Pace Environmental Law Review Shifts to Peer Review

As of August 1, 2009, Pace Environmental Law Review (PELR) will use a new Peer Review process to select articles for publication. Submissions will be reviewed internally and then forwarded to a select group of Peer Reviewers  academics, practitioners, and experts in the field, including members of Pace Law School's world-renowned environmental law faculty. The Peer Review process will offer new and distinctive opportunities to foster continued debate and reflection upon some of the most pressing topics within the field of environmental law. Articles selected for publication will benefit from:

• Expedited editorial processing of 8 to 10 weeks from acceptance.
• Single-article hard copy publication.
• Inclusion in a bound volume distributed to PELR's wide-ranging list of subscribers.

All articles submitted to PELR must be original scholarship and not previously published.  Established in 1982, PELR was one of the first scholarly environmental law journals.

We invite authors to submit articles either via ExpressO or directly in either MSWord or PDF format to the PELR Development & Acquisitions Editor at pelracq@law.pace.edu.
 

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PEER REVIEW FAQs

Below are some questions and answers relating to Pace Environmental Law Review’s new Peer Review process. 

 

Q: What is the “Peer Review” process?

A: Pace Environmental Law Review’s new Peer Review process signals a marked shift in the way scholarly pieces will be selected for publication. By having academics and top environmental experts – not law students – choose the articles, we believe that the Law Review will attract articles of the highest academic quality. Peer Review will solidify PELR’s reputation as one of the most important academic for a for debate and reflection upon some of the most pressing topics within the field of environmental law.
 

Q:  Who reviews the articles after they have been submitted for publication?

A: Pace Environmental Law Review student editors will vet all incoming articles for originality, substantive interest, completeness, and quality of scholarship. Only after an article has passed this rigorous internal review process will the article pass on to the peer-review stage. Peer Reviewers will be solicited from the ranks of top environmental law practitioners, academics, and experts in their field, particularly members of Pace University School of Law’s world-renowned Environmental Law faculty, to evaluate incoming articles for publication. 

Throughout the review process, all reviewers – as well as their comments and decisions – will remain entirely anonymous. Each article will be published quickly as a stand-alone piece (see further detail, below). They will also be prepared for inclusion in a bound collection. Pace Law School faculty members and those peer reviewers who wish to identify themselves and who assisted in the evaluation of one or more articles will be listed on the masthead of that bound volume.
 

Q: What criteria will the reviewers use to evaluate my article?

A:  Peer reviewers will be asked to determine whether or not their assigned article is an example of superior scholarship in the fields of pollution control, energy, land use, climate change, animal, natural resource, international or environmental comparative law or another subject relevant to environmental law and policy. Peer reviewers have wide discretion in selecting articles for publication. They may, but are not required to, apply as the following criteria:

Substantive Criteria:
1. Does the article contain novel research, scholarship, or a fresh perspective on an issue of environmental law?
2. Did the author thoroughly research the various issues and concepts contained in the article? (Including primary source materials?)
3. Does the author demonstrate a comprehensive knowledge of the subject matter being discussed?
4. Does the article address the author’s thesis?
5. Has the author sufficiently supported his arguments? Is there any part of the article that is purely speculative?
6. If applicable, were sound scientific research methodologies employed? 

Structural Criteria:
1. Is the article written clearly and organized logically?
2. Does the article address each issue in turn as it is presented in the Introduction?
3. Does the author provide sufficient evidence to support his thesis?
4. Is the evidence provided accurate and consistent?
5. Does the author present sufficient background information to illustrate his argument?
6. Does the author clearly and accurately convey the situation, case law, or issue being discussed?  Does the author provide sufficient detail?
7. Does the title clearly reflect the subject matter of the article?
8. Does the author provide sufficient ancillary information in his footnotes?
9. Is the article an appropriate length? Should the text be expanded or condensed?
The above list is not exhaustive, exclusive or controlling. Peer reviewers may use any criteria they deem appropriate in evaluating articles.
 

Q: What types of articles should be submitted for Peer Review?

A: All articles submitted to Pace Environmental Law Review are required to be original scholarship and have not been previously published. Furthermore, because articles published under the new Peer Review process will now enjoy the critical approval of well-respected colleagues within the field of environmental law, authors are encouraged to submit only the highest quality of work for their review.
 

Q: How does this publication process differ from other law reviews?

A:  The Pace Environmental Law Review Peer Review process is intended to be as streamlined as possible. Once an article has been accepted for publication the goal of the Editorial Board is to have the piece published in printed and online form in 8 to 10 weeks. Upon publication, authors will receive twenty-five complimentary, “hard copy,” single-print volumes of their published article. The article simultaneously will published on the Pace Environmental Law Review’s website. Once a sufficient number of individual Peer Reviewed-articles have been published, they will be bound as a collection and forwarded to our subscribers. At this time all authors will receive five additional copies of the final bound volume.
  

Q: Will Pace Environmental Law Review still print non-Peer Reviewed articles?

A: Pace Environmental Law Review has a great tradition of printing varied examples of outstanding scholarship including Symposium articles, themed issues, the spring semester's Lloyd K. Garrison Lecture on Environmental Law, the fall semester's Gilbert and Sarah Kerlin Lecture on Environmental Law, our own student pieces, and the award winning briefs Best Briefs from Pace University School of Law's National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition. This tradition will continue, as these articles will continue to be a valuable part of our law review’s work; however, the Peer Review process will not apply to any of these publications at this time.
 

For additional questions or concerns relating to the law review in general please contact the Editor-in-Chief at pelracq@law.pace.edu. 

For additional questions about the Peer Review process or to submit an article for consideration please contact the Development and Acquisitions Editor at pelracq@law.pace.edu.