Publications Submission Faq

The Publications Committee of the Esports Bar Association strives to foster a network of ideas among current and future legal professionals interested in esports. To that end, current law students, law school faculty, attorneys, and other practitioners may submit articles for publication in the Esports Bar Association Journal. Please adhere to the following guidelines.

1. When will submissions be accepted? When submissions are open, how do I submit a manuscript
   The Journal will begin to accept submissions on April 1, 2022.  The Journal will extend offers on a rolling basis, which means the time to submit a manuscript closes when the Journal has received enough submissions to publish for the year. The Journal will close submissions on Friday, July 15, 2022.

   You may submit manuscripts in Microsoft Word or other equivalent word processing form via our form EBA Journal Submission Application, which asks you to provide a summary of the work, and a disclosure of conflicts. Please do not include any information identifying the authors on the manuscript itself.

   The Journal reserves the opportunity to solicit and publish additional works on a particular topic on an extraordinary basis, such as the resolution of a seminal case or other issue of importance to the Esports Bar Association membership. In that case, the Journal will advertise such solicitation.

2. Who may submit a manuscript for consideration?
   Submissions are open to current law students, law school faculty, attorneys, and other practitioners over the age of 18. You do not need to be a member of the EBA in order to submit. The Editor-in-Chief is prohibited from submitting a manuscript.

   Two or more people may submit a manuscript as co-authors. At least one author must be a current law student, law school faculty, attorney, or practitioner.

   Authors may submit more than one manuscript for consideration.

3. What type of articles does your Journal accept?
   The Journal will consider any original work focusing on esports and the law. The manuscript must be timely and novel. Timely means that the subject of the manuscript is currently of interest to the esports community. Novel means that there is some originality in your discussion or arguments compared to outstanding literature. To that extent, the manuscript may not have already been published in another medium.

   Manuscripts should be between 2,000 and 4,000 words, exclusive of footnotes. Footnotes should be reserved for citations and non-substantial text.

4. What is the style guide used by the Journal?
   The Journal is committed to allowing authors to express themselves in their own style, but we will resolve technical and grammatical requirements according to the Chicago Manual of Style (17th ed. 2017).

5. What is the citation guide used by the Journal?
   Citations in all manuscripts should conform to The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (21st ed. 2020).

6. How will the Journal decide which manuscripts to publish? And how many will be selected?
   Editors will read each anonymized manuscript and determine whether it should be selected for publication based on the manuscript’s topic, analysis, support, and organization. If the initial reviewers believe the manuscript deserves to be published, then the full editorial team considers the manuscript based on the same criteria and ultimately makes a decision.

   The Journal does not make any commitment to publish a minimum or maximum number of articles.  The Journal would like to publish between four (4) and eight (8) manuscripts, with a minimum of at least two (2) being written primarily by students. Student status is determined at the time of submission. A student must be currently enrolled in a legal curriculum or have graduated within the past six (6) months.

7. When will we know which manuscripts have been selected for publication?
   Offers to publish the manuscript in the Journal will be sent to the authors on a rolling basis, and selected articles will be announced via the EBA Twitter account.

8. Are there any other benefits for being selected for publication?
   In addition to being distributed to EBA members directly and being published online in the official EBA Journal, the Journal has the discretion to award scholarship.  Starting in 2022, joint works between attorneys and students are eligible for scholarship awards.  Any scholarship awarded must go to the student-author.

   • Top Student Contribution Award: Awarded to the top submission written primarily by a student.  The student will receive a $3,000 scholarship as well EBA Student Membership during law school, an opportunity to present their paper via video conference to EBA members, and a spotlight on the EBA website and newsletter.

   • Significant Contribution Award: Awarded to a student whose manuscript presents a significant contribution to the literature on esports and the law.  The student will receive a $2,000 scholarship as well EBA Student Membership during law school and a spotlight on the EBA website and newsletter.

   Winners are solely responsible for taxes on their winnings and must provide the Journal with their social security number for tax reporting purposes.

9. Now that my manuscript has been selected for publication, what happens next?
   The Editor-in-Chief of the Journal will assign your manuscript to an editor who will be your point of contact during the editing process.

   First, we review the text for clarity, organization, and grammar. Once these edits are discussed with the author, we follow the traditional law review cycle of substantively verifying the accuracy of the work followed by editing the citations for technical accuracy. Authors receive several opportunities to review the text, discuss edits made by Journal editors, and make limited changes throughout this process. Finally, we format the article for publication, which is projected to occur in November of each year.

10. I still have questions. Who do I contact?
    Please send all questions or comments via email to publications@esportsbar.org.