SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
The Banking & Finance Law Review welcomes submissions from lawyers, established scholars and doctoral candidates
Submissions
We publish three issues per year (two regular issues, one special issue). Manuscripts are reviewed on a rolling basis. Manuscripts should ordinarily be submitted for the Banking & Finance Law Review’s exclusive consideration and will be subject to editorial and peer review. Manuscripts and queries may be emailed to submissions@bflr.ca.
Click to download the Style Guidelines and view full details!
Length
The length of submissions (inclusive of footnotes) should be:
• Articles: 10,000 to 12,000 words
• Recent Development Articles: 8,000 to 9,000 words
Submissions must conform to the Banking & Finance Law Review’s Style Guidelines and be submitted in Word or Word-compatible formats. Submissions should include a brief 250- to 300-word abstract, 4-6 keywords and the author’s affiliation.
Editorial & Peer Review Process
The Banking & Finance Law Review’s review process entails an initial review of the manuscript by the Managing Editor or Section Editor to gauge its suitability for possible publication based on subject matter and calibre. Manuscripts that pass the initial review are subject to a double-blind review by two reviewers with special expertise in the subject area. A “double blind” review refers to the anonymity of both the reviewer and author vis-à-vis one another throughout the peer review process. The Managing Editor or Section Editor reviews the comments received from the Expert Peer Reviewer to assist in publication decisions and will generally relay the reviewer’s feedback to the author. Prior to publication all manuscripts also undergo two rounds of copy editing to ensure language clarity and consistency with the Banking & Finance Law Review’s Style Guidelines.
Click to download the Peer Review Form and view full details!
Submissions, Peer Review Integrity, and Posting of Articles Policy
Articles submitted to BFLR should not be posted or otherwise made publicly available online prior to completion of peer review, in order to preserve the integrity and anonymity of the process. While BFLR does not prohibit prior circulation of working papers, authors are discouraged from posting draft manuscripts on public platforms (e.g., SSRN) before submission, as this may compromise double-blind review. Where the anonymity or integrity of the peer review process has been compromised, BFLR may decline to proceed with or accept the submission.
BFLR operates an exclusive submission policy. Manuscripts submitted for consideration must not be under review by another journal at the same time. Manuscripts may be submitted to and presented at conferences, provided the full paper is not published in conference proceedings (abstracts are permissible). Prior publication in any form, including conference proceedings, makes the paper ineligible for publication with BFLR.
Authors of accepted articles are required to sign an authority to publish and warranty agreement with Thomson Reuters, granting the publisher an exclusive license for 9 months. Subject to this temporary embargo, authors are encouraged to make copies of their article available on institutional repositories, SSRN, ResearchGate, and other similar services, provided copies include a citation to the official published version. BFLR supports responsible post-publication dissemination as a means of enhancing the visibility, citation, and impact of its authors’ work internationally.
BFLR operates on an institutional subscription model and does not charge authors any fees.
Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence Policy
The Banking and Finance Law Review (BFLR) recognizes that authors may use generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools, including large language models (LLMs), to support their research activities and the preparation of manuscripts. This may include, for example, improving clarity, grammar, style, organization, and readability, as well as assisting with the exploration of ideas, arguments, theories, comparisons, or research directions. Such tools must not, however, replace the author’s own research, analysis, judgment, or original scholarly contribution.
GenAI tools cannot be listed as authors or co-authors. Academic authorship requires human agency, scholarly responsibility, and the capacity to assume legal and ethical accountability for the submitted work. Human authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and legality of their submissions, including all legal analysis, factual statements, quotations, citations, footnotes, references, and uses of third-party materials. This responsibility applies to both the main text of a manuscript and all supporting material, including footnotes, citation parentheticals, tables, figures, and appendices.
Authors must independently verify all AI-assisted content against reliable sources and, where appropriate, primary legal authorities. This duty includes verifying all factual claims, statutory references, judicial precedents, quotations, citations, and references. It also includes ensuring that AI-assisted content does not reproduce, closely paraphrase, or obscure the original human-authored sources of ideas, arguments, or expression.
Authors must not submit manuscripts that are wholly or substantially generated by AI. Authors must also not use GenAI tools: fabricate, reconstruct, or paraphrase sources they have not personally consulted; to evade plagiarism rules; to misuse confidential, privileged, personal, proprietary, copyrighted, or restricted materials; or to create or alter data, tables, figures, or other research outputs in a manner that misrepresents the underlying evidence.
Authors must be transparent about their use of GenAI tools in connection with a manuscript submitted to BFLR. Ordinary spelling, grammar, formatting, and citation-management tools need not be disclosed, provided they are not used to generate substantive content. Authors who use GenAI tools to substantively develop, draft, translate, structure, or revise any portion of a manuscript must disclose that use to BFLR upon submission. BFLR is developing a structured framework for AI disclosures and may provide further guidance on the form and placement of such declarations.
Where BFLR has concerns about the use of GenAI tools in connection with a submission, it may request further information or disclosure from the author. Where the use of such tools compromises the originality, reliability, confidentiality, legality, or scholarly integrity of a submission, BFLR may decline to proceed with or accept the submission, withdraw an acceptance, or take such other action as it considers appropriate.