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ylj-submission

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Use when running the final pre-submission preflight for The Yale Law Journal (YLJ) via its own online author portal — track selection, anonymization, word/length caps, Bluebook readiness, and required materials. Final checks; it does not draft content.

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Source SKILL.md: https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills/blob/HEAD/Yale-Law-Journal-Skills/skills/ylj-submission/SKILL.md

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Submission Preflight (ylj-submission)

The last check before uploading to YLJ's own online submission system (not Scholastica/ExpressO). YLJ review is anonymized, so the most common avoidable failure is leaving identity cues in the manuscript. Verify volatile specifics on the official submissions page before relying on them (检索于 2026-06；以官网为准).

When to trigger

  • "Submitting this week" — last pass before upload
  • Unsure what the YLJ portal expects vs. the rest of your Scholastica slate
  • Confirming the track's encouraged caps are met and the piece is anonymized

Process facts (verify volatile items on the official page)

  • Owner / publisher: The Yale Law Journal Company, Inc., affiliated with Yale Law School; student-edited, not peer-reviewed.
  • Portal: YLJ's own online author submission system — YLJ does not accept pieces through Scholastica/ExpressO (检索于 2026-06；以官网为准).
  • Review model: anonymized — the Articles & Essays Committee reads without author name, affiliation, or prior publications.
  • Tracks & encouraged length (incl. footnotes): Article < 25,000 words (~50 Journal pages); Essay < 15,000 words (~30 pages); Forum < 10,000 words (~20 pages); student Note first-time cap ~20,000 words; student Comment first-time cap ~7,000 words. Over-length weighs against acceptance (检索于 2026-06；以官网为准).
  • Style: Bluebook (The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation) plus the Journal's own citation requirements; quotations need quotation marks + pinpoint cites.
  • Fee: no submission fee and no APC — YLJ takes manuscripts on its own portal with article selection by student editors; no Scholastica/ExpressO fee attaches to its own intake (verified 2026-06-22; 以官网为准).
  • Leadership: led by an annually-elected student Editor-in-Chief; the masthead rotates each volume (current: Volume 135, 2025–2026, EiC Jeremy N. Thomas '26 — a rotating student role, pinned 2026-06-23 via Yale Law School news + YBLSA announcement) — re-check the live masthead before relying on any EiC name.

Preflight checklist

Track & length

  • Track chosen; submit as Essay or Article to help the Committee assess it
  • Encouraged word cap met (Article < 25k / Essay < 15k / Forum < 10k, incl. footnotes)
  • (Students) Note/Comment first-time cap met (~20k / ~7k)

Anonymization

  • No author name, affiliation, or acknowledgments in the manuscript
  • No self-identifying references ("as I argued in…") that reveal authorship
  • Prior-publication / prestige cues removed (review is name-blind)
  • File metadata (document properties, comments) stripped of identity

Apparatus & format

  • Footnotes complete; Bluebook form correct; pinpoints present (see ylj-sources-and-bluebook)
  • Quotations marked + pinpointed; paraphrase cited; alterations flagged
  • Manuscript is near-final and source-pull-ready (see ylj-student-editor-review)

Portal & materials

  • Submitting through the YLJ author portal, not Scholastica
  • Any abstract/cover info the portal requests prepared
  • Current-volume guidelines PDF or live submissions page checked; date and file/page noted
  • Expedite (if any) filed in the YLJ portal — no queue priority expected (see ylj-placement-strategy)

Gate decision

Classify the submission before upload:

  • STOP if identity cues remain, file metadata is dirty, the manuscript is materially over the encouraged cap without a deliberate reason, or any load-bearing citation fails existence/support.
  • HOLD if the current-volume guidelines PDF, portal fields, or fee/window status have not been checked on the live YLJ page this cycle.
  • GO only when track, length, anonymization, footnote apparatus, portal path, and expedite handling are all confirmed.

Record the evidence packet in a short note: track, word count including footnotes, live guideline page or PDF checked, anonymization sweep result, cite-check status, and any expedite deadline.

Anti-patterns

  • Sending YLJ through Scholastica/ExpressO and assuming it was received
  • Leaving author name/affiliation/acknowledgments or file-metadata identity cues (breaks anonymization)
  • Submitting an over-length piece (length weighs against acceptance)
  • Uploading with an incomplete footnote apparatus, planning to finish cites later
  • Budgeting for a submission fee — YLJ charges none (no submission fee / no APC)

Output format

【Track】Article / Essay / Feature / Note / Comment / Forum (cap met? Y/N)
【Anonymized】text + self-refs + metadata clean? [Y/N]
【Apparatus】Bluebook + pinpoints + quotations marked? [Y/N]
【Portal】submitting via YLJ's own system (not Scholastica)? [Y/N]
【Expedite】filed in YLJ portal (no priority)? [Y/N or N/A]
【Gate】GO / HOLD / STOP — blocker if any
【Evidence】guidelines page/PDF checked + word count incl. footnotes + cite-check status
【Next】await decision → ylj-revision-and-editing on acceptance

Supplementary resources