Guidelines For Contributions

Formatting and general guidelines

• Posts must be between 500-700 words in length.
• Posts which are longer than 700 words will not be considered for publication.
• Posts must include hyperlinks to relevant legal sources and background information, including any judgments, laws, treaties or other legal texts which are mentioned. Hyperlinks must link only to legal or respected news sources. The editors make the final decision over what constitutes a respectable source. Please do not use footnotes.

Style

• Posts titles should be informative and grab the reader’s attention. A reader should be able to tell what the post is about from the title. Titles should be as brief as possible.
  • Examples of strong titles:  
  • ‘The Forgotten I in LGBTQIA+: ECtHR Turns its Back on Intersex People’;
  • ‘Equality Doesn’t Always Mean Integration: The Right to Education for Neurodiverse People’
• Your first paragraph is a lede, which should grab the reader’s attention and be a strong snapshot of the core of your argument such that it  will convince readers to read onwards. Please avoid the overused formulas of “this post considers”, “this post will argue/examine”…
  • Example of an excellent lede: ‘In the ‘global north’, successive waves of anti-refugee policies have so eroded the institution of asylum that it almost seems lost. The EU’s response to the unprecedented number of refugees from Ukraine demonstrates what it, and the UK, can and should do for all those fleeing war and persecution..’ See Mobility and Sanctuary: How to Revive Asylum in Europe

• Posts should be clear and concise, leaving out excessive jargon. They should be easily understandable to readers with no legal background. Please avoid using phrases in Latin or other languages where this is not absolutely necessary.
  • Examples of complex legal ideas effectively summarised:
  • Blog Example 1 – The Forgotten I in LGBTQIA+: ECtHR Turns its Back on Intersex People
  • Blog Example 2 – Equality Doesn’t Always Mean Integration: The Right to Education for Neurodiverse People
  • Blog Example 3 – The ‘Colston Four’ and the Walls of Criminal Trials
  • Blog Example 4 – Karnataka Hijab Ban Series – Part 1; Part 2; Part 3
  • Blog Example 5 – Delhi High Court Marital Rape Judgment Analysis – Part 1 and Part 2.

• Posts should avoid long paragraphs and can include subheadings to organise ideas and improve readability.
• Posts which are submitted must be fully proofread and must conform to good legal academic style and the principles of Plain English legal writing. Posts that contain multiple grammatical or stylistic errors will not be reviewed.

Content

• Post must provide a legal analysis; the Blog is not a platform for opinion pieces.
• Posts should deal with latest legal developments, such as, recent judgments, legislation etc. A publishable blog will capture the legal nuances of the judgment or legislation.
• Submissions that are merely descriptive will not be accepted.
• Authors should consider writing on topics that they are expert in, or that holds a significant research interest for them. Authors should consider writing on jurisdictions that they are familiar with.
• As we have a global legal readership, posts should provide relevant background information to make them accessible to readers from outside of that country.
• Posts should reflect original, unpublished work.

Other

• Blog posts are published in English but we are always trying to reach a global audience. If you can provide us with a translated version such as, in Spanish, Portuguese or French, we would be most keen to publish this alongside the English version.
• Using email tracking software is strongly discouraged as we view it as a violation of our privacy. The Editors may, in their absolute discretion, reject submissions which use such software.
• Cross-posting or publication on other platforms is permissible only:

with the permission of the Editors of the OxHRH Blog; and
– a minimum of 48 hours after the post has been published on the OxHRH Blog.