How to Get Published: A Guide to Human Rights and Social Justice Journals: V. Navigating Rejection and Other Opportunities to Get Published

Many journals are highly selective and a rejection is not always indicative of the quality of the work. If your paper is declined publication in one journal, then you have the option to resubmit it elsewhere for consideration. You should ask for feedback, revisit your manuscript and edit so that your submission is stronger the second time around.

Beyond academic journals, there are many other avenues to publish your work. Below are several ways:

1. Writing for electronic companions to academic journals.
   • Many journals will have an online component in addition to their print issues. Online publications may allow for the publication of a variety of pieces, including blog posts, essays and response pieces. Submitting to an electronic companion may also entail faster turnaround times and therefore quicker publication
2. Writing for online blogs.
3. Writing a review or other accepted types of manuscripts.
   • Many academic journals publish reviews of new books in the field, in addition to the articles.
     • Reviews are typically much shorter than journal-length articles.
   • Many journals or publications will also accept other types of submissions such as shorter articles, notes, comments, letters to the editor etc. Publications typically provide information on these other types of accepted manuscripts on their submissions guidelines for new authors.  
4. Writing for competitions on a particular field. 
   • Journals, research institutes and other publications often host writing competitions to solicit submissions on a particular topic. These writing competition opportunities are numerous and worth researching. Below are a few examples:
     • AccessLex Law School Scholarship Databank - Writing Competitions - New databank with nearly 800
       curated writing competition and scholarship opportunities. 
     • vLex's International Law and Technology Writing Competition 
     • American Association of Law Libraries's annual call for papers
     • Competitions for notes and comments to law reviews or law journals [applicable to law students]
     • The American Bar Association maintains a list of funded writing competitions that are specific to particular areas of law [applicable to law students and recent law school alumni]
5. Subscribing to academic journals and responding to open calls.
   • Sometimes journals will publish a special issue on a particular topic. When there are not enough submissions for the special issue, journals will issue an open call and ask for papers to be submitted. These open calls are usually topic specific, so you may have to substantially revise your manuscript if its topic does not align with the scope of the special issue. However, responding to an open call may result in a quicker turnaround time than submitting your piece to the general submission pool.