Sydney Law Review

We publish one of Australia’s most eminent academic law journals

Emphasising Australian law, the Sydney Law Review is devoted to publishing exceptional, timely articles that make an innovative contribution to legal scholarship and are of interest to a wide audience.

The Sydney Law Review features original peer-reviewed articles, as well as review essays and book reviews commissioned by the Editorial Board. Students enrolled in the Sydney Law Review unit of study have the opportunity to publish case notes or law reform comments in the journal.

In addition, the ‘Before the High Court’ column provides a forum for some of Australia's leading academics to comment on cases awaiting hearing by the High Court of Australia.

The Sydney Law Review is published four times a year (March, June, September and December) and accepts submissions on a rolling basis (there are no submission deadlines).

Editors: Associate Professor Celeste Black and Associate Professor Elisa Arcioni.

Editorial Board: View a list of our Editorial Board members (pdf, 40KB).

View our Publication Information and Ethics Statement (pdf, 70KB).

Online access here

You can access the current issue of Sydney Law Review here (pdf, 700KB), as well as archives back to 1953, on the AustLII website.

You can also access forthcoming articles and commentary here.

Make a submission

Submission requirements

We accept article submissions. We do not accept case note submissions.
To submit a proposal to author a Before the High Court column, book review or book review essay, please email the Sydney Law Review.
View our submission requirements before making your submission.
Submissions must be made online. Please download our Author Agreement (pdf, 70KB) to update and sign before uploading when you complete the online submission form.

For article submission, you will need to provide two separate Word files:

an abstract of 100-200 words; and
a full original submission of 10,000–15,000 words (including Abstract, author details, footnotes and referencing). Articles over 15,000 words will not be considered.

Submission process

Submissions are first assessed by the editors and, if considered suitable, will be sent for anonymous peer review. The submission and reviews are then considered by the Editorial Board. The review process usually takes 8-12 weeks, after which the authors are notified of the board's decision. Please be aware that there may be delays due to late reviews and/or holiday periods.

Author agreement

All authors are required to sign an Author Agreement before publication. Authors retain copyright in the work, but grant an exclusive licence to the Sydney Law Review. Refer to the Author Agreement (pdf, 70KB) for details regarding this licence and associated matters.

Before the High Court

The Sydney Law Review's Before the High Court column provides a forum for some of Australia's leading academics to comment on cases awaiting hearing by the High Court of Australia.

View our Before the High Court Author Guide for further information before submitting a proposal for the Editorial Board’s consideration by email to the Sydney Law Review.