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The Banality of Law Journal Rejections

By Noah C. Chauvin. Full Text.

In the spring of 2021, I received two rejection messages from journals I had submitted an article to; the messages came seven minutes apart. Nothing about that experience was remarkable, except that the two messages (with the exception of the names of the journals) were identical. That prompted this brief reflection on the bureaucratization of law journal rejections. In it, I argue that the inauthenticity and formulaic nature of law journal rejections has negative consequences for author and editor alike.