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Editing a Law Journal- EJIL and ICON (LAW-DS-EDIT-24)

LAW-DS-EDIT-24

Description

Understanding the art of editing can be very helpful for strengthening one’s own writing. This seminar takes researchers through the entire editorial cycle of a law journal, in a way that provides insight into the process of writing, revising, reading, appraising, preparing academic work of various kinds for publication. What makes for an interesting article?  How can a promising article be improved?  What are the different characteristics of leading (law) journals across the world? What works and what does not work for communicating an idea to a readership?  What can be learned from the journal review process, as an author, a reviewer, and an editor?  Who gets cited, and who does not, and why? How best to write a constructive peer review report? How best to respond to a critical peer reviewer? What material is suitable for an article, what for a blog and what for a tweet?  What is the added value of a journal symposium?  Why write (or read) a book review?

Thanks to close collaboration with the European Journal of International Law (EJIL) and the International Journal of Constitutional Law (ICON) researchers in this seminar will be able to address these questions in part by gaining hands-on experience in two leading law journals, meanwhile helping to shape the production of international legal knowledge. Researchers will also be given formal recognition as assistant editors for the year by EJIL and ICON for their contributions to the editorial process.

The seminar is open to all researchers interested in public international law, constitutional and public law, and allied fields of enquiry. Max Weber (and Civica) Fellows are also encouraged to participate.

Structure of the seminar: 
Apart from the first, introductory meeting, all meetings will consist of two parts.  The first part of every seminar will consist of a discussion of the researchers’ screening reports and peer review reports of actual journal submissions.  The second part of the seminar will address a topic or theme specific to that month’s session, often intended to help contribute to the researchers’ own research, writing and publishing (e.g. how to write a good abstract; how to prepare an introduction (to an article, a thesis etc); how to approach writing a book review etc). All seminar participants will be required to write a screening or peer review report for each session, to be uploaded to the course website two days in advance of the seminar session.
Researchers will receive feedback or comments on these reports, and will be invited to discuss them during one or more of the sessions. The relevant reading material will be made available on the course website at least two weeks before each monthly meeting

The seminar takes place once a month, each Tuesday 11.00-13.00 (with one exception: Thursday 14^th November 2024) between 11 am and 1 pm in Sala Stemmi, Villa Salviati and in hybrid format (unless advised otherwise)


First, Second & Third Term: registration from 26 to 30 September 2024

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