The Cambridge International Law Journal (CILJ) is a double-blind peer-reviewed journal with a broad focus on international and EU law, run by the postgraduate community of the Cambridge Faculty of Law. It succeeds the Cambridge Journal of International and Comparative Law, established in 2011 by postgraduate students of the University of Cambridge, and is published by Edward Elgar Publishing.

The CILJ Blog aims to give space to early-career researchers and well-established scholars to showcase innovative ideas. Blog posts may be submitted at any time and are considered on a rolling basis.

Themes

The Blog welcomes submissions on public international law, private international law, European Union law and comparative law. It also encourages contributions from related disciplines, including but not limited to:

International investment law
Space law
The law of the sea
WTO law
International environmental law

Eligibility

The journal invites submissions from researchers at all educational levels. Because of the high standard expected of selected posts, it notes that submissions by LLM students and above stand a higher chance of being selected. Lengthy academic papers will not be considered and the submission of university projects is highly discouraged. The call is open to “researchers at all educational levels” with no nationality restriction, so authors from India may submit.

Assessment criteria

The Editorial Team assesses submissions against four criteria:

Correct: factually and legally accurate, with appropriate sources and working hyperlinks.
Current: addresses a current and timely issue in international legal practice and scholarship.
Critical: addresses a critical issue and has practical impact or meaningfully supports practitioners and academics.
Clear: easily understandable and intelligible.

Posts should either make an intriguing point that is novel in legal scholarship or offer a new interpretation of existing law. All submissions must be original, not AI-generated and not published elsewhere.

Style guidelines

Length: analytical and clearly written, no longer than 1,500 words. Submissions exceeding 1,500 words will not be considered.
Hyperlinks: include hyperlinks to all sources, such as treaties, journal articles, legal texts or UN documents.
Citations: footnotes or citations are not accepted unless they refer to a print-only source or credit research or editorial assistance.
File format: upload the post as a Word document (.docx).

How to apply

Submit through the CILJ Blog submission form on Submittable (linked on this page). Complete the form and upload the post as a .docx file. Pieces under consideration elsewhere and unrevised university projects should not be submitted.

For 2025/26 the Blog works on a turnaround time of 14 days from submission to a decision on publication; over holiday seasons the turnaround is longer. Submissions are accepted at any time and considered on a rolling basis.

Proposing a symposium

Proposals to host a symposium on the CILJ Blog can be made at any time and are considered on a rolling basis. A symposium is contemplated to contain five pieces, published over five days in a week determined by the Managing Editor. Send the proposal by email to the Managing Editor of the CILJ Blog with a brief description (max 200 words) of what the symposium aims to achieve, the proposed structure and the contributing authors (maximum five). If the symposium should run at a specific time because of a particular week, theme or anniversary, mention it in the email.