Why You Should Write for SciTech

Why Write for SciTech?

Write for a Science & Technology Law Section publication to enhance your reputation in the profession. The book publishing program and other Section publications, such as Jurimetrics and The SciTech Lawyer, are highly respected and visible vehicles for the dissemination of information crucial to members like you and others in the field of science and technology law. Volunteering to write articles or having a book proposal accepted for development boosts your professional image and makes an important contribution to this area of the law.

The Section’s publications accept unsolicited submissions. To guide you in your efforts, check the leadership intranet for more information. Perhaps something you’ve been working on would fit nicely in an upcoming theme issue. Even if that is not the case, the publications sometimes accept material not directly related to an upcoming theme. You could consider working with the appropriate Section committee to develop a proposal to address the need for more information on the subject. Soon you could be networking with more colleagues while helping to address an important need.  Or perhaps you know of an emerging topic in your area of the law that has not been covered comprehensively. The goal of the publications is to represent areas of interest to all members. The best way to have your voice heard is to submit an abstract, a draft, or a proposal.  Below are a few easy ways to get started.

Repurpose substantive content to raise your profile in the profession. Members (both students and experienced practitioners) may re-purpose their substantive content, such as school papers, briefs, white papers, or CLE program materials as submissions for The SciTech Lawyer or even Section books. If you have worked on a Section committee program or report that you wish had a wider audience, consider developing the material into an article, a CLE program, or a book proposal. Contact Lori Lyons, Managing Editor ([email protected]) for more information.  Articles should conform to the general author guidelines found below.

Circulate a committee e-newsletter.  Several SciTech committees circulate weekly news blurbs to its members that capture relevant headlines in the news and links to the articles. Student editors manage these electronic publications and are always needed.

We invite you to participate in whatever way you believe is most suitable. This Section belongs to you, and you make the most of your membership by actively participating. Make your voice heard and contribute to the ongoing discussion by becoming a Section author.

Write a Substantive Book or Monograph

The Section is very proud of its successful book publishing program. White papers can often be expanded and repurposed as a book or monograph.

ABA books are written for busy, practicing lawyers. The most successful books have a practical, reader-friendly voice. If you can build in features like checklists, exhibits, sample contracts, flow charts, and tables of cases, please do so. For a basic tips on writing SciTech books, read through the FAQ for Books.

If you are interested in proposing a book idea, please contact Sarah Orwig, Book Publishing Editor ([email protected]) for details and a proposal form.

Write an article for Jurimetrics Journal

Jurimetrics: The Journal of Law, Science, and Technology is an international journal concerned with issues in all areas of law, science, and technology, including:

• physical, life, and the empirical, social, and behavioral sciences;
• engineering, aerospace, communications, and computers;
• logic, mathematics, statistics, and quantitative methods;
• use of science and technology in law practice, litigation, adjudication, legislation, and court and agency administration;
• legal regulation and policy implications of science and technology.

Space in Jurimetrics is limited. Originality, clarity, civility, and brevity are highly valued. Articles are selected for publication according to editorial assessment of their suitability and reports from referees. Although Jurimetrics welcomes careful analysis or advocacy of policy matters concerning law, science, and technology, publication of content that is defamatory, violates the law, or advocates for partisan politics is prohibited. Unsolicited manuscripts are welcomed for consideration if neither the article nor any part of its essential substance has been or will be published elsewhere before appearing in Jurimetrics.

Contact Managing Editor, Deborah Pogson ([email protected]) for details to be published in the Section’s quarterly scholarly online journal.

Write an article for The SciTech Lawyer Magazine

The SciTech Lawyer Author Guidelines

Each article should relate to the magazine’s Mission Statement, as printed below:

Mission Statement

The mission of The SciTech Lawyer, the official quarterly publication of the Science & Technology Section of the American Bar Association, is to help fulfill the Section’s goals:

1. To provide a forum for members of the profession to review, analyze, and correlate developments in science and technology and to evaluate the impact of such developments on society and the law.
2. To study, report, and make appropriate recommendations on the regulation of science and technology and related legal issues.
3. To establish and maintain liaison and cooperation between the scientific and technological communities and the organized bar, to the end of facilitating desirable scientific and technological, and related legal, developments.
4. To contribute to public and professional understanding of the effects of science and technology on law, of the problems arising from, and of the process by which the law responds.
5. To cooperate with and assist other ABA entities interested in associated or related areas of activity.

Style

The writing style for The SciTech Lawyer should be brisk and straightforward—more readable and informal than that in a law review article, although the magazine uses endnotes with standard Bluebook citation methods. Authors should consider the following style guidelines:

• Strive for an interesting opening and closing
• Use the active voice rather than the passive voice
• Use gender-neutral language
• Avoid long quotations
• Avoid surplus verbiage
• Avoid using a long word when a short one will do
• Avoid using a foreign phrase, scientific word, or jargon if a more common English equivalent exists
• Avoid overworked figures of speech
• Avoid overcapitalization, and
• Use footnotes and citations only when necessary at the end of the article following the citation style of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, Eighteenth Edition.

Submission and Publication

Prior publication: Articles should be original. Simultaneous submission, although discouraged, should be clearly noted. The issue editor will communicate this status to the editorial board. Any reprinted article accepted for publication will be noted as such with an editor’s note in the magazine.

Article length: Feature articles should run between 1,250 and 1,750 words, or 5 to 8 double-spaced pages. The SciTech Lawyer also accepts some shorter articles and columns.

Author information: Authors should include short biographies for publication with articles. Biographies should be one sentence long. Authors may also supply e-mail addresses for publication in the magazine.

Manuscript preparation: Articles should be double-spaced with one-inch margins. Please submit articles by email attachment.

The author review process: Authors will review articles edited and laid out in PDF form.

Publication agreement: Authors are asked to sign a publication agreement that grants the ABA the exclusive right of first publication, the nonexclusive right to reprint, and the right to use the work in other ABA media—including electronic, print, and other.

Contact Information
The SciTech Lawyer
Lori Lyons
Managing Editor
[email protected]