citation and Formatting Requirements

All articles should follow the formatting requirements specified below:

  • Word Limit: JOLT does not impose a hard limit on article length, but generally, articles are 20,000 to 30,000 words in length (including footnotes). We discourage submissions of excessively long articles.
  • Document Format: Articles may be submitted as Word (preferred) or PDF files.
  • Contact Information: Manuscripts must be accompanied by the e-mail address(es) of author(s).
  • Citations: Citations in all submitted articles should conform to the latest edition of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation.
  • Completeness: Submitted articles must be fully edited and complete. Incomplete drafts will not be reviewed.
  • Attachments: Author(s) should include a resume, a letter of introduction, and a short abstract.
  • Use of AI Policy: Author(s) must document any use of AI tools in the title page footnote. Please see the detailed requirements above.

Article submissions that do not adhere to the requirements specified above risk rejection without review.

Our Review Process

JOLT publishes two issues each year, one in the Spring and another in the Fall. For each issue, we will select between three to five articles. We review articles for each issue on a rolling basis starting on the following dates each year:

  • Fall Issue: February 1st until full
  • Spring Issue: August 1st until full

We strongly encourage submissions be made as early as possible during these time periods. Off-peak submissions will be reviewed, as needed, to fill unexpected gaps; however, there is no guarantee of review. As we are students, email response times may lag in these off-peak periods.

Our review process generally takes 2–4 weeks. Our review system operates on a tiered series of increasingly detailed reviews of an article. After an article has passed all stages of review, a final publication decision is made by the Submissions Editor and the Editors-in-Chief. Due to the number of articles we receive, we are unable to respond to or provide feedback on individual submissions

Review Criteria

JOLT’s evaluation criteria include:

  • rigor and quality of argumentation/analysis;
  • effectiveness and quality of writing;
  • novelty, creativity, and contribution to the field of law and AI;
  • organization and structure;
  • engagement with current literature (including the quality of the preemption check);
  • accuracy and quality of citations and sources;
  • appropriateness of the topic;
  • eligibility criteria, as specified above.

JOLT reserves the right to revoke the acceptance of any submission for any reason, including due to a finding of plagiarism at any stage of the submission or editing process or due to violation of any of the policies outlined on this page.

Expedited Review

We will conduct expedited reviews for articles with publication offers from other journals. To ensure we are able to appropriately respond to such requests, authors submitting an expedited review request should specify: (1) their need for consideration on an expedited basis, and (2) the offer deadline from the other journal(s).

As with standard submissions, we have a strong preference for expedite requests submitted via Scholastica, and prefer communications through Scholastica's system. If you email us regarding an expedite, please include the term "EXPEDITE" in the subject line of the email.

Upon Acceptance

By submitting an article for consideration, you acknowledge that your article, if accepted by JOLT, will undergo rigorous editing prior to publication. This editorial process ensures that authors' scholarship is presented as professionally as possible. To maintain JOLT's high standards, acceptance of an article by JOLT is conditioned on the author's cooperation during the editorial process.

Contact Us

We highly recommend using Scholastica's messaging system to contact JOLT about submissions. This ensures that our team is best able to respond to your message in a timely manner. Authors may also contact the Submissions Editor at jolt.submissions@gmail.com.

Thank you for your interest in submitting to JOLT. We look forward to hearing from you and to reading your submissions!